Cobra seniors told: "Be a voice"

“Be a voice, not an echo.”

The Jackson Heights High School graduating Class of 2016 chose that Albert Einstein quotation as its class motto. On Sunday, USD 335 Superintendent and Elementary Principal Adrianne Walsh reminded class members’ family and friends gathered for high school commencement exercises that the motto was more than appropriate.

“Choosing to live your high school careers being a voice and not an echo has made you successful at Jackson Heights and will make you successful in the future,” Walsh told the 28 graduating seniors, a group of young people she first encountered when they were in fourth grade.

Walsh went on to list several examples of how the class has been a “voice” instead of an echo, such as class members’ participation in the Honor Flight program, their outstanding achievements in academics and athletics, their resilience, their talents and their propensity to “dream big.”

Those examples, class valedictorian Joel Nelson told the audience, are why “this is the year of Jackson Heights.”

“Another team went to nationals this year in land judging, we had the state champion dairy judging team, one of the best forensics years in a while, district champs in football and the class 2A state champions in basketball,” Nelson reminded everyone. “That sounds to me like a pretty good year.”

Achievements and memories aside, Nelson reminded his classmates to focus on the future, even though it is uncertain what the future holds for each of them.

“All of us will be going in different directions,” he said. “Some of will go to college and become the leader of a company. Others will go directly into the work force. Some will go to college and then to the work force. But all of us, at some point in our lives, will be asked to lead… lead someone, something or somewhere.”

Nelson also advised his classmates to be “leaders” instead of “bosses” when the opportunity to lead arises.

“Leaders show the way, bring people up and give credit,” he said. “A boss points the way to go, tears people down and takes credit. Be the leader. This world needs great leaders, and every single one of you is more than capable of being a great leader in this world.”

Several humorous class memories were also shared with the audience by Walsh, Nelson, and class salutatorian Jonathan Reiff, whose short speeches opened and closed the ceremony. Some of those memories tended to mix the touching with the humorous, such as Walsh’s remembrance of the Cobras’ trip to the state basketball championship tournament in Manhattan this past spring.

In the latter instance, she thanked graduating seniors and basketball team members Zane Richter, Westin Jacobsen, Auston Sauvage, Adam Brey and Lane Holliday “for giving me the opportunity to stand on the court at Bramlage Coliseum” before the Cobras took to the court to win the state championship.

“I never dreamed I would have the opportunity to step on the court, at least not without a security guard asking me to leave,” Walsh joked.

Nelson also recalled Richter and Jacobsen getting “pranked” by math and business teacher Robin Sides as “the most recent and possibly the best of all” memories in class history.

“Zane and Westin would go into her room almost every day after lunch and bug her to death,” Nelson said. “She got to make their functions final for the semester. They got the hardest test ever, and I’m pretty sure the problems didn’t have an answer, where the other students in the class only had the job of keeping their mouths shut and playing along with the prank.”