Wilsonville High School awards 20 different types of honor cords to its graduating seniors every year, from gold to purple to rainbow.
These little bursts of color stood out among the navy blue robes of the class of 2024 as graduates received their diplomas beneath the lights of Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Thursday, June 6.
“I can imagine the world that these graduates help curate, where differences are not only accepted but become what is known and what we expect,” said Principal Kelly Schmidt, following a performance by the WHS Symphonic Choir.
The three student speakers spoke about their class’s resiliency in the face of adversity and victories over the past four years.
“Standing here today as a unified body is quite miraculous given what was thrown at the Wilsonville High School class of 2024 since its very inception,” said Kenley Whittaker. “There is a zen proverb that I believe perfectly encapsulates this: obstacles don’t block the path, they are the path.”
Whittaker went on to describe how time and time again, the class was faced with divisions from the outside, from the openings of new schools that split up elementary school friends to online learning delaying their in-person arrival to high school in the fall of 2020.
“We’ve grown from online school to now getting how to attend in-person high school classes. Many of us have learned how to drive together, applied to college or jobs alongside one another and been able to experience each other’s growth over the years,” said senior speaker Campbell Lawler.
West Linn-Wilsonville School Board Chair Louis Taylor introduced the final student speaker, Paul Liu.
“There’s something I wish I realized earlier. Over the past four years the quote, ‘Stay hungry, stay foolish’ has come to me. I was so focused on maintaining my grades and receiving the highest GPA that I wish I allowed myself to be more foolish, to take more risks and to embrace the challenge,” said Liu. “Commencement, as the name suggests, is not an end but a beginning.”
WHS English teacher Jason Jenkins received shouts and cheers from the assembled senior class as he took the lectern to give his remarks.
“A quick side note for the music nerds in the audience: The Beatles played right over there in 1965. It’s nice to share the stage with them,” he said. “Truly, jokes aside, it is the honor of my lifetime to get to be chosen on behalf of Wilsonville High School faculty to speak tonight.”
Jenkins acknowledged his past student Naomi Lejello, a member of the 2024 class who died last year. In the front row, a seat was saved for her, marked with a pink bow.
“To teach a student is to teach to their spirits; to teach to the little light inside their hearts to take good care,” said Jenkins. “Graduates, when your parents or trusted adults would check in with you at the end of each day and look in your eyes and ask, ‘How was school today?’ what they were really asking was, ‘How is that little light? Are you still letting it shine?’ Show how your light shines.”
After the caps were tossed, families were hugged and the photos were taken, members of the class of 2024 could look back at their high school years, headed toward the future, and let their lights shine.
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