Southwest Valley celebrates second graduating class
CORNING — Together as one, the Villisca and Corning communities gathered in the Corning Activity Center Sunday afternoon to celebrate the second graduating class of Southwest Valley High School.
Fifty-six students from both Villisca and Corning walked across the stage to receive their diplomas from both boards of education.
Both valedictorians, Mason Sickels of Villisca and Aunica Harvey of Corning, used their speeches to emphasize the changes that have come along with entering a whole-grade sharing agreement.
“When our schools combined, I thought everyone was going to hate each other and it was going to be a huge mess,” Sickels said. “But now we’re like a giant family and I think that’s perfect.”
Harvey followed up later by noting the class of 2015 is well aware of the multiple changes they’ve experienced during their educational careers.
“We got lost and sometimes even scared,” she said. “We had to learn how to help each other and how to let the other classmates help us.”
Harvey said the class of 2015 has learned a lot over the past four years, but the biggest was learning that change happens and there isn’t much that can be done to stop it.
“I encourage you not to look at change as a bad thing,” she said. “Instead, look at change as an opportunity waiting to be seized and use it to challenge yourself as an individual. For without change, you would never grow as a human being.”
Kelsey Means and Bellamy Heaton were selected as the salutatorians.
The class motto for Southwest Valley’s graduating class was “Our lives are before us, our past behind us, but our memories are forever with us.”
The class song was “Good Riddance (Time of your Life)” by Green Day and the class flower was a white rose dipped in silver and tied with a black and teal ribbon.
The list of graduates in the Class of 2015 includes: Jaden Baker, Nichole Bashor, Whitney Bayles, Tyler Bissell, Eric Bodwell, Cristian Bohn, Alexandria Bronner, Alexis Bronner, Thad Bruning, Kayla Campbell, Ryan Carlson, Shelby Cooper, Cadon Cornelison, Colten Drake, Nicholas Frederick, Brett Fulton, Janelle Gibler, Blake Haidsiak-Riggle, Lucas Haley, Joshua Harlow, Mikayla Hartstack, Aunica Harvey, Bellamy Heaton, Darlia Hubby, Kimberly Hults, Lisa Jennings, Regan Jessen, Sabrina Kammerer, Darien Keefe, Trevor Maeder, Cassandra Maxwell, Axel McCuen, Gunnar McCuen, Kelsey Means, Mikayla Moore, Clint Mullen, Tanner Mullen, Kelly Pafford, Marie Palmer, Jade Petersen, Lane Peterson, Samuel Richey, Buck Schafroth, Garrett Seals, Derek Shaw, Mason Sickels, Kalyn Smith, Trevor Sorensen, Tori Straw, Jessica Taylor, Paige Taylor, Scott Vanderhoof, Jonnie Weeks, Ricky Wiater, Kendra Wilkinson and Jake Wilson.