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The first village graduations were held Friday in Port Lions and Ouzinkie. Here
Ouzinkie students queue up for the procession. Three pre-schoolers, three
kindergarteners, an eighth grader, and two high school seniors celebrated
graduation in Ouzinkie. (Photo Casey Kelly/KMXT)
The
villages of Port Lions and Ouzinkie celebrated graduations on Friday. KMXT’s
Casey Kelly was there, and filed this report.
(Pomp
and Circumstance)
Four
seniors graduated from high school at Port Lions School Friday. Greg Lukin,
Randy Boskofsky, D.J. Kewan, and Chelsea Robustellini each received their
diplomas and are off to life after high school. Boskofsky has lived in Port
Lions his whole life, and has gone to the same school since pre-school.
(Boskofsky
1 :04s “…every teacher by name, so.”)
He says
it’ll be a little scary not being in high school anymore, but he plans to
continue getting an education.
(Boskofsky
2 :22s “…experience in two of the fields.”)
To help him
with the cost of attending college, Boskofsky received a 2-thousand dollar
vocational education scholarship from Kodiak Electric Association, and another
2-thousand dollar scholarship from the Kodiak Noon Rotary. Each of the Port
Lions graduates received at least two scholarships. First year Village
Principal Kendra Bartz says she couldn’t be more proud of them.
(Bartz 1 :18s “…a wonderful job, I think.”)
Over in
Ouzinkie, three pre-schoolers, three kindergarteners, an eighth grader and two
high school seniors celebrated graduations. Ouzinkie Principal Jake Parrett is
also in his first year, although he taught in Larsen Bay last year. He says
village graduations are a meaningful time, when everybody in the community
comes together.
(Parrett
1 :21s “…it takes a village I guess.”)
The graduating seniors were Wylder
Clarion and Flora Shanagin. Clarion has gone to school in Ouzinkie almost his
whole life. He attended Mt. Edgcumbe High School in Sitka last year, but says
it was nice to come back home to graduate.
(Clarion
1 :11s “…more meaningful here too.”)
He plans to
attend Kodiak College, then University of Alaska Anchorage. He’s not sure what
he wants to major in yet, but says he’s thinking about going into the military
after school. Clarion says an older brother that died in a car accident last
year inspired him to think about going into the service.
(Clarion
2 :20s “…just a smart thing to do.”)
Clarion says he faced many
challenges growing up in Ouzinkie, which became more apparent to him when he
did an exchange program to Anchorage earlier this year. He says he wants to
inspire other members of his family, just like his older brother did for him.
(Clarion 3 :24s “…someone to look up to.”)
More village graduations are
scheduled for the coming days, with Old Harbor, Karluk and Larsen Bay planning
ceremonies this week, and Ahkiok and Danger Bay scheduled for next week. Kodiak
High School graduation is scheduled for Sunday June 1st at the
Gerald C. Wilson Auditorium.
I’m Casey Kelly.
(Pomp
and Circumstance :20s …fades
up then ends.)
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