Free State High School graduates challenged to take action

photo by: Richard Gwin

Khaury El-Amin and Josh Eisenhauer, along with about 350 other graduating seniors, throw their caps in the air during Free State High School's commencement ceremony Tuesday at Lawrence Free State High School Stadium.

With the receipt of one diploma comes plenty of words — spoken among graduates, family and friends — about what the years after high school will bring. But those words will remain just that without action, Lawrence school board President Vanessa Sanburn told graduates of Free State High School on Tuesday.

“There are lots of problems that need solved, lots of issues that are begging for your attention,” Sanburn said in her commencement address. “It’s not enough to say you care. Attention, effort, work: this is what makes change happen.”

Nearly 350 seniors celebrated their graduation from Free State at the school’s 19th commencement ceremony on Tuesday. Graduates in dark green robes filled rows of folding chairs crossing the school’s football field, and the stands were as full as on any game day.

As part of her commencement speech, senior Trenna Soderling told her classmates that the day marked their “great escape” to a life of more freedom and choice. She said it’s an escape many of them have likely been looking forward to for years, and now it is not just feasible but expected. However, that transition is more than just a romanticized idea of independence, Soderling said.

“With this escape comes enormous responsibility,” she said. “Sure it means paying bills and making sure you wake up before 3 p.m., but responsibility stems so much farther than that. It means creating a positive change.”

Senior Elizabeth Patton echoed some of those sentiments in her speech. Patton said that the day was one for graduates to celebrate achievements, but also to understand what is expected of them. She said their years in high school had seen many challenges, including global conflicts, gun violence and fast-paced technological change, and any of them could choose to be the one to help address such issues.

“These are the questions that our generation will be asked to develop answers for in our lifetime,” Patton said. “The class of 2016 is completely capable of handling these challenges.”

For some students, their experience at Free State directly influenced their future plans. Kirsten Baska will attend Emporia State University next year and plans to major in elementary education. Baska said as part of her interpersonal skills class, she worked with special needs students and learned from her participation in service projects as well as from her teacher, Jake Thibodeau.

“My teacher demonstrated patience and kindness, and you need that in elementary education,” Baska said following the ceremony.

Other lessons were learned outside of the classroom. During her four years at Free State, senior Genevieve Prescher was a member of the school’s debate and forensics teams. Prescher said being in debate was one of her favorite experiences, and it taught her to capitalize on the opportunities she has.

“I started as a freshman in both debate and forensics and did it all four years,” said Prescher, who will attend Kansas University next year and plans to major in communications. “I’m super glad that I tried a lot of things early and stuck with them.”

That lesson wasn’t far from the conclusion of Sanburn’s commencement address. She challenged students to take the advice of “actions speak louder than words” with them into the world.

“Today is both a celebration of everything you’ve accomplished to get here today and a launching point for what comes next,” Sanburn said. “And I know that we’ll see great things from the 2016 graduating class of Free State High School. Those are the words; now, enjoy your day and then go put those words into action.”