Klahowya grads told life is an epic that's only just begun

The “Easy to love impossible to forget” Klahowya Class of 2002 ended an episode but continued the epic.

“We are done,” said salutatorian Kim King.

She paused allowing her classmates to relish in the accomplishment before she issued a dose of reality.

“Well, maybe not so much,” she added.

King, in her commencement speech Saturday at the Kitsap Pavilion compared the end of high school to an episode of Star Wars, each being a piece in a saga.

Parents and friends snapped photos and blinked back proud tears as the seniors closed out their high school careers.

She offered advice gleaned from the movies and her own words of wisdom.

“The Empire always strikes back. A Jedi’s work is never done,” she said.

“Take up your light sabers. We are not only here to protect each other but ourselves,” she said.

She urged students not to let getting older (25 years old) get them down.

“Buy a stairmaster, never let yourself settle, and get botox,” she said.

She encouraged her class to follow the sage advice of a little green Jedi master.

“Try not. Do or do not. There is no try,” she said.

Valedictorian Heidi Bay congratulated her classmates for doing something only 77 percent of high school students do — earn their diplomas.

Bay and King — three-year debate partners and good friends — touched on some of the things that set Klahowya’s class of 2002 apart from the rest.

“We’ve all had that common experience. How many of us after telling someone where we go to school have encountered that common blank stare,” King said.

Bay mentioned a few of the more memorable moments that the group experienced during its six years at the school. The group of students started at the school in the eighth grade.

The kitchen grease fire, the 2001 earthquake and the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks were a few of the benchmarks for the class of less than 200. The students were also instrumental in building up sports teams from little known competitors to forces to be reckoned with.

“We’re awesome, homegrown in Seabeck,” Bay said.

“Don’t let people look down on you because you’re young. They probably wish they were young too,” she said.

The students chose teacher Scott McMinds to speak at the commencement.

He started his speech the way he begins class each Monday morning. He told a funny story. This one involved a miscalculated match with a beehive McMinds joked as being Africanized killer bees.

He then got serious and encouraged the soon-to-be-graduates to contribute to the body of humanity.

During the commencement, Erin Pardee read “Graduation” an original poem. Amanda Levenseller, Aaron Hansen and Kristen Eddings sang The Beatles’ “In My Life.” Robert Tyree delivered an emphatic original speech “Graduation.”

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