The journey has only begun

In the moments before Flathead High School’s 2017 commencement ceremony on Friday, Arielle Peters helped straighten the cap of fellow graduate Cylus Stremel, pulling the sides down evenly then patting the sides of his head with a smile.

Clusters of black-robed students milled around them in the wrestling room giving hugs and high-fives, or fanning themselves with graduation programs.

Peters and Stremel both graduated a semester early, but it was important for them to cross the stage in front of family and friends.

“It’s the final accomplishment,” Stremel said with a smile noting that his grandfather, home from Afghanistan, was able to be here.

Peters was also excited for the family members to be in the audience.

“My adoptive parents, birth parents, and step-parents for the first time in my life are in the same area and that means a lot,” Peters said.

And after receiving their diplomas?

“Then down to rodeo,” Peters said.

“Then down to military,” Stremel said.

As a barrel racer, Peters plans to hit the summer rodeo series. Stremel has finished Army basic training and will return to Fort Benning to begin specialized training in a chosen field.

Peters said it was tough graduating early.

“You really have to work for it,” Peters said. “It was tough for a person like me who struggled through high school. When they say go to class. Go to class. It’s worth it. When they say school pays off they’re very right. You don’t realize it until you get your diploma.”

Out in the gym, the school fight song began to play. The audience stood up clapping along.

The wait was nearing an end. Inside the wrestling room a raucous burst of clapping and cheering could be heard before graduates filed out into the hallway.

There was a mix of emotions in that short walk to the gym before making their grand, and final entrance as high school students.

“This is so nerve wracking,” one graduate said.

Another graduate turned around to jokingly remind the student behind him not to fall.

“Smile big,” another graduate shouted toward the front of the line, while another said quietly, “I don’t think I’m ready.”

In welcoming the audience, graduate Logan Thurston also bid farewell to Principal Peter Fusaro who is completing his last year at Flathead.

“Mr. Fusaro I speak on behalf of all FHS students when I say thank you for all you have done,” Thurston said.

In the opening address Katelin Haas reminded students that high school was four years of growth as an individual and moments like graduation are fleeting.

“Imagine how much we will change in the next four years. The journey of self discovery has only begun,” Haas said. “On the other hand I’m terrified. The uncertainty. Friendships changing. Asking yourself how much Ramen can a person safely eat. And ultimately am I making the right choice? Some of us have other worries. What do I want to be?”

Among the diverse concerns, Haas noted “we’re all in this boat together.”

Haas said she hoped the years at Flathead prepared graduates for the next step in life.

“So go out and see the world. Learn. Inspire. Create a life worth noting,” Haas said.

While students may have taken different paths focusing on sports, theater or International Baccalaureate studies over the past four years, the divergent paths led everyone together on this day said commencement speaker Diana Carolina Sierra Correa.

“After four years I think this is the first time that every single one of us have been in the same room since freshman day,” Sierra Correa said.

Sierra Correa said she never imagined speaking in front of such a large audience when on freshman day the single goal was “to find a friend to sit with at lunch,” and how that accomplishment was a relief.

“Because having moved from Colombia when I was young. I went to five different schools before I came to Flathead I knew how hard it was to find place where you felt comfortable with people you trust. And at that time I did not know that Flathead High School was going to be my home, and you guys, the Class of 2017, were going to become my family,” Sierra Correa said.

She noted how that family of students, teachers and staff created a welcoming and loving place where all types of students were encouraged to pursue or discover his or her passions.

“Regardless of whether they have lived in this community their whole lives or are immigrants like me who came here seeking exactly that -- an opportunity,” Sierra Correa said. “Our journey to seek opportunity, however, cannot end with high school. We have to continue to pursue our passions to the best of our abilities no mater what we do in our lives, not only strive for our own success, but to also show the gratitude for the things that we have earned and the people who have held our hands and made sacrifices for us along this journey that culminates today.

In the next path of life Sierra Correa reminded her peers to create that same “environment of love and welcomeness,” experienced at Flathead.

“... to open our hearts and our minds to those that may share different ideas and backgrounds and invite them into our lives,”

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.