Crestview graduates 53 in Class of 2016

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

CONVOY — Crestview High School’s Class of 2016 wasn’t the biggest for the school, not by a long shot, but what they lacked in quantity, they more than made up for in quality, according to Principal Mike Biro.

The 53 members of the class graduated Saturday evening during Crestview’s 56th annual Baccalaureate and Commencement exercise in the high school gymnasium.

The program began the procession of seniors into the gym as the band, under the direction of Jason Lozer, played Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance”. Senior Adam Saylor opened the baccalaureate portion of the graduation exercise, while his father, Pastor Michael Saylor of Redeemer Lutheran Church, provided the baccalaureate message.

Noting that “excellence is our tradition,” Pastor Saylor thanked Crestview teachers, and especially Biro, for their role in educating district students. Saylor thanked Biro for his many years of service.

“You have continually shown what it means to walk the walk and talk the talk,” the pastor noted. “Your quiet leadership and your genuine concern for students on a daily basis is everything Crestview is about.”

Saylor then spoke to graduates about their journey into adulthood, noting that most things he learned in high school he has since forgotten, but also added that the one thing he didn’t learn, but should have, was how to learn.

“You see I was that guy in high school: I never gave my best effort, I never thought it important enough, it simply didn’t matter to me,” he noted. “I look back to my high school years and I have some regrets: I missed opportunities to learn, I never learned how to learn or why I should learn.”

The pastor said that, no matter what students study — from math, science, and foreign languages, to playing a musical instrument — they need to make an effort to have their studies turn out successful.

Saylor noted that his first stint in college following high school ended with him flunking out of school. That changed seven years later when he returned to college after getting married and having his first child.

“God gave me this desire to learn, He gave me this desire to go back to school and see what I had missed out on for almost my entire life,” the pastor told graduates.

Saylor, who not only earned a bachelor’s degree, but a master’s degree as well, urged graduates to do their best in whatever they do following graduation, while adding that everything has now changed for them … or can change, if they so desire.

“It’s never too late to change your approach … it’s never too late to change how things are, perhaps how you are,” he noted.

Following Saylor’s message, the Crestview choir, under the direction of Danille Hancock, played “Thankful”, arranged by Sager, Foster, and Page.

Senior honor students then had a chance to address their classmates with reminiscences and advice for the future. Honor students included John Bauer, Brady Guest, and Hannah Bowen.

Biro then presented the class, who received their diplomas from members of the Crestview Local Board of Education: President John Auld, Vice President Lonnie Nedderman, and members Lori Bittner, Andy Perrott, and Wes Skelton.

Auld then made congratulatory remarks, while Biro presented the Outstanding Senior Awards.

Graduates and those present then sang the school “Alma Mater” and Hannah Bowen, class president, closed out the ceremony with the turning of mortarboard tassels and mortarboard toss before grads recessed from the gym.