News VSHS graduates hear final words of advice from principal, classmates

     The first time that members of the Vinton-Shellsburg Class of 2011 stood on the campus of the high school where they received their diplomas on Sunday, it was still just a corn field.

     Now, six years after helping to celebrate the ground-breaking of the new high school, the 114 members of the Class of 2011 are the first students to graduate after attending all four years of high school in the new building. 

     But the difference in the landscape is just one of the changes in the high school that the Class of 2011 has seen. 

     Superintendent Mary Jo Hainstock walked up to the podium at around 1:30 p.m., just a half-hour before the ceremony was to begin. She was leaving her cell phone there so she wouldn't be disturbed before the ceremony started.

    "I'm a lot less nervous this year," said Hainstock, who is completing her second year as superintendent for V-S. Last year was her first graduation. 

    Principal Kirk Johnson is the second principal the Class of 2011 has known. He arrived at the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year, and is now leaving for the Waukee District. The students chose him as the faculty speaker for their graduation.

    Another change for VSHS in the past couple of years is the addition of its alternative school program, which is designed to help students who faced challenges in the typical classroom and school schedule setting to earn their diplomas. Several members of the alternative high school were among the graduates on Sunday.

Graduation Advice

     One of the speakers stood in the cafeteria before graduation begins, telling his speech teachers that he did all of the things that are important for preparing a speech. He wrote it out. He practiced.

    But, he said, he did not time the speech.

    Speech teachers Eric Upmeyer and Le Cox laughed as the speaker -- Principal Kirk Johnson -- talked about his nervousness. 

    The principal shared 12 of his 17 principles with the graduates. He told them to start making their own list of principles. 

    Among Johnson's are: 

     Have a purpose.

     Be a servant. Give more than others give to you.

     Listen. Reflect. Respond. Listen some more. Repeat. 

     Be a role model.

     Find the good in everything. 

     Be 100 percent part of a team. (These words, said Johnson, came from Warren Halloway, who was virtually an unknown member of the Iowa Hawkeye football team until on the last play of his last game he caught the game-winning touchdown in the 2005 Capital One Bowl. It was the only touchdown of his college career.)

     Know what you believe. Believe what you know. 

    Don't just sit. Take action.

    Read. Read. Read. 

    And finally, quoting Ed Thomas, the slain football coaching legend, Johnson told the graduates to remember that their greatest gift is the power to make choices. 

    As Johnson sat, the students rose to give him a standing ovation. Next year, a new principal will stand before the graduates at VSHS. 

 Graduates' speech

     Continuing a tradition that some previous VSHS graduates have done, Wes Lyons and Meghan Owens gave their speech together. They began by singing a few lines from some songs with inspirational or motivational messages. 

   Lyons, who plans to be a doctor, and Owens, who wants to become a surgeon, told their peers and the graduation audience how their experiences, parents, friends and even television shows helped them form their plans to enter the medical field. 

    They ended their remarks with four simple words: "Go live your dream."