Class of 2006 earns their diplomas

Retiring Principal Barry Cahill shares a special moment and hug with his youngest daughter, graduate Nicole Cahill.

Nearly 200 members of the Class of 2006 at Mountain Home High School received their hard-earned diplomas Friday, during the annual commencement exercises at Tiger Field.

This year's class already has received more than $200,000 in scholarships, Principal Barry Cahill announced, including $50,000 from local groups, organizations and businesses.

Superintendent of Schools Tim McMurtrey had been glued to the weather channel all day as forecasts had predicted rain and thunderstorms to arrive just as graduation was scheduled to begin.

Backup plans to move graduation indoors to the the high school gym were in place, but at 5 p.m. McMurtrey took the risk and decided the bad weather would hold off long enough for graduation outdoors. An indoor graduation would have limited attendance by friends and family and the gym can be stifling hot with 1500 people crammed into it at maximum capacity.

So while the weather was cool, everyone was able to hear their favorite graduate's name called out and watch them cross the stage to receive their diploma.

Erica Stanton, the senior class president, thanked all the parents "for making us achieve," noting, "this day is your day as much as ours." She also thanked the teachers for "pushing the boundaries of our minds," and her fellow graduates. "The time we spent here together, and the relationships we made," she told them, "are irreplacable."

Cahill then asked the class to stand, turn around, and salute their families and friends whose support had been so important to their achievement. Both sides of the fence, the graduates and those in the stands, rose and delivered a mighty cheer for each other.

This year's class featured three valedictorians, students whose managed to achieve a perfect 4.0 GPA throughout their high school career -- Tiffany Johnsrud, Blake Olmstead and Carmen Santy -- and each offered some brief thoughts on what graduation meant to them.

"After this night," Johnsrud said, "we will all follow different paths."

Each will find their own goals and lives. "Some will become teachers, others pharmacists, which pays a lot better," she said.

"As we all part ways, let me remind you that high school is a memory we will have forever.... I am pround to stand here today representing my class of 2006."

Olmstead told the graduates that "tonight represents the beginning of something new."

For 13 years, he said, each graduate had stepped into a classroom and learned how to study, how to make friends, "and how to be more than just a face in the crowd."

He thanked the teachers for pushing each student to their full potential, and added, "most of all, I'd like to thank Mountain Home High School. No matter how much we like to admit it, there's no place like home."

Santy noted that "we had our good days and our bad days here," yet, she said, "whatever our particular talents... we were treated with dignity and respect. And much of the credit for that goes to Mr. Cahill," she said, who believed in each student.

"We will all be rich with our memories of our time here," and urged each of her classmates to savor the moment.

For Cahill, it was a bittersweet ceremony. It was his last graduation as principal of the high school (he's retiring this year), and his youngest daughter, Nicole, was graduating.

Normally, Cahill maintains a quiet, professional reserve during the ceremonies, but when he called out Nicole's name the two embraced in a huge huge on stage that brought cheers and applause from the graduates.

Each year, the graduates have given Cahill some "momento" as they graduated. One year it was pennies, another year it was rolls of toilet paper. This year, a few days before graduation, Cahill came to his office to find 200 bottles of open soda pop in his office. And as the graduates crossed the stage and accepted Cahill's handshake, they each handed him one of the bottle caps from those sodas.

The high school concert band provided music for the ceremonies, and the high school a capella choir sang three selections during the ceremonies, including the school alma mater song.

The diplomas were formally handed to each graduate by members of the district's board of trustees, Jim Alexander, Jo Gridley, Luise House, Toni Reynolds and Tom Rodney.

The senior class motto was:

"Remember yesterday, dream for tommorrow, live for today."

The class colors were orange and black, the class flower was the Tiger Lily, and the senior class song was "Gone," by Jack Johnson.