Last classes of 2014 graduate

 SANDERS COUNTY – The final classes of 2014 were presented their diplomas on Sunday, opening a new chapter and milestone in their lives.

In Hot Springs, ten young men and women left the new gymnasium as graduates concluding their time as students at Hot Springs High School.

The graduates entered the gymnasium in pairs to the traditional tune of Pomp and Circumstance.

After they settled in for the ceremony, Alex Green, member of the class of 2014, welcomed the guests and her fellow students to the ceremony before handing it off to her classmate Rosa Dolson.

Salutatorian Dolson echoed Dr. Seuss throughout her address as she thanked friends and family and urged her peers to continue to excel in their next endeavors.

Following her address, the school’s Valedictorian Jimmy Holland gave a speech of his own.

In his speech Holland reflected on his time spent with friends and classmates, and on the impressive accomplishments of the Savage Heat athletics over the course of his senior year.

Holland stressed the importance of having fun, urging his friends to keep this in mind throughout their lives.

“If you have fun you are going to succeed,” Holland said.

After Dolson and Holland’s remarks, the graduation speaker, Bob Neiman, was introduced.

Neiman, a first year teacher at Hot Springs High School, was honored by this year’s graduates who asked him to speak on their big day.

After a senior slide show was presented, a rose ceremony followed, where new graduates presented their parents with flowers and hugs before returning to the stage for class awards, the senior video and the presentation of diplomas.

Superintendent Kevin Meredith presented the graduates with their diplomas and after the closing remarks by new graduates, Meara and Laurel Schmiedbauer the ceremony closed.

In the Bluehawk gymnasium, Thompson Falls held their own commencement ceremony. The soon-to-be new graduates came in pairs of two, the girls wearing white, while the boys wore blue.

After a welcome from Senior Class President Shasta Wilson, High School Principal Glenn Garrison welcomed the next speakers: the valedictorians.

This year there were three, with Kaylie Cox, Angela Padden and Wilson all splitting the important role.

After Cox and Padden gave their thanks for the support they had received over the years and urged their classmates to continue to succeed, Wilson summed their thoughts up in her speech.

“Many look back on high school and say it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, but I challenge the Class of 2014 to break that main stream saying of those were the days or high school was the best time of my life,” Wilson said. “I challenge you to do something in your life bigger, better, greater than any accomplishment in high school. I challenge you to say the best time of your life is the life you are living, not the life you have lived.”

She continued to challenge her classmates to dream big, set goals and continue on with both a drive and fire.

Wilson stated that once those students exited that door, they start living.

“Not that we’ve never lived before, but it was different,” Wilson said. “In this real world we have complete power over our lives. So Class of 2014, surpass this chapter of life you are finishing with me today and move on to more accomplishments.”

Counselor Jodi Morgan was then welcomed to the stage to present scholarships with almost $1,600,000 going to 24 of the 46 students.

In an annual tradition, the senior video was presented and the diplomas were then handed out, signifying each student’s accomplishments.

As they walked out of the gymnasium for what could be the last time, the new graduates were ready to take the world by storm, starting a new chapter in their lives.