|
Fifty-four
years ago, the class of 1952 was the first to graduate from Owen
County High School. More than half a century later, the class
of 2006 proudly marched as the newest installment of Owen Countians
ready to set the world on fire.
This year’s graduating class has another first, too. It
was the first class to graduate from the new building after spending
all four years there. “There have been a lot of good times
in that school,” class president Teena Lynn said.
Graduation has meant different things to different students. For
some it was a relief to leave, others will remember those years
as the best of their lives. No matter, though, graduation is the
closing of one door and the opening of another, and over the years
the ceremony has changed to reflect the times.
Dave Stowe, a retired English teacher and organizer of the commencement
weekend “since the dawn of time,” has seen the service
undergo several makeovers. The biggest change, he says, was in
the mid-80s when the baccalaureate sermon was merged with the
graduation ceremony. Now a brief baccalaureate devotion is given
by a local pastor who imparts upon the graduates some words of
wisdom.
Until the early ’90s a senator or other dignitary would
speak at graduation, but now the speeches are left to the “valedictorians
and salutatorians who have worked so hard to be there,”
said Stowe.
Stowe admits the nicest modification is holding graduation in
the new air-conditioned gymnasium — and anyone who attended
graduation in the old high school is sure to agree.
Still, while there have been changes, some things have stayed
the same. Just as some schools were banned from student- or administration-led
prayer, Lauren Marston, who led the invocation, said her thanks
for allowing her “to live in a community where God is still
welcome at graduation.”
In the wake of court orders and lawsuits at other Kentucky high
schools, some feared there would be protest to the traditional
graduation ceremony here. But that didn’t happen.
“There have been no phone calls or issues regarding (prayer)
at graduation or any school event,” reported the school’s
principal, Tim Hitzfield.
Andrew Gilbert, who delivered the benediction, says he “wasn’t
too concerned” about anything happening this year, but he
worries about future years.
Before the ceremony, graduate Glenn Smith said he supported prayer
at graduation and hoped the ceremony would go smoothly. And on
Saturday when Marston and Gilbert said their prayers it did just
that — and the reaction was more to the tune of nodding
heads than pumping fists.
Click
Here to Go Back to Front |
