185 to Graduate Sunday

Erik Wander/KMXT

Kodiak High School seniors are preparing for graduation this week, and the school plans to hold not one, but two events in honor of the class of 2009

Kodiak High School principal Bill Watkins said graduation has changed somewhat from the traditional model, beginning last year. Previously, the graduation ceremony included the announcement of scholarships, which was time consuming, lasting about an hour, and therefore unpopular with students. Watkins said that at the request of students wanting to reduce the time of the ceremony and include the rest of the student body in the process, the change was implemented.

— (Watkins 1 46 sec. "Not all of the students … expect their senior year.")

Watkins said this year’s graduating class features no fewer than seven valedictorians. In order to qualify as a valedictorian, students must maintain a 4.0 grade point average. However, not all seven valedictorians can or want to speak at the graduation ceremony. This year, two of the seven were chosen to speak.

— (Watkins 2 21 sec. "If there’s more than two … that speak at graduation.")

In addition to Anderson and Blott, the class of 2009’s other valedictorians include Karen Barnard, Lauren Cooney, Brittney Jones, Quinn Langfitt and Stephanie Pasana. Watkins said about 185 students will graduate this year, which he called an encouraging number.

— (Watkins 3 36 sec. "We have a pretty good … through the following year.")

The mock graduation for the entire student body will take place Friday morning at the High School. The actual graduation ceremony takes place Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Gerald C. Wilson Auditorium. Last Friday evening, Kodiak College held its own commencement ceremony at the new Kodiak Harbor Convention Center, with some 38 students receiving certificates, associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees and 26 students receiving GEDs.

I’m Erik Wander.

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