The Pequot Lakes class of 2016.
BY ALEXANDER BECKER, SYDNEY HOLT, BARBARA MILLER & LEVI PALMER
Pequot Lakes High School valedictorians
First we would like to start off by saying thank you all for coming to support us on this special night, but most importantly seniors, we made it. The four of us honestly couldn’t be prouder of the things our class was able to accomplish and the amazing people we have all grown to be. The four of us decided to do something a little different this year for our commencement
address, so instead of the typical valedictorian speech we decided to connect our senior class to our senior class song. The song is entitled “Good Riddance” by Green Day, but we must remember that tonight is not a goodbye to this wonderful class but a see you later. So because of that we will use its more commonly known and more applicable name of “Time of Your Life.” The first line reads: Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
A turning point is defined by Merriam-Webster as a time when an important change happens. We are at an amazing time in our lives that, although the end of high school is here, the beginning of a whole new life experience is ahead for all of us, which brings us to make a lot of choices. The fork stuck in the road is simply the decisions in life we must make. Whether it be little things like what we are going to caption the latest Instagram picture we want to post or choosing
what career we will have the rest of our life, there are an endless amount of choices to make. Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go As many seniors can probably agree, the end of the year crept up fast. It seems like just yesterday we were walking into these halls as scared little freshmen, but time has its way of ticking away. But I would say when time really directed us where to go was when some of us waited to turn in an online assignment at 11:58
BY TROY FETTER
Pine River-Backus Valedictorian
Good evening, friends and family, ladies and gentlemen, administrators and teachers. Before I get started, I would like to thank you all for giving me this opportunity to speak in front of you on this momentous day. I have long awaited the day that I could be here with my fellow classmates, for it was only four short years ago that we started high school. Now, it is our time to leave. How did the time fly? It seems like only yesterday that we were young freshman looking at our upperclassmen for guidance. Now, we are the upperclassmen, the seniors who stand here ready to graduate and move out into the big wide world, yet we can’t help
when the assignment was due at midnight, or squeaking into class right about 5 seconds before the bell. Time never stopped for any of us. And time will continue to fly as we grow older, and that means we must make the most of the time we all still have left and make the best of it. So make the best of this test and don’t ask why “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more See PL VALEDICTORIANS, Page S6
but to look back. How will we remember this time that we have spent here? When we were freshmen, we did it in class periods. We would count down until the hour we were freed. As weeks of school passed, we measured time in semesters, and later in years as we went from being naive freshmen to being “sophisticated” sophomores. By the time we reached our junior year, we were prepared to take over for the seniors. And now here we stand. Our time as upperclassmen is over and it is up to the next class to fill our shoes and take over. I know that as I look out to all of you, I will measure my time a little differently. I will measure it in all the friendships that I have made over the past four years. Some may not be as strong as others, but I will always remember each one tenderly, as I’m sure all of you will too. And when our memories of high school begin to fade, that is how we will measure our time spent here, not in class periods or semesters, but in the friendships that we have made See PR-B FETTER, Page S7
The Pine River-Backus class of 2016.
Pine River-Backus valedictorian and class president Troy Fetter makes air quotes when talking about being “sophisticated” sophomores during his senior class welcome speech at the commencement ceremony Friday, May 27.
PHOTO BY NANCY VOGT