Onekama Class of 2012 Graduation Ceremony

Posted by Dave Barber, Manistee News Advocate

Madalyn Harvey, Valedictorian

Valedictorian Madalyn Harvey wanted to reach out to all her friends and family Sunday afternoon.

“To all of you classmates, friends, teachers, administrators, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and the relative that no one is really sure how they’re really related, and the people who are just here to have something to do at 2 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon, thank you for coming to the Onekama gym,” Harvey said in her commencement address.

“I think the whole class really appreciates you. All of you seem to make the 13 years of schooling worth it.

“Don’t sweat the small stuff,” the 17-year-old honors’ student said. “This is really great advice for everyone who is ‘not’ going into health care. But to everyone else, you may not get some things done. You may not get an A on every homework assignment or test that you take in college.

“You may not live in suburbia with a white picket fence, surrounded by Barbie doll neighbors,” said Harvey, who will move on to Valparaiso. “(You may not have) 2.5 kids who are both outstanding athletes or on the honor roll. You may not get the huge bonus that you were anticipating in that new sales position.

“But trust me, it’s okay. I’ve been worried about the tiniest details for the past four years and look where it got me — I got to give (this) speech!

“Have fun,” Harvey said. “Life is boring and monotonous without out it. And thank people, often.”

The high school band under the direction of
Kathy Joseph

Superintendent Kevin Hughes welcomed all

In all, 34 graduates made up the Class of 2012 at Onekama High School, including Kyle Acker, Austin Barnett, Gabriella Bellinger, Kathleen Brauer, Erin Brown, Jaylee Brown (class president), Katelyn Fettig, Tyler Fogarty, Randall Fraley, Cody Graf, Harvey (valedictorian), Mariah Hunt, Chance Johnson, Mikayla Johnson (secretary), Daniel Kasper, Tanner Kott, Truman Lee, Sean Lowe, Jennica Mathieu, Rubee McCaslin, Nolan Miller, Ryan Mills, Brandon Morrill, Lindsay Nesburg (vice president), Dalton Olsen, Nicholas Osborn, Chad Packard Jr., Emily Pomeroy, Nicole Slater (salutatorian), Andrew Slevin, Danielle Ward (treasurer), Alexander Welch, Dylan Werth and Chilton Williams.

Salutatorian Nicole Slater

“I regret to say that I can’t share many memories of this class, because every day was a memory,” Slater said in he salutatorian address. “Not always good, but it made me want to stay here all the same. I was introduced to new things, new people, and everything. Every year brought something different. Almost immediately, I got what I know will be life-long friends.

“I wish I had another year to be around. I learned to have fun and all those other life-lessons. I’m going to miss it all and my only regret is that I didn’t transfer sooner.”
The Class of 2012 selected
“Tattoos on This Town,” by Jason Aldean, as the class song.

Class motto by Ralph Waldo Emerson — “Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
Class officers were Jaylee Brown (president), Lindsay Nesburg (vice president), Mikayla Johnson (secretary), and Danielle Ward (treasurer).

The class colors were black and gold and the Black-Eyed Susan was the class flower.

A slide presentation created by Mariah Hunt and Gabriella Bellinger was shown during the graduation ceremony. It showed members of the graduation class from their early years to the present.

www.onekama.k12.mi.us Serving Onekama School since 1997