High school graduation rites begin this weekend

Starting this weekend, bands will strike up “Pomp and Circumstance” and hundreds of seniors throughout the county will march the solemn procession that wraps up their high school careers.

Graduation ceremonies in the Flathead Valley begin Saturday and will continue through June 6. More than 1,000 seniors are expected to graduate in 10 ceremonies over the next week and a half.

Following is local commencement information.

n Thirty-one seniors will participate in the Flathead Valley Home School graduation, which starts at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Christian Center.

n Columbia Falls High School will graduate 182 seniors in a ceremony that begins at 2 p.m. Sunday. Graduation will take place in the high school gym.

n Laser School, one of Kalispell’s alternative high schools, holds graduation at 11 a.m. Thursday in the Linderman Educational Center gym. Twenty-eight seniors will take part in the ceremony.

n Twelve students will graduate from Whitefish Independent High School at 1 p.m. Thursday. If the weather is fair, the ceremony will take place in Hope Gardens behind Muldown Elementary; if it rains, graduation will be held in the Whitefish Middle School auditorium.

n Stillwater Christian School’s graduation starts at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Seventeen seniors will graduate.

Four high schools will hold graduation ceremonies on Saturday, June 4:

n Bigfork High School’s is scheduled for 11 a.m. in the high school gym. Sixty-nine seniors will take part in the ceremony.

n Glacier High School’s graduation begins at 11 a.m. June 4 in the gym. It will be the first commencement for students who have spent all four years at the school; 267 seniors will graduate. The number includes some students who attended Laser School.

n Whitefish High School’s graduation ceremony starts at 1 p.m. June 4 in the gym. There are 121 graduates, including students from the Independent High School and eight foreign exchange students.

n Flathead High School will have 302 seniors graduate this year, including some students who attended Laser School. The ceremony begins at 3 p.m. June 4 in the gym.

n Bridge Academy, Kalispell’s other alternative high school, has the final commencement ceremony of the year. The school’s 28 seniors graduate at 7 p.m. June 6 at the Outlaw Inn in Kalispell.