Here we are now
that we do today as seniors. Everything between then and now has been to prepare us for what lies ahead. The past four years have been some of the most influential years of our lives so far. We have gained experiences, relationships, and valuable lessons that will impact us for the rest of our lives. Academics are the main focus when it comes to being a student but there’s so much more to high school than just studying. Learn ing from others and our own experiences is a really big part of high school. Some of my best memories of high school are the ones I have from participating in track and field. The track team has always been like a second family to me. No matter how bad my day at school was I could always look forward to track practice. My coaches and teammates throughout the years have helped me to become not only a better athlete and teammate but also a better person.
I am very thankful for all of my high school experiences and all of the people in my life. High school has taught me how to be a leader, to stay resilient, and what it means to be true to myself.
— Jolee Gehrke, Rib Lake High School Salutatorian completed college programs or are going into the workforce I know that we are going to chase our dreams wherever they may take us. We have never been the type of class to try to act like something we’re not. Not being afraid to be ourselves is one of the many things I love about our class. I hope that we all will continue to be ourselves and follow our own paths after high school.
Thirteen years ago we didn’t have the responsibilities I’d like to start by thanking everyone for making tonight’s ceremony possible. This last year has been crazy due to the COVID-19 pandemic and I know that planning for tonight has been a long process. Therefore I am so grateful to be standing here in front of you all tonight for our graduation. The past nine months have had many ups and downs. Many of us have missed out on senior year experiences either because we were quarantined during them or the event was cancelled due to COVID regulations. Not being able to have those last memories like we thought we would has been kind of a hard pill to swallow. But I do believe that everything happens for a reason, even if we don’t know what that reason is at the time.
Our freshman year we came into the high school almost unnoticed because of how small our class size was. Some of the seniors that year told me that they didn’t even realize there was a freshman class. Though our class has always been small, we have many different aspirations. Whether we’re going to college, have already
