WAYLAND – WACO’s senior class stepped onto the football field one final time as students for Saturday night’s graduation ceremony.

The 31 seniors hugged family members in attendance after receiving their diplomas from WACO School Board President Tim Graber. The seniors chose John Stauffer to deliver the commencement address, who talked about the difficulty of adjusting to a new school when he moved to the area in elementary school.

Stauffer’s family moved here from Wisconsin when he was in fourth grade. To say it was a rough transition would be an understatement.

“I pooped my pants on my first day here,” Stauffer said.

Stauffer said it took some work to overcome that initial embarrassment on the first day, but he did it. He said he hopes his life can serve as a model to others.

“Just remember that you can poop your pants, and people will still elect you to be class speaker,” he said.

At graduation, WACO recognizes its most recent inductee to the WACO Foundation Wall of Fame, and this year that honor went to Dr. Amanda Jepson. Jepson is a 2005 graduate who works as a pediatric cardiologist. She was introduced by her high school basketball coach Lisa Graber, who described her as a “competitor, gritty and having a strong work ethic.”

Jepson brought with her the track spikes she got in high school, and which she used to break the record in the 3000 meters. She said the spikes were special to her because she had to lobby her parents to buy them, which was not an easy task given they had four other children.

The Union caught up to a few WACO graduates who reflected on their favorite moments during their time as Warriors. Marie Farmer, Jessica Unternahrer and Colton Leichty were asked to name their favorite teacher, and it was too difficult for them to name only one. Farmer said one teacher who belongs on the list is science teacher Kate Lefeber, who spoke at graduation.

“She is amazing, and she has a lot of great advice,” Farmer said. “She would stop in the middle of class and wheeze, dying laughing over her own joke, which was not funny.”

Farmer said Gwen DeVaul, Jen Shepherd and Michelle Wade were her other favorites.

Unternahrer said Kate Lefeber was her favorite teacher because she was “always very supportive, and let the kids have a laugh during class.” Unternahrer said another great teacher is band and vocal director Micah Peck.

“He’s always been supportive of all of us, and pushing us to do the greatest. He’s just an overall great guy,” Unternahrer said.

Leichty said he felt the same way as Farmer and Unternahrer, and that Lefeber was his favorite teacher, too.

“She’s a big goofball, and somehow still teaches,” he said. “She makes it really fun to learn science. And she’s really smart, too.”

WACO Principal Tim Bartels brought a golden toilet onto the stage, and told the crowd it was from a prank that some students played on him when they removed the chair from his office and replaced it with the golden toilet. Farmer said that prank was one of her favorite moments of her high school career.

“I was a part of that, and it was amazing,” Farmer said. “The golden toilet was on our float from Homecoming freshman year, and we all as a class decided to put it in his office. A lady in the office helped us hide his chair and lock it in the office so he was stuck with the toilet.”

Unternahrer said some of her favorite memories have been made in these last few months before graduation as she soaked up the little time she had left with her WACO classmates. Leichty said one of his favorite moments was when the seniors visited the WACO elementary school in Crawfordsville a few weeks ago.

“So many memories flooded back as we walked through,” he said. “The principals let us play on the playground one last time.”

This fall, Farmer plans to attend Kirkwood Community College and later the University of Iowa to pursue nursing. Unternahrer plans to attend the University of Iowa to study business analytics and information systems. Leichty will attend Grandview University to play football and major in accounting.