Story originally printed in the Onalaska Life or online at www.onalaskalife.com

Published - Thursday, May 29, 2008

OHS bids a fond farewell to Class of ’08

Mitch Maxey received a standing ovation from the student body as he received his diploma. Photo by Jo Anne Killeen

By JO ANNE KILLEEN | Staff writer

With Onalaska High School’s Charles Deeth Fieldhouse packed almost to the rafters with enthusiastic families, 217 graduates received their high school diplomas Sunday afternoon.

After vocalist Katelyn Hoppens’ beautiful renditions of the national anthem and other songs and tunes by the high school band directed by Dawson Strutt, graduating seniors were treated to a succession of speakers who heralded their new beginnings with a mixture of talent, humor and wisdom.

Abigail Chilsen, the recipient of the Honor Medallion from the faculty, spoke about how the past should inform the future. Russell Buehler, winner of the National Merit Scholarship and numerous other honors, challenged his classmates to not be afraid to take risks and go after their dreams.

Apparently, the opening request by Principal Pete Woerpel for the audience to turn off their cell phones didn’t apply to Justin Mauss who was chosen by his fellow students to deliver one of the senior addresses. His cell phone went off mid-speech and, yes, he took the call. All pre-arranged of course as he gabbed to his friend about a great place to pick up babes.

He also likened the tough seniors to plastic bags: “Don’t get mad, get glad. You can shake us up and down and dump us upside down, but we’re not going to leak.”

Onalaska Board of Education President Kirby Lentz cast a dreamy look into the future. With an aged cap and a cane as his props, he hobbled over to the podium and proceeded to vault everyone into the year 2033 — 25 years from now. Kirby pretended he was addressing students that returned for their 25th class reunion. “Look at me, I’m 85 years old now, and look at this school board behind me; boy do they look old. And look at you; you’re all accomplished, happy people.”

Speaking as if it were in the past, Lentz said he was glad the Electoral College was gone and that every vote counted towards the presidential race in 2032. He was glad there were more than two political parties and that Constitutional law was being used to promote international law and peace instead of war.

“Thanks to you, the U.S. is once again respected around the world,” he said. “And that’s because of your hard work. I don’t know how you did it. Did you just start communicating with other nations around the world?

“No one wanted to fix the health care crisis before you came along and fixed it,” he continued. “This is the first generation to make a healthy living a national initiative. And you’ve broadened the research and contained the worst diseases.

“And, oh, by the way, maybe you didn’t have much to do with it, but isn’t it fabulous the Packers have won three Super Bowls in the last five years under Coach Brett Favre?”

Onalaska School District Administrator John Burnett got into the pretending act by having the seniors imagine they were juggling five balls. “Those five balls represent aspects of your life. There’s one each for work, family, health, friends and your spirit. And you’ve got to keep them all in the air.”

Burnett then said the ball for work was made of rubber, so if that were dropped it would bounce back.

“But the family ball, the health ball, the friends and especially the spirit ball, those are made of glass. If you drop one of those balls, it will shatter and will require time and energy to repair. But repair them you must,” he said.

Sunday afternoon, though, the only thing in need of repair was the floor after the caps were tossed.