Class of 2015: Johnsburg High School graduates reflect on accomplishments

JOHNSBURG – Eighteen-year-old James Cheesman approached classmate Alexa Duenas on Friday evening, wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and hugged her.

“My heart hurts,” Duenas had said a moment earlier, eyes welling with tears as she walked out of the north side of Johnsburg High School to take her place among her blue-robed peers lining up for graduation.

“I love this town so much,” said Duenas, who is headed to the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee in the fall.

Duenas, Cheesman and the 175 other members of the Johnsburg High School Class of 2015 soon made their way to their seats on the Skyhawk football field, while parents, relatives and friends spilled out of the home team bleachers, many lining up along the fence.

Superintendent Dan Johnson welcomed the crowd under sunny skies that would not remain. By the time students whose last names started with T were accepting their diplomas, rain began to fall – lightly at first, but soon drenching the nevertheless smiling grads.

“Students, congratulations on all of your hard work and success,” Johnson said before the clouds moved in. “As you reflect back over the past four years, I certainly hope that you are proud of your accomplishments.”

Johnson noted that the class included recipients of more than $3 million in scholarships, and had made its mark in community service.

Salutatorian Michaela Birchmeier offered inspirational quotations from everyone from Maya Angelou to Shakespeare, peppering her talk with her own interpretations.

“Never stop asking questions,” she said after paraphrasing Shakespeare’s “The fool doth think he is wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.”

“It’s better than pretending that you know everything,” she said, also cautioning her fellow graduates not to allow society to define their happiness.

Valedictorian Gabrielle Betancourt said childhood vanished quickly.

“Many of us here today have known each other since kindergarten,” she said. “What seemed like an eternity at the time has gone by in the blink of an eye.”

The wisest among them will accept with grace both the great and not so great times ahead, she added.

“Be excited to be alive,” she said. “Every day is a gift.”

Class President Anna Fox said graduation was cause for celebration and solemnity.

“From my freshman to my senior year, I wouldn’t change a thing,” she said. “I’m really sad to be leaving this place. It’s been my privilege growing up with you.”