Class of 2011
Elizabeth O’Mary gets a high five as she and the other seniors at Glacier High School proceed into the gymnasium for commencement Saturday morning in Kalispell. Two hundred sixty-seven students graduated from Glacier.
Barret Gosen, left, and Michael Donahue share a laugh as they and other seniors gather before lining up for commencement Saturday afternoon at Flathead High School. Flathead had 302 seniors in its graduating class.
Alex Bardwell, left, and Rindi Beagley applaud as the seniors at Flathead High School prepare to proceed into the gymnasium for this year’s commencement ceremony Saturday afternoon in Kalispell.
Richard Boyer smiles as he holds his diploma and has his tassel turned during the Commencement Ceremony on Saturday morning at Glacier High School.
Whitefish High School graduated 108 seniors in the class of 2011
Austin Kelleher (left) and other Bigfork High School seniors listen as principal Matt Jensen introduces the class of 2011. Sixty-nine students graduated Saturday.
The 2011 graduating classes of Flathead High School and Glacier High School accepted their diplomas Saturday.
Speakers at each commencement ceremony acknowledged not only their accomplishments as students, but also their place in local history.
For Glacier, the 267 members of the senior class represented the first group to attend the school as freshmen four years ago when the doors of the new school officially opened.
For Flathead, the 2011 graduating class was also the first to attend that school for all four years of high school, as Flathead was previously for 10th-, 11th- and 12th-grade students.
Glacier Principal Callie Langohr welcomed the standing-room-only crowd at the 11 a.m. ceremony in the Glacier gymnasium by acknowledging the importance of the class of 2011.
Everything was new four years ago, she said, and the freshman class had the unprecedented responsibility of navigating a brand new educational experience in the Flathead Valley.
Langohr said she vividly recalls the arrival of eager freshmen on Sept. 4, 2007, who were presented with an “empty canvas” of opportunities.
“Oh my, how the class of 2011 rose to the occasion,” Langohr said.
At the 1 p.m.. Flathead High School commencement ceremony, keynote speaker and senior Madeline Bjork touched on the accomplishments of her own classmates.
When Glacier High School opened in 2007, Bjork and her classmates became the first freshmen class of Flathead High School.
The 302 seniors who accepted their diplomas Saturday represented the completion of a long journey.
“This class has spent more time together than any other” Flathead High School class, Bjork said, later adding, “We’ve learned to embrace change.”