Bloomington High School South, The Gothic, 2010, Page 71

Description:	1 ■:■■!. ;S&B^il^j: fwSSlPffiJ■ V 1^^»,w HL. s - ^rnAiJH1 1 1 ■ ■■ITop: Newly graduated seniors throw up their caps along with a beach ball and some sillystring as they are set free from high school. Middle: Senior Rhian Tanners peers listen as shegives her graduation speech. Above: Led by band director Mr. Robert Dubinski, freshmenJake Babcock and Robert Rickert play trombones before the graduation ceremony. PHOTOSBYMIMIKATZ mmm•1from the U.K. uXii toCommencement speaker Rhian Tanners father camefrom Great Britain to see her speak and graduate.Graduation was, of course, anemotional time, There were a lotof tears, but just as many hugs andhigh-fives, Although graduatingwas emotional for all of theseniors, Rhian Tanner wasespecially affected. Not a native ofBloomington, Tanner wasoriginally from Great Britain. Shemoved to the United States withher mother, stepfather and sister,America has a lot of opportunity,said Tanner, Yet, Tanner left a lotbehind in England. The rest of herfamily, including her father, stayedbehind. Not seeing him has beenone of the hardest things ever,said Tanner,Because of the distance,Tanner only got to see her father afew times a year, He flew all theway to the United States to see hisdaughter graduate, a ceremonynot found in England. This is oneof the reasons that Tanner wantedto be a commencement speakerat graduation. I thought speakingwould be a good memory, and Iwanted my dad to see me speak,said Tanner.As a speaker at graduation,Tanner had an extra helping ofpressure added to the usualgraduation stress, The first of thestudent speakers to go up to thepodium, Tanner revealed none ofthe stress of public speakingwhen she looked out over herclassmates, She looked bravelyout at the hundreds of peopleseated in Assembly Hall and wasundaunted. Tanner was followedby two more commencementspeakers, Keagan Vaughan andJackson Phillips. After practicingfor hours and getting voted on bytheir peers, the three speakersreally made graduation special,Public speaking is rarely easy,especially in front of the hundredsof people who were in AssemblyHall on graduation day, but thethree faced the crowd in order toshare their final words with therest of the class,The class of 2010 spent 12years laboring over a hard desk,filling out countless worksheetsand staying up late writingnumerous papers, all for thatmoment when they would dontheir graduation gowns and throwtheir caps into the air. The pathtaken to graduation was not aneasy one. It took years of hardwork, and no doubt there weretears shed along the way, butthere were also friends gained,and after their years of work theseniors were ready to face theworld and anything it threw atthem, As they walked across thestage on May 29, 2010, theyexuded a feeling ofaccomplishment and confidencethat follows those who havefinished a long and hard journey.-ROSE JOHNSONsfudeitfc^
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomsouth/id/8374
Collection:	Bloomington High School South

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