 Once so past gleaming, whose broad stripes and bright stars through Thank you very much on this exciting night. I would like to welcome you to our U32 educational community. Mothers, fathers, families, friends, U32 staff, and most importantly the graduating class of 2017 to the 46th commencement ceremony of U32. I would like to ask everyone here who came to recognize and support a graduate to stop for a minute at some point tonight and reflect on the memory that stands out for you of either supporting or celebrating the small successes your graduate had along their journey to where they are tonight. Tonight we are here to celebrate the 13 years of your educational life. It started when you first walked into kindergarten and now here you are today on your way to new journeys and experiences. During that time you've learned a lot, you've had great times with your friends and now you're ready to go. I want to leave you with one piece of wisdom and for many of you who know me and for those of you who don't I'm a big winter sports enthusiast. One of my favorite quotes comes from a last panel of Calvin and Hobbes which for you the graduates ended well before you were born but you might have seen a book of comic strips. That's one of my favorite things and in the last comic strip imagine what Calvin and Hobbes saw which was a brand new snowfall. So picture that time in your life when you were at the top of a sledding hill and all there was was pure white and this is how the comic strip goes. There's a brand Calvin to his alter ego Hobbes who's a stuffed tiger. Wow, it really snowed last night. Isn't that wonderful? Hobbes says everything familiar has disappeared. The world looks brand new. Calvin, a new year, a fresh clean start. Hobbes, it's like having a big white sheet of paper to draw on. Calvin back to Hobbes at the last part. A day of possibilities. It's a magical world, Hobbes old buddy. Let's go exploring. I say to you graduates, it's time for you to explore. So as you go out there on your own adventures, have fun, try new things and remember the great times and good friends and all the knowledge you've gained while you've been in our schools here at Washington Central. Welcome again and graduates have a great future but don't forget your time here at U32. I believe from this point onward your life will change in one very important way. You've had a lot of people making decisions for you up to this point but now it's up to you. Good luck and I'm glad to see you graduating all of you tonight. Good evening and congratulations to the U32 graduating class of 2017. I'm Stephen Dellinger Bate U32's principal and I want to welcome parents, grandparents, siblings, family, friends, and everyone else who's joined us on this beautiful evening. I want to especially thank our guest speakers tonight, Sarah Romano, former English teacher at U32, and the honorable Patrick Leahy, the senator from our great state of Romano. It's the culmination of your education from Washington Central and we are prepared to send you off to contribute to both our local and global community. This ceremony is the major event that marks your passage from youth to adulthood but this year has challenged us to mature through the adversity of the loss of those we love. Both our classmate, Seamus, one of our para-educators on lead pound, and our teacher, Laura. The class of 2017 is strong. It is determined and it is worthy of the challenges that life will bring. I know that this class has been tested academically and emotionally and they have the spirit, determination, and stubbornness to overcome all that is put in their way. So I want to encourage each of our graduates to give back to this community that has supported you throughout your education. This community has attended your plays, your concerts, your sporting events, some of which are still going on, and served as your mentors and advisors. This community puts its hopes and dreams in your hands and they expect you to rise to the occasion. So many of you have given back to the community that has supported you and I would like to recognize the seniors who participated in our senior community outreach project this week. So would you please stand if you participated in that seniors? Yeah. This went out to the community on Monday this past Monday to help others which is a testament to the spirit of giving that exists at U32. As a member of this community as well I hope to see each and every one of you become a strong, vital part of our town. No matter where you travel for school or pleasure please remember your home in central Vermont. I also want to take a moment and recognize the faculty and staff of U32 who give tirelessly and joyfully to educate these students. So tonight's program we will celebrate our achievements by hearing from from some of our students themselves. We have two student speakers tonight, Avon Williams and Allie Wolfe and now our first student speaker is Avon Elena Williams. I'm going to open my time capsule from seventh grade. I do always think it's a bit odd when we write these letters to ourselves. I do know them. I have no clue who or what I want to be when I grow up. Have you figured that out yet? When we get it we read it we laugh but there's no way to write a letter back. But we do think about the things we wish we could have told ourselves. The things that are most important what not to stress about what you should have actually tried to fix but most of all that it's going to be okay. One great thing in my time capsule was two crisp dollar bills. My last bit of advice for my seventh grade self was P.S. buy yourself a treat with the money or if you're two dollars away from paying for college go to college. Well just to know when you spell college C-O-L-L-A-D-G-E in seventh grade kind of a sign that no one's going to jump on board to pay your full tuition. Letter to seventh grade Avon it would go something like this. Dear Avon five or so years since you wrote your letter I'm here in front of a lot of people at a really hot stuffy crowded gym to tell them about the next five years of your life and who you have become. No pressure. Now to give you some background I started at the school and I was 12 years old. I had a best friend who had been my by sides as before I could read. My favorite artist was Taylor Swift. I had never worn a flashing clothes in my entire life. Flash forward to eighth grade. Dear Avon you'll know more people than you ever have before. You'll expand your friendships but may mostly keep a very few very close friends. You'll go all out in eighth grade plays and break a lot of props. Hailing Lane will make you laugh so hard you'll pee your pants. Eighth grade it isn't as scary as it seems now but it will be tough. Nothing is quite fitting yet. A lot of the time it will be stressful. Not so much school but where you fit in within the school and how well you fit in with your friends. Tenth grade you will begin to find a home in theater believe it or not and for the first time feel valued as a part of a group of people. This is the year you first recognize yourself as an artist. At the governor's institute on the arts you find a group of people who really get you in a way no one has before. Eleventh grade by the end of this year you'll be quite an experienced traveler. School is difficult but you'll find classes that really speak to you and you'll get a job. Twelfth grade you'll finally be able to do everything you never had time to do except not except it will still be too much but you'll try anyways. This year you will lose someone who made up more of your world than you knew you had room for and in a place where you once thought words were boring to heal and to reason you find that there are some things words cannot explain. In your letter you wrote a lot about all the high school things you wanted to do. Making new friends, travel overseas, what the first day of ninth grade was like. More or less I guess I have done those things but naturally the things I will remember about my experience at U32 are the things I never thought I could do. Sing in front of a large audience discuss immigration and politics with my host mom in french navigate my way through a foreign city by map write a 20 page paper and pull off a wicked short haircut. Many of you have probably thought at some point your high school career if you told me I would be this type of person doing this thing five years ago I would have never believed you. We never become exactly who we dream of being in seventh grade but that's usually a good thing. I am thankful for all the things I've been able to accomplish the many opportunities I've been given here at U32 but the thing I did not think about when I wrote that letter in seventh grade were the people around me. You don't really get to choose who you grew up with sometimes your best friends just turn out to be the only other kid on the playground who didn't want to play soccer or someone you were stuck within a group project the kid who lived the closest or the kids of your parents friends. To my fellow classmates many of us now have the choice to choose our path in life and what kind of people we want to surround ourselves with. However far you go and wherever you choose to go the people in the seats around you and many of those who are not there are the people who built our foundation and whether you liked all of them or maybe even just one of them there's not much you can do to change that. When I think back on everything from the time I started school it's not exactly the milestones and experiences themselves I remember but the people that were there. Sarah Jocelyn making me laugh so hard for her made-up songs at the lunch table in third grade that I rolled my eyes out for 15 minutes straight. The day after day of standing out in the rain on the state house lawn with my film group for Denver it's trying to get interviews. Making repeated anxious eye contact with Savannah and our homestay as we filled in the gaps of each other's sentences trying to communicate with the host mom who didn't speak a word of English. It is my chance that we meet the people in our lives and it's too often that we take each other for granted. Though I think this class has learned in painful ways how important we all are to each other. Even if I could give my seventh grade self one piece of advice for the future I wouldn't. It's the uncertainty of each day and the time and effort it takes to build relationships with people that have made my experience here so worthwhile and fulfilling. Class of 2017 and all that you do and in everywhere you go don't be afraid to change. To do something you never thought you could do or become someone different than the person that's sitting in your chair right now. Look to your left and to your right, to the people in the audience and to the people above and around you. Remember these people and who they've helped you become but more importantly all you will become. Alison will to come speak. This wonderful class of 2017 we are all graduating can you believe it sleepless nights and unfortunate tragedies short because of the long the lifelong friendships the lasting memories and the truly interesting and amazing for each other. None of this would have been possible without the help of sorry we have the help from all of you here today. To recap on those memories middle school some of us are excited some are timid and some are just blank. We made our first steps into the building that would guide and support us for the next six years. We looked around and only saw a few familiar faces. Everyone shared the same timid face. As a core we hiked up hunger mountain for our elevation study. We dressed as different famous people for the motel party. We lived all about Africa when we got assigned different countries. We grew closer to our TA during Lotus Lake days. We started dating and choosing our forever friends. A classmate of ours lost their mother bringing us together as we supported them. Each core performed their own eighth grade play. It pulled us out of our comfort zones as we collaborated in a group production. We traveled to Washington DC to explore the monuments and to learn about our country's history. Along the way we had extreme sunburns, had a fashion show and missed out on hours of sleep. Ninth grade we were freshmen fighting with our wacky schedules trying to figure out where our next class was and looking clueless to the upper classmen. We started discovering who we wanted to be by joining theater, sports, music and taking more art classes. Tenth grade we were blessed with our new principal Stephen who brought a new fresh attitude and charisma to our school. One of our classmates lost their brother Joey Linger. The entire school voted mourned his tragic death. Eleventh grade the year of champions. The boys soccer upset the three, two and one seeds improved to a state championship. Boys hockey beats still what they've got in the championship. Boys track one states again. Girls Nordic skied their their way to first and division two. Girls trapped pulled through ending the year with another school championship. Twelfth grade the summer before senior year we lost one of our own. Shame the smell. Our memory of him will always leave with each and every one of us. We got the senior lounge finally. We started planning for our post-graduation plans. We lost a teacher, friend and TA, Lord Angel who taught us all many like lessons. Senior Ray has started to kick in in second semester as we were all waiting for this exact moment. Now we stand here ready to graduate and move forward in the world to truly create our footprint. So what's next? I will be going to college as well many of my classmates. Some of us will go to various branches of the armed forces. Others may get ready to work or even take a year off exploring what they want to do. I want to leave you all here today with some advice. Dream big. Create. Explore. And imagine. Embrace change. Take more risks. Remember that no one is perfect. Continue to learn. Be kind. Have gratitude. Don't give up. Persevere. Be present. Work hard. Laugh. Follow your heart. Grow confidence. Learn to be bold. Don't doubt yourself. And most importantly find your passion. From this day forward let us make each decision with our best interests in mind. Let us believe in ourselves so that we may reach our goals and fulfill our dreams. Let us be the best that we can be so that we may fill our lives and the ones around us with happiness. We've already taken the first steps by making it through high school. Now it's time to take the next steps in our own journey. Congratulations my fellow graduates of the class of 2017. Wherever we go and whatever we do maybe always be friends when we see each other again. Thank you. At this time I would like to invite Christopher Billa Kiloran to the stage to introduce our first guest speaker. Hello everyone. When we were asked to be one of the teachers to speak at our graduation there was immediately an obvious choice. Though we were only able to share you three two with her for two years she loved us all with a lasting impression. I remember the first day of class she walks in and goes let's Gucci. And at that moment we knew she was different than most teachers. She's the kind of teacher that as you constantly engage with their infectious energy and humor. She's also the type of person who would fly all the way back from Charleston, South Carolina to do a graduation speech. Please tell me welcome one of the coolest teachers I know, Sarah Martin. I want to face you guys a little bit more. Can I do this? Good to see you guys. You look great. You didn't come today. When Katie emailed me back in December asked me to come speak to you guys today the first internal response I had was there's no way I'm doing that. Nerves. All the eyeballs staring at me. The hot breath of expectations. I'm shaking right now just thinking about it. That may come as a surprise considering I have chosen to spend my career standing up in front of moody teenagers every day trying to keep you all detention. But that doesn't make this any less intimidating. Nevertheless, the very next thought I had was to remember all of the speeches I made so many of you guys do in 10th grade and you all came to me before class and after schools begging me to give you any other assignment with this one. You would write a 15 page paper. You would take a 300 question test. Does it please don't make you stand up in front of your peers and talk about yourselves? So I have to admit I was fairly unmoved. I think my only consolation was to tell you that you're abnormal and just wave you away. So considering our mystery together how could I not come to this momentous occasion? How could I not show up for you guys? Because really that's all I came to tell you. What you're about to embark on, this thing called adulthood, all the paths you're about to choose, the decisions you're about to make, it probably feels really overwhelming, right? But it just boils down to this. Show up. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, if I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way. And this is all it takes you guys to be fulfilled. Doing small things in a great way. But you have to show up to do them. And you have to listen. Because within us all there's a voice, however quiet, that tells us the right thing to do. It's there because we most likely can do it, but we have to listen and we have to show up. Now look at my nose. I got that hard to remember. A lot of us have been said by our wonderful speakers, Ali and Aiden. So you guys nailed it. But I want to also echo them by saying, remember to keep trying something new you guys. Don't define yourselves by what you think you're good at or what you think you're bad at. Stay open and take risks. And remember also to give yourself grace when you fail. To be a perfectly nerdy teacher about it, I'm going to go ahead and say that fail is an acronym that stands for first attempt in learning. But only if you make other attempts. The harsh reality is that you guys will fail. It's inevitable. It's part of what's waiting for you in this world of possibilities that you're about to enter. So my advice is to prepare yourself for it. Because it means that you're trying and it means that you're learning and it means that you're growing. But only if you mean it that way. So show up. My 17 year old self could never have imagined the life that was ahead of me. I made so many mistakes. I broke ground and I backtracked and I became several different versions of the same essential person. So not to bore you, but in a nutshell here's been my journey thus far. After high school, I went to University of Georgia, got home sick, transferred to University of Virginia. After college, I moved to Portland, Oregon for four months. Then I moved to checker public to teach English, got home sick, moved back to Portland, got antsy, moved to Costa Rica, got home sick, moved back to Portland, started working as an American volunteer and started working with teen moms. Realized how much I loved working with teenagers, moved to DC to become a teacher, taught there for nine years, got burnt out. Moved to Vermont to escape the pressure, loved it, got married, started thinking about family, moved to South Carolina to be near my parents and my sister and to start my own family. And that's been it so far. So I don't pretend to think that my journey is really that important. I'm not a famous billionaire, I'm not a spiritual guru, totally enlightened, but what I am y'all is happy because I listen to myself every step of the way and I believe that I can do it even when I fail and I fail. Even when I totally embarrassed myself and had to start all over again. I listened and I showed up. So I tell you all this not because I pretend to have the answers but because I want you guys to know at this point that there may not be an answer. There is not one right college or one right job or one right future or one right solution to your happiness but there may be one right attitude to try, to stay open, to stay aware, to stay involved and to show up. At this point in your lives you all have experienced the hardest lesson that life has to offer. Losing those we love. During your brief time as high schoolers you have lost friends and you have lost an amazing and beloved teacher. I don't pretend to have the wisdom or insight to tell you how to handle those life lessons but what I would like to tell you is that part of showing up is choosing to move through it and not around it and to hold on for dear life. It's all we can do. So thank you guys so much for inviting me to be a part of this. It's wonderful to see you. Congratulations and the very best of luck. The stage to introduce our next speaker. Her village to introduce our next speaker. A native to Montpelier and graduate of St. Michael's College in Georgetown University Law Center Senator Leahy was elected into the United States Senate in 1974 as the youngest to be elected from Vermont. Senator Leahy's time in the Senate has produced some of the greatest negotiations regarding environmental safety, technological security, and aid to individuals with disabilities both domestic and abroad. A strong proponent and fighter for clean environment, Senator Leahy maintained wildlife refugees by opposing gas and oil exploration as well as securing funds clean Lake Champlain. In addition he added more than 125,000 acres to the Green Mountain National Forest, a feed match by only a select few lawmakers in history. Senator Leahy is also forward thinking noted as Congress's most web-friendly member. His work extends into a part of our society we see rapidly evolving technology. Working for a reflection of our rights in person on the internet he has led several efforts to provide privacy copyright and speech security as well as leading the effort to enact security on electronic health records. As I was fortunate enough to learn this year Senator Leahy extends his hand to his community whether at home or abroad. The Leahy War Victims Fund established in 1989 provides resources to victims of war-torn countries with disabilities. Each year this fund provides nearly 14 million dollars in aid to victims around the world. I was fortunate to speak with Senator Leahy this year and he has continuously demonstrated his dedication to both the welfare of our country and world as well as the individuals in it. With great admiration and respect please join me in welcoming our keynote speaker for the class of 2017 graduation Senator Patrick Leahy. Thank you for the invitation to be here with you tonight. Is this microphone can you hear me all right? Thank you. I want to thank Katie for reaching out to have me come here tonight. You know Katie I'm so proud of you. I have to tell you uh just for a moment she is the secretary of the middle sex volunteer part of the department in our spare time. I don't know where to find spare time but uh as Marcell and I live in middle sex we uh we're delighted to see see you do that. Also I just wish to like because she's going to the Air Force Academy. I think we'll start there. Great joys for all three of us in the Vermont Congressional delegation so we can nominate the best men and women Vermont heads to these academies. Now let me um let me talk to the graduates a minute. Have your own high school graduation. I'm not used to a graduate graduation class as big. There were about 30 in my class when I graduated. I did have an uncle tell me coming from a small town like Montpey or a small school like that. I'd never come to anything. He felt that way even after I got elected to the Senate. We had a somewhat different political philosophies but you may have been thinking about this day for years. You're probably thinking okay let's wrap it up let's get over with. Maybe you have nervousness but you should have hope. She asked me to leave you know but the one feeling you should have every single one of you should be proud. You should be proud of your achievements, of your accomplishments and guess what you made it. That's not bad. There's not going to be that many times in my thing to say okay I made it. This is one of the many major transition points in your life. Some of you will recall some of you went to the workforce. Some of you may be taking a year to volunteer or to travel but all of you have a common bond. You're going to be the 2017 graduating class of U-32 and that's a bond that will connect you all and I applaud you. We enjoy a kind of special privilege. We live in a special place. We live in a state that acts locally to make life better here in Vermont. And beyond our board we believe in the human spirit what can be accomplished when we take selfless actions to advance a common and a larger and a broader goal. And these are often troubling and uncertain times. There is comfort to be found here among the great mountains. Marcel and I find it that comfort and that peace at our home in Middlesex I'll say that it may especially this week it feels very good to be home. I'll let you absorb that anyway before. But you know we also know that we have an enormous responsibility rooted in our history as Vermonters. We've always let the nation are called of social justice individual rights and personal privacy. The important thing in mindset that becomes a cornerstone of our state. Remember when this country became a country it was only after the adoption of the bill rights the poor freedoms that were in the First Amendment the right to privacy in the Fifth Amendment the prohibition against born with searches and seizures when those rights were guaranteed Vermonters who always felt they had those rights said okay I guess you guys are going to make it will become the 14th state and we become the state. You know we become a hallmark a hallmark of our conscience as a state and even though we have a lot of predictable and sometimes distant certain times Vermon has this respect place in our national discussions. Vermon values are part of your heritage. Vermon values are time-tested. They're bigger than any one of us they have to anchor us. Vermon Vermonters have been trailblazers in human rights, humanitarian relief, healthy earthquake, ravaged communities in Haiti, established sources for clean water. We did that from Vermont. We have bought down the scourge of anti-personnel landlines and custom munitions. Do you know that Vermonters consistently have their own Peace Corps volunteers for Canada in the United States of America and the National Organic Farm Bill that I grow and put into law that came from ideas I get sitting around farmers tables here in Vermont and we have turned that into nationally a 45 billion dollar industry. We're helping keep the pace, development of alternative energy sources. We're more energy self-sufficient per capita than any other state in the country and now we need you. We need you. We need reaction to it. We need your voices. We need your energy. We need your commitment for our state, for our economy, for our values. When you leave here tonight you're going to carry any special responsibility of your generation. Responsibility that makes you the caretakers of the future and you're going to make a difference. Every single thing you do will make a difference. I was born in Vermont. I was raised here. Marcella and I started our family here. We have our grandchildren here, the ones from Paris, and our friend, our friend Cheska here with us tonight. But when I look at what you've done, I'm sure of one thing. Vermont's future is good. When you're with you, the glass isn't half-thirty. It's far more than half-four. So let me give you this important practical steps you can take with you. First, tend to the lifelong project of forging your own character. Be yourself. We're only as strong as our values and our character. Our characters only as real as our action. Each day allows us to do that. Ask ourselves the choices we make. Honor and strengthen our character. Are those choices making us a better person? Appeal to the best in others, not to the worst. Think of that. Prior to your character appealing to the best in others, not to the worst. A national double, or a triple, for our leaders in Washington and throughout this country. America is a great nation. We are also a good nation. Let us not forget that. The United States, for moral leadership, it diminishes our leadership and our character. We do not speak up for our ideals, or if we as a nation break our word. Now second, with your graduation, something to think about. You mark another moral power story. How many of you are already 18? How many of you are going to be 18 within the next year? Okay? Vote. Register to vote. Don't wait. I can say this honestly. Vote. I don't care whether you're voted for a Democrat, or Republican, or independent, or anybody else. The most important thing in democracy is to go there and vote. Some of the most undeveloped decisions are made at our local level. Don't even wait for a presidential election. Register to vote now. And remember, in Vermont, we have the time-honored tradition of Town Meeting Day. That's a mainstay. Participated. You have a voice, and you have experience, and you should be heard. And third, be Vermonters. Wherever you go, whatever you do, be Vermonters. If you leave and some will, come back. Come back. Support our businesses. Bring your education, your skills, your expertise to our workforce. Protect our lake, our environment, our legacy. The things that make Vermont the Green Mountain State. Remember, we are a very special state. We really are. By Jesus' name, we're different. And we're proud of it. Sorry, I couldn't resist that. Don't reject when everybody of you are being a rhetoric of hate and discrimination, and violence, and intolerance. If you allow yourself to get into the rhetoric of hate or discrimination, violence or intolerance, you don't diminish others. You diminish yourself, and you will never do that. And lastly, take an interest. The decisions made at every level in recovery. I know when you get your news online, Facebook, Twitter, or you're like me who actually read newspapers, it can be overwhelming and concerning. And there are real causes for a while in the news. I'll tell you this, when a people like you, a generation like yours, rises up and speaks truth to power. Do you stand in defense of our core values and principles? Everything is possible. No victory is unintended. I'll tell you a story on that, just this year. The day after the inauguration, Marcel and I sent out an invitation to any of the monitors who were going to be down for the women's march to the nation capital. We've rented out a house right next to the Supreme Court. We didn't know how many might show up. 600 for monitors. Many people have sort of remarked with them, and with our daughter, and our granddaughter. And we saw people from all of the largest crowd we've seen this year in Washington. We knew they were making a point. And then for monitors came again for the climate march, and we were so proud to greet them and have coffee and donuts with them. Even though we ran out, here there was so many more we thought we had. But then, a few weeks later, I had to negotiate, one of the four that had to negotiate our spending bills and our appropriations bills. And time again, I referred to the Vermonters who came, and the Vermonters who spoke up, and the Vermonters who set the pace, and then helped us win. So, you're the next generation of Vermonters, you lead the way, and it is my honor to be with you. So, will you promise me you will stay true to yourselves? You promise? Go ahead and say yes, it's our care. I believe we're Vermonters, I'm proud of you all, thank you. I need to start off with one honorary diploma, and I would ask at this time that Harper Wimble come up here and join me, please, to shame us, Waylon Bell, who, of awarding the Gehe, will invite Adrienne Megida, our school board chair, to present this award at this time. 2000, in honor of Jackie Gehegan, who is a teacher and associate principal at U32, from 1971, when the doors first opened, until 2000. Jackie believed that this school called on its students to be caring, involved people, willing to contribute to the betterment of the school by supporting and reaching out to others, while developing their own personal sense of self. The Gehegan award is presented each year to that graduating senior who best exemplifies the true spirit and soul of U32. Each year, the actual Gehegan award, a gift to the recipient, varies, intended to be a very special gift that also recognizes the extraordinary talent of a U32 student, the award itself is a piece created by the U32 student artist, or Woodward. This year's winning artist, Nicholas Bouzon, decided to become a photographer a year and a half ago. Since then, he's made a prolific amount of work exploring nature, landscape, and portraiture, but mostly discovering himself through the lens of his camera. In this digital photograph up front here titled Montpelier Night and Sky, Nick investigated how light moves and can be captured after the sun sets. Working with other photographers in his class, Nick learned how to make lights glow and turn clouds into cotton candy. Nick made this image on Cliff Street and his composition reminds us of the importance of pausing and just looking for a while. Nicholas, will you please come up to the podium? Have a certificate of appreciation for his beautiful artwork. Thank you very much. To award the 2017 Gehegan award to Emma Grace Kirchin, a U32 student. She's well-rounded, a high-achieving individual who's excelled in academics, the arts, and athletics while at U32. All four years of her high school career, Emma has taken U32's most challenging academic classes and earned highest honors with a 3.9 GPA. As a musician, Emma is outstanding. She has participated in many regional music festivals and multiple stage 32 productions. When she plays her trumpet, people talk about how it makes them feel. Not how loud her music is or how flashy or impressive, but how her playing actually touched them in a truly meaningful way. Talented athlete. As a four-year member of the field hockey and Nordic ski teams, she's earned numerous honors and recognitions. Emma has been a member of two state championships teams and is representing U32 on several occasions on elite ski teams. Emma Kirchin is one of U32's most outstanding contributors and leaders. She has made U32 a better place over her career. Last year, Emma started and led a women's international issues club along with her TA, Laura Angel. With her leadership, the group created a PSA video which raised money for a nonprofit organization that combats sex trafficking in India. Emma is a Governor Institute's attendee and a four-year member of the U32 Student Council. Emma has shown that she is an intelligent, loyal, compassionate, and caring woman and as this year's recipient of the Gehegen Award, she truly exemplifies the spirit and soul of U32. Congratulations. Just a few years and I would like to invite at this time Jonathan Goddard, school board member, Bill Kimball, superintendent to the stage and then our student council co-presidents, Emma Kirchin, Lauren Horst, Emily Richards, and Ellie Stroh will be reading the names of the students receiving their diplomas. So I'm going to invite Lauren Horst to begin that so please give a round of applause for Lauren as she comes up to the stage. What's going on? Dave is not... Jasmine Alexis Moody and joining Jasmine is her stepmother, Alicia Moody, special education evaluator. I'd like to welcome Teacher Advisor Alden Byrd to the stage. Nicholas S. Bootsy, Jesse Matthew Gordon, Kelly Rose Lynch, Kate Wilder. I'd like to welcome Ellie Stroh to the podium. I'm Teacher Advisor Christine Chartrand to the stage. I'm George Koch to the stage. I'm Michael Horwitz to the stage. Mackenzie Shelton, Lattimore. Adam Zander-Lill, Edward Charles Bond, Teacher Advisor Sharon Newcomb, Riley Adams-Slin. We're so happy that you could be here to celebrate this evening with the graduating class of 2017. They mean a lot to me. I know they mean a lot to you. I hope that you will support them as they leave U32 and go off on the adventures of their life. And at this time I would like to ask the class of 2017 to stand. You are now 32. Congratulations. You've got to usher them out.