Iris Swanberg, Macy Williams and Sadie Smith hold up their diplomas as the crowd cheers for them at the end of their eighth grade graduation ceremony.
Iris Swanberg receives her diploma and shakes hands with Ovando School Board Chair Jim Stone. Swanberg will attend Hellgate High School in the fall.
OVANDO - Ovando Elementary School graduated three eighth graders Wednesday, May 23.
Opening remarks were made by the school's supervising teacher, Leigh Ann Valiton, affectionately known as "Ms. Valley." She said she had always been thankful her own children were boys, until the girls of this year's eighth grade class came along and changed her mind.
Iris Swanberg, Sadie Smith and Macy Williams each participated in school graduation traditions like the reading of their "wills" or what they wish to leave their classmates and teachers with as they leave school, as well as hearing "prophesies" about their futures, as written by their families and friends.
The graduation speaker was Linda Hugulet, who was once a teacher at Ovando school, but, since her retirement, she said she has had a difficult time staying away and still volunteers at the school as its librarian.
"Today might be a good day to ask your parents for money," she said. The crowd laughed. "But it also is a good day to thank them."
She went on to describe this day in the graduates' lives as a milestone.
"Dedicate yourself to making next year even better, don't follow the crowd, do the right thing when no one is looking and study hard because school is an investment you make in yourself," Hugulet said.
Iris Swanberg will attend Hellgate High School in Missoula next year. Sadie Smith will attend Frenchtown High School and Macy Williams will attend high school in Seeley Lake or Drummond.
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