Wawasee Class of 2020 Receives Diplomas On Warrior Field
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Amanda Bridgman-abridgman@timesuniononline.com
SYRACUSE – Wawasee High School held its 52nd commencement Saturday for the Class of 2020 on Warrior Field.
The nearly 200 graduates and their families maintaned social distance guidelines across the football field and heard from their classmates and administrators a common theme of perseverance and unfairness when reflecting on how the COVID-19 virus shut down one of the best times of their lives.
Wawasee Community School Corporation Superintendent Dr. Tom Edington welcomed students Saturday and said 51 graduating classes have come before them, but they are “the class that will forever live in Wawasee history.
“Many of the people here watching the ceremony love to talk about their trials and tribulations through the blizzard of 1978 and their school experiences then. Your situation beats any of the blizzard stories,”?Edington said. “I’m sorry for you, and I’m proud of you. This unprecedented time has given you, our graduates, a chance to shine brightly and reflect what it is to a be a warrior. A Wawasee Warrior. Your Class of 2020 will be remembered as a class that wished and yearned for dreams that just couldn’t be. But then you went forth and made moments that will be long remembered. You became the group to rally behind for our community. We want a celebration for you as much as you need it to be celebrated. Ideas of parades, signs, proms and graduation on the turf make not just Wawasee High School but our community proud.”
Class President Zachary Leedy addressed his classmates and said no matter where everyone goes in the future, they will always be Wawasee Warriors in the Class of 2020.
“Our time here at Wawasee was definitely memorable, and we got to experience some things other graduating classes will not,” Leedy said. “One of those things being at the end of the year we could go to class in our underwear and not get yelled at. Our class will also be remembered for having the longest senior skip day that this school’s ever seen. The best of our class is yet to come.”
Salutatorian Michael Hammer said he struggled with writing his speech and chose not to focus on all of the negative things he could say about this COVID-19-impacted year.
“Our class probably missed out on the best part of high school. Leaving,” he said. “We missed a good chunk of the year that everyone looks forward to since they walk through the doors as freshmen. We missed out on our final sports seasons, senior prom, senior pranks, senior cookout and probably, most importantly, senior skip day. We missed out on a time where everyone forgets about all the drama and the cliques and starts to be their true selves.
“It may not be necessarily fair, and that’s the way life goes. Sometimes life just isn’t fair, and that’s a good lesson to learn. Things will always happen in life that are out of our control, and bad things will happen to good people. You can’t summit the mountain if there is no mountain to climb.
“Today, as we are here, we have all summited the mountain and realized we all missed out. Our class is going to be stronger because we’ve learned how to roll with the punches and make the best out of a bad situation.”
Valedictorian Evan Coblentz told his classmates, “We made it,” and that comfort rarely leads to growth. Quoting Dolly Parton, Coblentz said, “If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain. The last four months have been a torrential downpour.”
Wawasee High School Principal Geoff Walmer said every graduate has something in common: Perseverance.
“If you don’t own the goal, and it doesn’t come from your dream, then you won’t have the toughness to persevere when the going gets tough, and I will promise you that the going will get tough. There is never an exception,” Walmer said. “Everyone who wins must push through obstacles. Lots of them. You, Wawasee High School Class of 2020, you showed perseverance like no other graduating class in the history of our school. For this, you should be proud and hold your head high, knowing that next time you get punched in the gut by life’s obstacles, you stand prepared to overcome. Know that we’re proud of you, and you’re welcome to come back and say hi anytime. Once a warrior, always a warrior.”
The following is a list of the names of the Wawasee High School graduating Class of 2020:
