Speakers recall challenges of past year and a half

Mt. Pleasant Community High School graduated 135 on Sunday on a sun-drenched day at Evans Field.

Before parading across the track and getting their diplomas from school board President Jennifer Crull, the Class of 2021 heard from a number of speakers, most talking about the adversity the class has faced in the past year and a half.

Valedictorian Cooper Pullis started his speech with the “elephant in the room, COVID happened.”

Pullis sprinkled his speech with humor and reminisces about what the class had encountered over the past 13 years, especially the last year and a half of their high school years.

“Despite everything going on in the world we were able to continue learning, connecting, succeeding and now graduating,“ Pullis said. ”We’ll never be able to forget these past months, no matter how much we wish we could.“

He noted the various groups at school that he was part of.

“I got to see about all the sides of the high school experiences,“ Pullis recalled. “Even though it might not seem like it, we are all a lot more similar that we are different.”

Class salutatorian Karsyn Lamm told her classmates that the opportunities and challenges they faced have helped shape them.

“Throughout our high school we have had many opportunities, academically, athletically, musically and within the community,” she said. “These opportunities have helped shape us into the people we are.”

Those opportunities provided “life lessons” that graduates will carry on with them as they start the next chapters of their lives.

“There is no doubt, however, that the last year and a half has been far from expected.”

The routine established over the first two and a half years in high school was upended.

“This all changed when COVID-19 was introduced into our lives.”

That virus “influenced nearly everything we did.”

Trips to colleges were put on hold, and future plans were unclear.

“It was so hard to know what our futures would look like when we were unsure what the next day would look like.”

She recalled the class’s junior year.

“As a class, we were navigating through the difficulty of not having the remainder of our second semester, not having spring activities and living within our own bubble, all while preparing for our senior year,” she said.

“Much of our senior year was not able to be planned months in advance,” Lamm said. “Many things were scheduled just weeks or even days beforehand.”

Even the graduation ceremony where Lamm gave her speech was uncertain until earlier in the week, she said. “With adversity, it is not important with what you are faced with but how you respond to it.“

“Each of us will be stronger toward our journey to a more successful future.”

Superintendent John Henricksen told a story about the need for leadership with humility — a story about his dad’s experience in World War II on 17 missions to bomb Japan. The story led up to this advice: When students are faced with a situation ask “Would my parents approve?”

And Pullis, the valedictorian, concluded his speech telling his classmates that their future is up to them.

“I am very proud to be part of this class and excited for all of your futures,” he said. “High school should not be the climax or resolution of any of our stories.”

“We are not the struggles or the mistakes that we have made in the past. On the other hand we are not the highlights and achievements we have collected throughout the years,” Pullis said. “Your name does not define who you are or what you can be as much as many of us would like to think.”

He concluded: “Your high school experience is not at all a sign of what is to come. It is no more than an introductory chapter to our lives. Chapter 2 of you book starts tomorrow, and it is time to start writing.”