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Photo by Sam Harrel

Photo by Sam Harrel

Photo by Sam Harrel

The 2008 North Pole High School graduating class strutted, danced, linked arms, walked sedately and in lockstep, blew bubbles, mimed, posed and somersaulted through a balloon archway into the Carlson Center arena Thursday evening.

The class’s buoyant attitude and smiling faces contagiously flew upward into an admiring crowd of cheering family members and friends, witnesses to their graduation ceremony.

The positive mood increased with the words of salutatorian speaker Chelsea Kowallis who told a tale of turkeys who were taught to fly, and did, soaring high and exploring new vistas, but, at the end of the day, landed and walked home.

The point of the story is, she explained, “We’ve gained knowledge and skills to fly, and if we don’t use it, we’ll not soar. Do you want to walk or do you want to fly? I suggest you try your wings.”

Kowallis stressed to her classmates the importance of social skills and self-knowledge, proposing that graduates not let a day go by without doing at least one thing to help someone else.

And she emphasized the importance of liking oneself.

“If you don’t like yourself, you’ll always be with someone you don’t like,” she said.

Commencement speaker Jerry Million, a NPHS teacher, said he polled many seniors about what his address should contain.

Million’s informal survey yielded, “Make it humorous, make it inspiring, make it entertaining, and make it short.”

And the automotive technology instructor managed to fill all four requests, starting off by telling a few jokes followed by some advice and words to live by such as:

“Practice integrity, honor and tolerance about things you don’t understand and they way you treat others.”

Million told graduates that as they go out into the world they will be making more and more of their own decisions and choices.

“With choice comes responsibility,” he said. “Your parents and society want you to make good choices.”

Million also emphasized the power of positive thinking.

“Become proactive which is exhilarating, not reactive which is debilitating,” he said. “See yourself as a winner — plan to win, prepare to win and expect to win.”

“And above all embrace love,” he said, noting the various types — fatherly love, brotherly love, puppy love and the strongest of all motherly love.

But Million will probably be most remembered for the entertainment aspect of his address, bringing all 148 graduates to their feet soon after he unveiled an electric guitar, removed his baccalaureate gown to reveal a black suit, shirt and white tie; stepped down from the stage and started riffing, singing and scatting to the class — about love and good choices of course.

Valedictorian Katrina Nore revealed that she made the choice in seventh grade to be class valedictorian, adding that it doesn’t mean she’s the smartest person in the class or that she can do everything, but that she set her goal high, and got good grades.

She said the NPHS football team did the same when they won the state football championship in 2004.

“We need to look farther than we can reach and strive to achieve it,” Nore said ... “Never stop learning. Wherever you may be there is always something to learn ... and have fun,” she added, ending with a Dr. Seuss rhyme.

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go. ...”