First class

Glacier grads build a legacy

Taylor Albright said it simply: "I hope I don't trip."

Albright's smiling face dimmed slightly as she imagined crossing the stage to accept her diploma.

Albright's name would be the first one called when Glacier High School's first senior class graduated Saturday, and her brief walk across the stage would set the tone for the other 234 graduates.

But her worry was for nothing. Albright's smile was big and beautiful when her name was called, and she didn't wobble on her silver heels as she climbed the stairs to the stage. She hugged her grandmother, Kalispell school board trustee Bette Albright, beamed as school board chairwoman Anna Marie Bailey flipped her tassel to the left side of her hat and walked carefully back down the steps.

She was poised as she led the way - just as she and the rest of the Class of 2009 had been throughout their time at Glacier High School.

As the first class to graduate from the newest Class AA high school in the state, the seniors' legacy was emphasized throughout Saturday's commencement ceremony. Megan Leininger, a senior class representative and one of the ceremony's speakers, praised her peers for that legacy.

"We don't have to worry about this place ever forgetting us, because we will never fully leave," she said. "Every time those united under Glacier taste either the sweetness of victory or the bitterness of defeat, they simply build on the foundation we have laid for them."

Before the ceremony began, several seniors said they were happy simply to be so close to the finish line. Others, however, were awed by the opportunity to be part of a historic event.

"We started a legacy," Lauren Mauthe said. "We're the first class. One hundred years from now, they'll still know it's us."

"It's an honor," Leslie Strodtbeck agreed.

Nearby in the sea of navy polyester robes that flooded the commons before the ceremony began, Jon Schock and Jake Heimerl also reflected on being two of Glacier's first graduates.

"It's pretty cool to be the first class, I guess," Heimerl said.

"We're making history right here," Schock added.

After greeting friends and family in the commons and posing for countless photos, the soon-to-be graduates headed upstairs to sit in classrooms for one last time. They lined up in alphabetical order, made sure their tassels hung off their hats' right sides - or replaced tassels that had been lost in the morning's chaos - and reminisced with friends.

For many, the waiting was surreal.

"I'm just kind of thinking, it's been 12 years of school, and it's almost over," Aaron Young said. "I feel nervous but kind of weird at the same time."

Meagan Wilkinson was one of the Flathead High School students who moved to Glacier when the school opened in fall 2007.

"It was different at first, but I soon got used to the school. Then I liked it," she said.

"Then I realized I was part of the first graduating class, and it was like, wow, amazing. It's pretty good. You feel like a real leader.

"It's a pretty exciting feeling."

The ceremony's speakers - nearly all of whom were graduating seniors - emphasized the leadership of the Class of 2009. Hillary Secrist, the senior class president and the ceremony's emcee, reflected on the school's ribbon-cutting ceremony two years earlier.

"This year's going to be rough without seniors," she remembers thinking then. "Now I know that we are the seniors who were meant to lead this school."

Leininger applauded her classmates for not listening to naysayers who thought Kalispell wasn't ready for two high schools, or who thought the school would be demoralized after a year of losses in activities and athletics.

"While those critics were standing idly by, we hardly heard a thing, because we were too busy proving them wrong," Leininger said.

The class did well in activities and athletics, especially this year. More importantly, as Principal Callie Langohr pointed out, the seniors started traditions and created a school personality.

That, Leininger said, made the Class of 2009 a success.

"We are victorious," she said. "We are united. We are Glacier."

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com