PHS awards diplomas to graduates

Life for the 31 Posen High School graduates will be a little like Friday?s 45-minute graduation ceremony. Things will go wrong. Some problems will be more difficult to deal with than others, but rest assured, not everything will go as planned. How the graduates respond to adversity will determine how successful they will be down the road. If Friday?s ceremony in the PHS gymnasium is any indication of how the group will do in their post-high school days, they should be all right.

THE PROGRAM went on when Shannon Ciarkowski, Kyrie Kuffel, and Darlene Sommerfield started to sing ?Everyone Can Fly (graduation day),? and the music came out from the speakers loud and distorted. The girls restarted the music until the volume was adjusted and went through with it until the end, and turned in a stirring performance. Black paper taped up behind the stage to cover the basketball court padding started to fall down midway through a speech, but the speaker didn?t miss a beat. The show, ceremony, and life went on. Earning their high school diploma offered many of the graduates similar challenges, making Friday?s 63rd annual graduation exercise all the more sweet.

?IT?S A GREAT day, it?s a great day,? said Aaron Schellie, following the event. ?I waited 13 year for this, it was a good accomplishment,? said Justin Kelley. ?I?m really happy and can?t wait to start a new life,? said Sommerfield, who plans to study criminal justice at Grand Valley State University. ?Today is the day we can finally and officially complete what we started back some 13 years ago,? said Ron Kroll, class valedictorian, during his speech.

?No matter how the journey looked to each and every one of us, we shared in each others? struggles and achievements, and now we are going to share in the completion of this so-called journey we have shared together.? The 2004 class includes four members of the National Honor Society, including Kroll and salutatorian Josh Krajniak, who expressed his appreciation to his friends and family.

IN KRAJNIAK?S speech, he touched on the importance of friendships

and how they shouldn?t be taken for granted, but also described how his parents were such an influential part of his life. ?I admit that I?m a lot like both of them in my own way and I?m glad that I am,? he said. ?I want to say thanks to my Dad for always having the time for me, always having time to fix my car, and pretty much being a good friend as well as a father. Now don?t tease me too much, guys, but I do love my mother very much. She above all people has always supported me and given me more than anyone else.? The ceremony concluded with remarks from superintendent Dennis Stratton and the turning of tassels.

THAT WAS followed by each senior throwing up a cup of confetti. Some scooped up the paper from the floor and threw it in the air again, to savor the moment they had waited so long for. ?It?s an emotional time, that?s for sure,? said Stratton, after the event. ?I think a lot of us up on stage were ready to cry before it started.? Stratton described the 2004 class as ?hard-working and willing to do whatever was asked of them. ?We are going to miss them a lot,? said Stratton.