Hillsboro graduation marked by shoes, leis
Staff writer
Under orange-and-red lights in Shari Flaming Memorial Arts Center, Hillsboro High School graduated 38 Trojans on Saturday.
The procession was a professional, polished affair, livened up by some choice attire.
Top students were introduced by Principal Tyler Weinbrenner rattling off a list of their accomplishments.
Each student had each career and technical education class they’d taken listed next to his or her names in the program; honor students got stars next to their names.
The program even warned that “views expressed by students/speakers do not necessarily reflect the views of USD 410.”
The valedictory address, by Gabrielle Arnold, Seth Driggers, Luke Isaac, Kenzie Meisinger, and Lincoln Wichert, was a mosaic of a speech, in which each of the five took turns recapping different stages of their lives.
Meisinger spoke about the importance of the school library. Isaac recalled that “after prom, we played countless rounds of laser tag and ate way too many slices of greasy pizza.” Wichert quoted “the one and only Owen Dalke” in calling his fellow graduates “a dangerously close class.”
Nash Dickinson spoke after the valedictorians.
“The salutatorian has the second highest GPA, so you could also call me the first loser,” he joked.
He added he was happy he wasn’t valedictorian, as he didn’t have to share his speech with four others.
After Spirit-N-Celebration performed “Sh-Boom” — a classic rock song chosen because of its use in the movie “Cars” — art teacher Dustin Dalke gave a commencement speech.
Dalke’s son, Owen, was one of the students graduating, and he became choked up while talking about how proud he was of the class.
“I promise I will mostly speak about myself,” he eventually said with a laugh.
Dalke wheeled a clothing rack covered by a trash bag onto the stage, then removed the bag to reveal nine pairs of shoes hanging by their laces.
Dalke said shoes were one of the first things he notices about students. True to his promise, he spoke at length about his own history of footwear.
He recalled how his mother, after he’d requested Jordans, had bought him a pair of Michael Jackson-branded shoes instead.
He asked students to remember the first pair of shoes they could.
“Maybe it was some slides, or dare I say Crocs?” Dalke said.
One’s shoes, he went on, demonstrate where one has been, what one has done, and where one’s faults are.
“I hope you realize it’s not about shoes,” Dalke said. “It’s about purpose.”
The ceremony was over within an hour. The graduates filed against the side of the auditorium like a well-dressed security detail before walking onstage to get their diplomas.
After the ceremony, senior Kainoa Defiesta received a dozen floral garlands from his family to wrap around his head and neck.
Defiesta’s cousin, Beverly Lehualani Corpuz, explained that the garlands represented the Hawaiian concept of ʻāina, or love of land, and helped connect the wearer to their homeland.
Even in the middle of Kansas, Defiesta found himself rooted in his Hawaiian heritage.
Or perhaps the garlands connected him to Hillsboro, and the school he had called home for so long.
“We want as much of the land around us as we can,” Corpuz said.