A raucous crowd of joyful parents, friends, family and peers arrived at the Kitsap Sun Pavilion Friday night to witness an eager group of graduating seniors from Olympic High School receive their diplomas and complete their tenure as high school students.
264 graduates in total walked across the stage to receive their hard-earned diplomas while looking ahead to the things they want to accomplish in the near future. 165 scholarships were received by OHS students.
Valedictorian Robert Haugen asked his fellow classmates to “be honest and kind in order to make life easier for others” as they make their way out into the world. He also thanked his family, teachers, mentors and peers “for being here for us and helping us along the way all these years.”
OHS teacher Paul Williams spoke at the ceremony and offered some advice to the class of 2019.
“Here you guys are graduating and about to embark on the structure of your adult life. College, training programs, jobs, serious relationships, family, credit, bills, student loans, all that.”
“Practice acts of kindness; it’s different from being nice. Nice is great, but it’s easy. I think kindness requires a little more challenge and you have to be willing to be vulnerable.”
Valedictorians for the class of 2019 are:
- Fiona Graham – Michigan State University – English
- Robert Haugen – California Polytechnic State University – Civil Engineering
- Emily Parker – University of Washington – Physics
- Mackenzie Puckett – Seton Hall University – Business
- Danielle Snyder – Boise State University – Psychology
Salutatorians for the class of 2019 are:
- Jordann Branner – University of Colorado Denver – Criminal Justice
- Hayley Thompson – University of Oregon – Journalism
- Shelby Powers – Western Washington University – Public Health
- Amie Le – University of Washington – Public Health
- Jaden Hogan – Bournemouth University – Forensic Science
- Angelina Torres-Hernandez – Western Washington University – Psychology
- Dylan Heino – University of Washington – Bioengineering
- Caleb Lizon – Olympic College
- Kristen Kerby – Western Washington University – Elementary Education
—Tyler Shuey is a reporter for Kitsap News Group. He can be reached at tshuey@soundpublishing.com
Courtesy of Central Kitsap School District
