Bay City Tribune

Blackcat Memorial Stadium was filled with the sounds of cheering and air-horns as loved ones watched 245 graduates of Bay City High School's class of 2009 walk across the stage in completion of their high school degrees Friday, June 5.

The cheering began as the graduates marched to their seats on the football field in traditional Bay City blue cap and gown.

The evening included a few special touches to remember classmates who weren't able to celebrate the occasion with their friends.

Walt Wendtland, Bay City High School principal, led the students and audience in a moment of silence for the memory of Ernest Medina, class of 2009 member that passed away this year.

As the graduates' names were called to receive their diplomas, Myrium "Stoney" Davis wasn't present to receive his diploma because he was competing in Austin at the UIL State Track Meet for shot put.

During the ceremony the top ten percent graduates were acknowledged and asked to rise and the top ten graduates of the class were given special awards for their achievement.

Kirk Shaffer, BCHS class of 1969 valedictorian, delivered the commencement address.

Shaffer is a senior partner with Crowell and Moring LLP in Washington D.C., prior to joining the firm, he was associate administrator for airports at the Federal Aviation Administration.

Shaffer graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, received a law degree from the University of Texas and graduated from The Judge Advocate General's School of the U.S. Army.

Shaffer began his speech by congratulating the students on their exceptional record and quickly moved into a reality check for the future.

"Look around you, for the past 17 or 18 years (parents, teachers, supporters) have been focused on you," he said.

"That focus is going to change very shortly."

"These people have been your servants now it's your turn to do your best service," said Shaffer.

"It's your turn to really live."

He offered four points to the students on how to live a life that really matters.

Shaffer's four pieces of advice for really living were: be a really good friend; get more involved than you ever have been in a church or charity; pay attention to the people around you all the time; serve your community and your country; and love one another.

During his speech, he called by name the students who had enlisted to serve in the United States military. They were given a standing ovation.

Jessica Haning, valedictorian, wanted to offer her classmates advice for the future that would be helpful to each student, no matter what path they chose following high school.

"I didn't want this speech to be just for those of us who are planning to go off to college next year," she said.

"But also for those graduates assembled who are going to stay right here in Bay City and build up this community."

The three pieces of advice that she shared with her fellow graduates came from her neighbor, her choir director and her Mother.

Haning said her neighbor had given her a graduation card with the message to never lose her child-like qualities

"This simple phrase meant a lot," she said.

"It meant that we should always remember how small we are and that we should never take ourselves too seriously because if we do we will never learn anything new."

"And it also meant that we should always keep a degree of simplicity in our lives so that we are never too busy to take in what really matters," she said.

Haning said her choir director once told her that he could die happy knowing that he had done what he truly loved in life.

"Spend your life doing not what pays the most money or what seems to be the most prestigious, but doing what you truly enjoy," she said.

"It is only when we enjoy what we are doing that we are able to live life to the fullest."

.Haning said her Mother lived a great example of the advice she offered each time she pulled the car over for them to watch crop dusters, stopped to read historical marker sign and helped them appreciate the beauty in the wildflowers.

"I was taught to appreciate the small things in life, to look at my surroundings and find the beauty in them," said Haning.

"When we take the time to see the good in every moment, the bad doesn't seem quite so big."

Kacy Coates, salutatorian, dared the 2009 graduates to dream and keep on striving to fulfill it.

"It is dreams and aspirations that give us the hope and determination to continue through life whether the times are good or they're bad," she said.

"And it is these dreams that will help us to shape the world from what we know today from what we imagine tomorrow will become."

She reminded her classmates that their dreams wouldn't only affect them but their family, friends and the world around them.

"History is filled with people whose dreams have affected so many," said Coates. "Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed that he would see a day when America was integrated and everyone was treated equally. He could not have known when he began to speak out about what he saw as a simple injustice, that he would be remembered for years and years to come and that he would be looked up to as a role model for future generations who'd also dream of changing the world."

Before parents and loved ones rushed the field to congratulate their graduates, they shared one last moment swaying together as Bay City High School's class of 2009 singing their alma mater.