Former principal delivers commencement address

The air was thick with good wishes Monday night, as family and friends honored the Corvallis High School Class of 2008.

In the hallway at Gill Coliseum before the ceremony, graduates made last-minute adjustments to their caps as they eagerly awaited the opening chords of that perennial graduation march, “Pomp and Circumstance.”

Popular former CHS Principal Jay Conroy returned to deliver the commencement address, and had a bag of wishes of his own for the graduates. He said he was thankful to be invited back to give this year’s commencement address, and as a nostalgic gesture, put on the CHS sweater vest he was known for wearing.

Conroy praised the success of the students in sports, academics and philanthropy, and told the Class of 2008 that they were extraordinarily lucky to live in a community with such supportive parents and staff.

“You don’t know how prepared you are for the next steps. You can compete, I guarantee it,” he said.

Conroy had four wishes for the Class of 2008. He told them to be outrageous, to remember to be a kid, to be mavericks, and to dance.

“We are one in this community, this country and this world, and we need to help each other.”

Some graduates said they plan to do just that.

Chad Brimley was ready to serve his country this summer as an AmeriCorps volunteer, and was still deliberating between doing disaster relief work in Louisiana or environmental work in Alaska.

Brimley said his favorite teacher at CHS was Dan Kammerzelt, who teaches creative writing.

“He’s younger. He could connect to us a lot more,” Brimley said.

Sarah Abraham, 18, plans to study education at Willamette University. She said that CHS’s new political action workshop made a deep impact on her.

“They make different projects that can help the community and the school,” she said.

Jon Campbell plans to be a computer science major at Oregon State University soon, but wishes he’d spent more time in high school learning a foreign language. His biggest regret? Taking only two years of French.

Language was an obstacle for Carmen Kwong as well. Although she intends to major in international business at the University of Washington and dreams of living in Japan or China, she’s a realist: “It’s really hard to learn Chinese.”

Joshua Rankin said his mom’s influence was key to helping him succeed in high school and learning to accept himself. He said that freshmen should focus on the bigger picture when trying to get motivated in school.

“Figure out your goals, and why you’re doing your homework, not just because people tell you to,” he said.

Autumn Faherty has some big goals of her own. She’s traveling to Miami this summer to apply at Ford Modeling agency. She dreams of being as famous as Australian supermodel Gemma Ward.

“That would be amazing,” she said.