The pandemic class has graduated.
As he looked out over the Alice Witte Gym with students, family and friends sitting shoulder to shoulder, Homer High School Principal Douglas Waclawski noted the struggle the class of 2022 has gone through. For two-and-a-half years, they have shifted from online to hybrid to in-person learning, always with the cloud of the COVID-19 pandemic hanging over them.
With Centers for Diease Control alert levels in the green for the Kenai Peninsula, Homer High returned to the old normal, with a traditional celebration held not outdoors as in 2020 and 2021, but indoors in the gym, with all the pomp, circumstance, balloons and hugs.
With its smaller graduating class and audience, Homer Flex School held its graduation ceremony in 2021 at the Land’s End Resort Quarterdeck. It returned again this year, doors wide open to a gentle Kachemak Bay breeze. Students also graduated from the Connections Program, Nanwalek School, Nikolaevsk School, Ninilchik School, Port Graham School and Voznesenka School.
In his commencement address, student success liaison and girls basketball coach Chad Felice said, “The most importnt thing that I want to share with you is this: I encourage everyone to get out a little bit — get out. … Go to college, go to trade school, or you can even travel a bit and see the country.”
Graduates can always return, and “We’ll be lucky to have you return,” he said.
“Go follow your dreams. Follow your heart. Take some chances. Make mistakes. Learn to love in your heart. Break hearts,” he said. “… Make mistakes. Learn, grow, be better, repeat.”
Homer High had two valedictorians this year, Olivia Glasman and Serena Fankhauser. Waclawski noted the rigourous academic program the young women went through to excel: take mostly Advanced Placement classes and then a test at the end of the year to get college credit for their work. Both had a 4.336 grade-point average.
Fankhauser said she and Glasman had known each other since fifth grade and supported each other through math tests, seminars and history presentations. That’s a story common to many students, Glasman added. A similar connection exists in the community, Fankhauser said — “how interwoven our community is.”
“From our close connections with each other, we are equipped with tools like leadership, empathy and dedication,” she said. “As we leave home for college or going fishing or world travel, as Homer High graduates we will leave behind thousands of wonderful memories and relationships.”
“You have all been my study partners, teammates and friends,” Glasman said. “I can’t imagine walking across the stage with anyone else.”
Reach Michael Armstrong at marmstrong@homernews.com.
2022 graduates
Homer Flex School
Elijah Bailey
Kaitlyn Dawsey
Kathleen Kuhn
Lucinda Maryott Moreno
Michael Ritter
Peyton Sallison
Clara Stading
Homer High School
Zoe Adkins
Lauren Allen
Kaylin Anderson
Tristan Arnold
Samuel Banks
Maddox Berg
Alicia Bianchi
Kaasha Bice
Robert Boettner
Karma Brame
Aiden Brost
Ethan Carroll
Ryan Carroll
Samuel Cary
Samuel Chapman
Seamus Donovan
Kamdyn Doughty
Sophie Ellison,
Caleb Evans
Delta Fabich
Serena Fankhauser
Isabella Fisk
Alex Franklin
Henry Freund (early graduate)
Caitlin Gamble
Olivia Glasman
Hunter Green
Gracie Gummer
Ava Halstead
Samuel Hambrick
Delilah Harris
Timothy Hatfield
Amber Hensch
Braden Huffman
Noah Irons
Liam James
Tezlyn Kerrone
Zachary Knott
Olivia LaFleur
Sawyer Lowe
Joel Manwiller
Ridge Marion
Shane Martin
Gideon McGhee
Mariah McGuire
Hartley Miller
Melanie Morris
Amber Negro (early graduate)
Casey Otis
Haylee Overson
Benjamin Peek
Benjamin Rainwater
Judah Rainwater
Neviya Reed
Leif Restad
Kapitolina Reutov
Courtney Rider
Skyler Rodriguez
Joshua Rudy
Kazden Stineff
Emma Sulczynski
Krystal Super
Nevaeh Walker
Tyson Walker
Sela Weisser
Mischelle Wells
Dillon Welty
Micah Williamson
Devin Wise
Nanwalek Elementary and High School
Shura Demas
Theresa Evans
Alexander Jimmy
Julius Kvasnikoff
Tikhon Kvasnikoff
Jada Moonin
Ninilchik Elementary and High School
Landon Colburn
Mia DenBoer
Olivia Ferguson
Blake Lemons
Rianv Ofstad-Agosto
Rebecca Okonek
Rebecca Rickard
Port Graham School
Rebecca Breedlove
Ryann Esteban
Voznesenka School
Kiriana Anufriev
Alexandra Basargin
Iosiph Kalugin
Mark Kalugin
Mark Kulikov
Matfey Reutov
Monania Reutov
Graduating Homer High School seniors wait to enter the Alice Witte Gymnasium for commencement on Wednesday, May 18, 2022, at Homer High School in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
Graduating Homer High School seniors leave the Alice Witte Gymnasium after commencement on Wednesday, May 18, 2022, at Homer High School in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
Delilah Harris turns her tassel at Homer High School commencement in the Alice Witte Gymnasium on Wednesday, May 18, 2022, at Homer High School in Homer, Alaska. At left is Kenai Peninsula School Board member Tim Daugharty. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
Ava Halstead walks at Homer High School graduation exercises in the Alice Witte Gymnasium for commencement on Wednesday, May 18, 2022, at Homer High School in Homer, Alaska. At left is Kenai Peninsula School Board member Tim Daugharty. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
Mariah McGuire shakes the hand of Kenai Peninsual Board School Board member Tim Daugharty at Homer High School graduation exercises in the Alice Witte Gymnasium for commencement on Wednesday, May 18, 2022, at Homer High School in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
Valedictorians Serena Fankhauser, left, and Olivia Glasman, right, deliver their address at Homer High School graduation in the Alice Witte Gymnasium on Wednesday, May 18, 2022, at Homer High School in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
Homer Flex graduate Lucinda Maryott Moreno receives her diploma from Homer Flex Principal Christopher Brown, right, at graduation ceremonies on Wednesday, May 18, 2022, at Land’s End Resort in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
Flex School graduate Michael Ritter, center, poses with his parents, Andrew Roderick, left, and Katrina Roderick, right, after graduation ceremonies on Wednesday, May 18, 2022, at Land’s End Resort in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
