Daily Newsletters
Account
Washington Evening Journal
111 North Marion Avenue
Washington, IA 52353
319-653-2191
MPCHS Class of 2024 celebrates years of hard work
The Mt. Pleasant Community School District honored the 2024 graduates with memories, jokes, advice, and music in a commencement ceremony Sunday afternoon
MT. PLEASANT — The Mt. Pleasant Community High School Class of 2024 reminisced on their high school careers, celebrated overcoming a variety of obstacles, and looked toward their future as they crossed the stage to receive their diplomas at their commencement ceremony Sunday, May 19.
Prior to an emotional performance from the high school chamber choir and senior concert choir members of “The Music of Stillness,” and “That Lonesome Road,” about creating the futures they desire, Superintendent John Henriksen welcomed the graduates.
“We come together this afternoon to celebrate you, the Mt. Pleasant Community School District’s class of 2024” he addressed the young adults.
To celebrate the class Henriksen led a walk down memory lane from the class’s freshmen year in 2020 when they worried about remembering their locker combinations and taking high school classes to their return for senior year clothed in resilience and armed with questions such as “How do I make the most of my senior year?” “Which colleges should I apply to?” “What will band and choir be like without Mr. and Mrs. D?”
“Yes, there were deep questions,” Henriksen said. “I wonder how many hay bales it would take to block the high school entrances. What color of sidewalk chalk will look best to enhance the dark brick of the high school exterior?”
As he addressed the class of 2024, Henriksen reminded them how much they’ve learned and changed from that first day four years ago as freshmen.
“Here you sit ready to enjoy the fruits of your labor of the past four years,” he said. “And with the knowledge that it takes about 40 hay bales to block the high school entrances.”
While that information garnered a laugh from the graduates and ceremony guests, Henriksen continued on a more serious note.
“Isn’t it interesting that as you enjoy your days off summer will soon turn to fall and you will once again be faced with a new set of questions?” Henriksen said. “But this time, the deep life questions will actually start to fall into the category of deep life questions.”
With the graduating class as a captive audience, Henriksen offered some advice for these young adults that will soon begin to answer questions that will have a “deeper and broader impact” on their lives. He warned them against trusting their feelings and acknowledged they do not yet have much experience to lean on moving forward.
Instead, Henriksen encouraged students to trust their families and “never ever forget where you came from.”
Accompanying the words of wisdom from Henriksen, Valedictorian Paige Sexauer celebrated the resiliency of her classmates and offered encouragement from one graduate to another.
“I personally feel unqualified to stand before you and give a speech that paints me out to be some sort of financially stable middle-aged adult with years of wisdom under my belt, because I am not,” Sexauer told her classmates.
“Many of you have made it here today in spite of numerous obstacles,” she said. “You have survived the depths of our toilets, the outbursts of our fire alarms, the reading of Of Mice and Men, and most notably second semester government.”
“On a more serious note, many of you have experienced the toughest hardships, encounters, and situations that I’m not worthy to represent,” Sexauer acknowledged. “Many of you, alongside your school work, work multiple jobs, have a difficult family responsibilities, have struggled with the loss of a loved one, and have navigated difficult social situations.”
“I know that the journey here for some was not easy, but you are here today, and you have made it,” she said. “Your struggles have not gone unnoticed. I admire the resilience of each and every one of my classmates that is seated before me here today. Many of you are dealing with situations I cannot begin to imagine. I know that everyone here has something that is consuming their mind right now, a fear that they are worried about. At this moment, my greatest fear is having to address a room full of people who have the power to cancel me.”
Sexauer addressed the more serious concerns graduating seniors, like herself, experience as they try to get a grasp on where their next step will lead them, what they will do going forward, and how they will accomplish their goals. She left them with this reminder:
“You have the ability to overcome challenges, otherwise you wouldn’t be seated here today,” she encouraged her fellow graduates. “As a high school graduate who is not financially stable or a middle-aged adult with years of wisdom under her belt, I do feel qualified to say that.”
With diplomas in hand and the commencement ceremony complete, the class of 2024 erupted in celebration as they tossed their caps into the air, excited for the next chapter of their lives.
Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com
