Baldwin High School bids goodbye to 101 graduates of 2016

photo by: Elvyn Jones

Baldwin High School senior Hollie Hutton receives her diploma from Baldwin school district Superintendent Paul Dorathy. Hutton was one of 101 members of the Class of 2016 to graduate at the ceremony at the Baldwin Middle School gymnasium.

As he stood in the hallways Saturday morning filled with other Baldwin High School class of 2016 graduates clutching newly earned diplomas and sharing hugs and selfies, Daniel Vakser gave an abridged version of many of this year’s commencement speeches.

“It was a great four years of being with all my friends,” he said. “It was a great time of trying new things and learning more about myself.”

Vakser said he was ready to move on with the next stage of his life at Kansas University this fall, but still had a bit more self-exploration to do.

“I’m undecided,” he said of a major. “I don’t know what I like, but I know what don’t like.”

About 30 minutes earlier, commencement speaker Tim Jones told the class finding the right career can sometimes take time. Chosen by the class to give the address, Jones was the class president of his 1973 BHS graduating class and now owns and operates one of the town’s veterinarian clinics. That wasn’t a quick transition, he told the class. He arrived at Kansas State University in the fall after receiving his high school diploma without the preparation of advanced math or science classes or with good study habits. He promptly failed his first five exams, he said.

He did pull it together enough to graduate in nine semesters, but it took several years in his first career before he decided to return to K-State to follow his dream of becoming a veterinarian.

“I thought I’d never get into vet school, and once I got in I thought I’d never get out,” he said.

He advised the class to have a plan and not to procrastinate, and shared with them what he and other employers want of employees.

?”Be strong,” he said. “Not everybody is going to college. Be a solid contributor,”

Madeline Neufeld, one of the class of 2016’s graduates with distinction, told her classmates they would have success if they stayed true to the values they learned the past four years.

“We are the Bulldogs,” she said. “All of us will leave our unique mark in one way or another.”

Baldwin HIgh School Class of 2016

Michaela Armstrong, Jackson Barth, Genesis Barwick, Simon Beach, Katie Behrens, Jessica Beilfuss, Natalie Bostwick, Kylee Bremer, Samantha Brinkmann, Adrianne Brown, Candace Brown, Garrett Burkhart, Emma Burnett, Shyannah Burns, Alexander Carlisle, Phillip Carroll, Elizabeth Christener, Adam Christian, Alexander Cigard, Carlyn Cole, Brett Courtney, Emily Courtney, Collin Crabtree, Janine Crist, Alex Daniels, William Darnell,Terrance Devlin, Addison Dick, Jillian Dick, Courtney Douglas, Nevin Dunn, Emery Eliason, Mackenzie Ellis, Lily Fursman, Braxton George, Analise Gill, Lyla Goans, Jace Goetsch, Jessalyn Grant, Bradley Harris, Dakota Helm, Kedzie Hopkins, Garrett Hundley, Hollie Hutton, Ashley Ikenberry, Caitlin Jacques, Austin Jamison, Emily Jardon, Patricia Javis, Kambree Judy, Jacob Katzer, Joel Katzer, Kelsey Kehl, Ashleigh Kramps, Austin Langham, Cody Latham, Megann Lawrenz, Geoge Letner, Lexi Lisle, Ciara Luedecke, Taylor Maxwell, Ethan McCoy, Nicholas Mead, Caleb Melton, Chase Mignot, Benjamin Morgenstern, Madeline Neufeld, Austin Newell, Brendan Owings, Randall Pape, Nicholas Pattrick, Fayth Peterson, Erica Petry, Zane Phillips, Payton Pope, Bailey Rice, Paige Rifford, Mackenzie Russell, Tanner Schneider, Madelyn Schweda, Devin Shay, Matthew Simpson, Clayton Slavens, Wyatt Slavin, Kyna Smith, Meghan Strobel, Dalton Swafford, Timothy Trowbridge, Owen Tuckfield, Daniel Vakser, Morgan Voigts, Travis VonBargen, Austin Ward, Emily Weiss, Alex Whitaker, Kylee Wiggins, Teah Wilburn, Sierra Wilson, Olivia Withers, Cole Wolff and Spencer Young