Graduates started high school in 2020, the year of COVID-19 and the Almeda Fire
By Holly Dillemuth, Ashland.news
Adaptable, creative, flexible, optimistic and poised for a bright future.
That’s how Ashland High Principal Benjamin Bell described the Class of 2024 to those gathered on the lawn at Butler Bandshell in Lithia Park on Thursday evening, as grads prepared to turn their tassel and the next page of their lives. Bell noted the class faced a “unique set of circumstances” during the last four years, possibly more than any in recent history.
“We’re here to celebrate the amazing class of 2024 — you have made it,” Bell said, addressing the soon-to-be grads. “It’s been a long journey. This is truly a celebration for all of you completing the most unique high school journey that I can possibly imagine.”
Bell started as principal at AHS when graduates were starting their freshmen year in 2020.
Principal: ‘You have been my teachers’
“No one, least of all myself, knew what we were in store for for the next four years,” he told those in attendance.
Students had been in eighth grade when news of the COVID-19 pandemic broke in March 2020.
Their first day of school happened to be Sept. 8, 2020, when the Almeda Fire broke out in Ashland.
“Every graduating class has its ups and its downs, its own trials and tribulations,” Bell said.
“No other cohort has had to contend with the sheer number and scale of disruptions: The global pandemic, online learning, the Almeda Fire, hybrid schedules, confusing (sometimes conflicting) Covid-19 regulations and guidelines, social distancing and then a transition back to normal.
“But a pre-pandemic normal has been elusive. It’s been up to this amazing group of people around me who have taken up the charge to make high school an experience that was relevant to them. The old playbook had been thrown out and they had to write their own, reinterpreting old traditions, starting new ones, and laying the foundation for our school for years to come. This is an example of the amazing flexibility that this class has demonstrated over the last four years.”
Bell said his own growth as a principal has paralleled students’ growth into young adults.
“I only hope that I can respond to the challenges in the future with the same mix of flexibility, optimism, and creativity that you all have demonstrated,” he said. “In many ways, you, the students, have been my teachers over this time here in high school and you’ve inspired me to be better.”
Co-valedictorian: ‘It’s about making space for ourselves to thrive’
Seven valedictorians were recognized at the ceremony: Luna Dygert, Elise Anway, Kristen Kim, Andrew Eskenazi, Juniper Christopherson, student body co-president Noah Cott and Lily (whose last name a parent asked not be used for safety reasons).
Cott thanked parents, staff and administration for support throughout the years, noting those who may not always get deserved recognition.
“To the bus drivers, EAs (educational assistants), cafeteria workers, janitors, coaches, counselors, and many more — you all are the unsung heroes and you deserve much more recognition than you get,” Cott said. “Without you, the school would not run and you make the school a much more fun and comfortable place for many students.”
Cott also added some levity to the experience they all shared as they started school essentially online in 2020 during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Drugs, bullies and scary teachers — those were the things we heard about high school when we were in eighth grade,” Cott added. “Instead our freshmen year kind of felt like a 9 to 5 job on Zoom, so by April, when we returned to campus, if it meant in-person contact, I was ready to be bullied,” he said, drawing laughter.
The highlights he included showed how the return for students to some semblance of normalcy post-pandemic, and planning for the future, also included facing new challenges in themselves.
“We brought back pep rallies, had so many snow days we stopped wanting them, because it meant more school at the end of the year,” Cott added. “And then, suddenly, it was time to start thinking about what we wanted to do after high school. Finally, senior year came with its college applications … followed by yet another ‘pandemic’: senioritis.
“On our first day of high school in 2020, many families here in the valley lost their homes in the Almeda Fire. In addition, many students have battled illness, homelessness, financial problems and much more … (That) did not stop them from pursuing collecting their diplomas and turning to face the future. I can say from the bottom of my heart that this group of students is made up of unique, strong people that I will always be glad to have experienced these four years with.”
Students had a lot of lessons to share from their time spent in public education.
“My mom and I moved here when I was 3 years old to escape abuse,” said Lily, a valedictorian. “My family and friends here have built a new community that made it possible for me to thrive. Through art, music, poetry, science and all my education, I have found ways to define myself and contribute to this community that transcend the boundaries that trauma created for me. This is what resilience means: It’s about making new space for yourself in a seemingly unsolvable equation. Another aspect of resilience that is too often overlooked … empathy.
“Empathy does not mean reducing the consequences of an assailant,” she added. “When I talk about empathy, I mean empathy for yourself, to reconnect with how amazing you are and to know deep down that you are worthy of respect. I mean having empathy for other survivors and unraveling internalization of oppressive systems. I mean not losing our humanity in a dehumanizing situation.”
Lily said one of the ways she has practiced these things is through activism for gender equality, sexual violence prevention, LGBTQIA+ rights and environmental justice.
“My major project was as a lead event organizer for a women’s LGBTQIA+ arts festival in my junior year,” Lily said. “My goal was to unite different generations of activists to listen to one another thoughtfully through the medium of art. The foundation of this endeavor was empathy.”
Lily said she wants to continue helping people by becoming a neuroscientist and supporting youth trauma survivors.
“In my life, I will admit I’ve not had unwavering strength,” Lily said. “I’ve struggled with triggers and retraumatization. I’ve had moments of sadness, anger and times when I just fell apart. But I’ve realized that’s OK. I don’t think that resilience means that bad things won’t affect us. Resilience is about coping. It’s about making space for ourselves to thrive and learning to ask for help. It’s the power of the love of our community, our friends and our family to protect us and watch over us. It’s about rebuilding our humanity after someone or something tried to take it from us.”
Lily also performed on violin with senior James Dyson on bassoon.
Dyson, who earned second at the state level for Bassoon, also performed a solo at the graduation ceremony.
Senior Parker Greaves also performed the song “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac.
Transfer student: ‘I want you to remember how important you all are to me’
Senior Secoya Joaquin, who is one of seven students to receive a seal on their diploma from the state of Oregon highlighting their proficiency in English as a second language, also shared his story with the audience.
Joaquin, a transfer student from Washington State, shared how he arrived at Ashland High during the COVID-19 lockdown period and how he overcame fears to fully embrace his new home.
“It took me a long time to ‘de-pandemic’ myself,” Joaquin told the audience, while music played in the background.
Throughout sophomore year, Joaquin wore two masks and goggles, wearing the masks in a way that would make his goggles fog up so he couldn’t see anything.
“I trapped myself — I went inside myself and I didn’t have any friends,” Joaquin said. “I kind of escaped through art. Life felt so uncertain that I thought if I could write or draw or create my own world for myself, maybe that world would be better. It’d make more sense. But locking myself even more into my room to escape my imagination didn’t do me any favors.
“But eventually, I opened myself up to this school and this town, and all of you guys,” Joaquin added, turning enthusiastically to mention many of his classmates by name.
“So many of you were just willing to laugh at my really bad jokes,” he added. “You guys showed me that I didn’t have to be stuck there on my own. You were there, too.
“Instead of being on my own, I was able to make up that lost freshman year and that lost feeling of place.
“I want you to remember how important you all are to me and how much you helped me see beyond my fogged-up, weird lookin’ goggles,” he said. “You helped me see through them both literally and … figuratively.”
Bell shared that Joaquin always has so much personality and talent and is “always unpredictable.”
“We’ll miss you,” Bell said.
Keynote speaker: The test called ‘life’
AHS teacher Paul Huard, who served as keynote speaker for the ceremony, offered sage advice to his students while also sharing personal notes.
Huard will help develop high school curriculum on the global significance of Ukraine through a program sponsored by Harvard University, as previously reported by Ashland.news. He volunteered as a humanitarian worker in Poland in 2022 and in Ukraine in 2023.
Before serving as a teacher, Huard was a journalist (who still reports on a freelance basis for Ashland.news).
“You see, I never dreamed of being a teacher,” Huard told students. “It was never my youthful ambition.”
Huard’s goal had been to globetrot the Earth with a portable typewriter and a reporter’s notebook.
“Forty-five years ago, if someone had told me I would become a high school history teacher, I would have laughed,” Huard said — adding even more so if it were in Ashland.
“This is the last place I thought I would ever be,” he added, “yet Ashland has been incredibly generous to me, allowing me to be the teacher who I am, supporting my efforts to be authentic in the classroom and offering daily opportunities to ask students to think for themselves.”
He shared advice for students about to head off in the direction of their dreams.
“The diploma you are about to receive means more than the education you possess, it means
life is yours to live,” he said early in his address. “You take the risks, you reap the rewards, and you take responsibility for what you do. I am proud of you and I mean it with all my heart.
Huard described a class of students who have lived through an era of “Permacrisis,” a word used to describe living from one unprecedented event to the next.
“Call it the last lesson I will ever teach you, and if you ask if there a test, the answer is ‘yes,’” Huard said. “The test is called ‘life.’
“The choices are yours to make,” he added.
He told graduates that many generations before theirs have also dealt with hardship and struggle amid significant local and world events.
“During much of your life, you’ve heard many older adults talk about how you’re a generation that has seen great crisis, great tragedy, the COVID pandemic, the Almeda Fire, the Jan. 6 insurrection, I could go on,” Huard said.
“Yet there are many reasons for hope,” he added later. “You are here … you succeeded. Look at all that you have witnessed, wrestled, and even endured during your high school years.
“You prevailed,” he added. “You did not give up.
“Please continue to use the habits of resiliency for the rest of your lives.”
Reach Ashland.news reporter Holly Dillemuth at hollyd@ashland.news.
June 10: Removed last name of one of the valedictorians at the request of a parent for safety reasons.
Related stories:
Graduation photo album: Cheer, tears and tassel turning (June 7, 2024)
Honoring a moment in time: Parade of Scholars descends on Ashland elementary schools (June 5, 2024)
