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Students walk into the gymnasium during the processional of Sunday afternoon's Havre High School graduation. More than a hundred students graduated during the ceremony.
Jonathan “J.J.” Hovet, center, looks to the crowd as students are being called to the stage to accept their diplomas during Sunday afternoon's Havre High School graduation.
Havre High School students were told at graduation ceremonies Sunday that they may travel away from home, but they will be Blue Ponies until they die, and they will always return home to Havre.
In a rousing commencement address, Kathryn Holt, the high school librarian, said the class is unique because they are the sons and daughters of the Hi-Line.
“Havre will always draw you back no matter how far you go away,” she said.
She told the story of her son who graduated from Havre High, then joined the Army. Afterward, he traveled the world, touring 40 countries and went on his motorcycle around the country.
“But he always came home to Havre,” she said.
“You are from God’s Country,” she said. “As Mr. Magera asked me to remind you, God doesn’t make junk.”
Magara retired as a history teacher last year.
“When you are from this area, the sky truly is the limit,” she told the 111 graduates.
The crowd of parents, other relatives and friends jammed Blue Pony gymnasium and the overflow crowd watched via closed-circuit television in the auditorium.
The grads marched into the gym behind two people who carried the United States and Montana flags while the high school symphonic band played “Pomp and Circumstance.”
Holt asked the students to be thankful for the support they received from the school, their family and the community.
“Everybody in this room today,” she said, waving her arm around and pointing to the bleachers, “has invested heavily in you.”
The class is special, she said.
“You are the millennial generation, born in the 20th century and reached adulthood in the 21st century.
“You are Blue Ponies. You are good,” she said, “but not half as good as you are going to be,” she said, paraphrasing the class motto.
“Look out world,” she said. “Here they come.”
The graduates lined up to receive their diplomas from high school principal Craig Mueller and trustees Harvey Capellan and Theresa Miller, while teachers Carol Pleninger and Chris Comp called out their names.
Superintendent Andy Carlson shook each hand and moved tassels from the left to right side of their mortarboards, formally declaring them graduates.
Academic awards for the Havre High School Class of 2013 include:
Brent Broadhead, 4.0
Paul Jeffrey, 4.0
Jessica Wicken, 4.0
Larissa Price, 3.977
Samantha French, 3.952
Nicholas Rhines, 3.936
Desmond Fialkosky, 3.932
Savanna Belcourt, 3.894
Amber Spraker, 3.792
Madison Hanson, 3.690
Bryant O’Leary, 3.689
Alexia Stingley, 3.682
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