Message to Glacier graduates: Blaze your own path

Glacier High School students clad in dark blue caps and gowns entered the school gym as high school seniors and left as graduates at the school’s ninth commencement ceremony on Saturday.

Glacier this year celebrates its 10th anniversary, and has marked the year with the school theme “Tradition Never Graduates,” and the motto, a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Do not follow where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

Taking a page from Emerson, Glacier Principal Callie Langohr encouraged students to “take risks and continually challenge yourselves.”

“It has been an honor and a joy to work with the class of 2017,” Langohr said. “Graduates, enjoy yourselves today because you’ve certainly earned it.”

The graduating class of 254 students was the second smallest in the schools decade-long run, though the gym itself was packed with family and friends for the new graduates.

Last month Glacier was awarded the Most Memorable Graduation award from Varsity Brands for the 2016 commencement ceremony. Glacier received the award not for its pomp and circumstance, but for its emphasis on “grit and gratitude.”

The student-led ceremony celebrates the little things, like a “Stole of Gratitude.” First introduced in the 2014 graduation ceremony, a white stole is given to students to show their appreciation to their entire support system of friends, family and teachers. The students are then asked to give the stole to one person who helped them get to where they are today.

For graduate Sarah Stern, her brother will receive her white stole.

“He has always been there for me,” Stern said. “All my success is because of him, he’s always been there and pushed me to be the best I can be.”

Stern’s brother is currently a senior at the University of Montana, and while she plans to follow in his steps and continue her education, Stern has her sights set on an education abroad. She’s already got a head start, having graduated high school maxima cum laude in seven semesters and recently finished a semester in Venice, Italy through Flathead Valley Community College.

Stern hopes to continue her travels around the world and study business, though she’s not certain where she wants to go to school yet. Her next trip will be to Australia, she said.

Student speaker Trey Shields said his favorite theme from his four years at Glacier High was the first one, his freshman year, which was “Glacier Gives Gratitude Often.”

Shields said it was the coaches and teachers, and the moms and dads who “woke up before the sun rose to drive us to school,” that helped to make graduation happen.

“Someone went out of their way to make sure you were successful,” Shields said. “No matter where you wind up in the next five years, 10 years or 20, there will always be someone standing behind you.”

Reporter Alyssa Gray may be reached at 758-4433 or agray@dailyinterlake.com.