Helena High School Graduation

We got ready early (for us) and went to Bonnie's to pick up Bill and Lois for Trevor's graduation.  Ted dropped us off at Carroll College and went to find a parking space.  We were in contact with Tim who had arrived early to drop Trevor off and we coordinated to find seats in the bleachers and get Beryl and Virgil a place to sit with us as well.  There were approximately four hundred graduating with twenty valedictorians and twenty salutatorians.  Trevor was one of the twenty salutatorians and Bonnie and Tim had special seats on the field with all the other parents of honor students. 

Trevor was the first male to march in and I got a good picture of him as he walked by.  The students had all decorated the tops of their mortarboard and it was neat to see the individualization of the students.  There were beach balls flying in the air and balloons being released into the bright blue sky.  The ceremony lasted more than two hours and we all had slight to heavy sunburns by the time it was over.  The speakers were all really good and for the most part, short.  The keynote speaker was Kevin Connelly, a graduate from Helena High who was born with no legs.  It was amazing to see him hoist himself from the ground up onto a high stool in front of the podium.  At twenty-eight years old, he is a photographer, extensive traveller, author and has had his own show on the Travel Channel.  Besides all that, he was an interesting speaker.

Trevor in the Lead

Trevor Front Right with Batman Symbol

Hats in the Air

We waited in the bleachers until most of the crowd had cleared before braving the chaos.  There was another graduation on the same field in the afternoon so, as well as people trying to get off the campus, there was a line of cars trying to get on campus.  It didn't help that the recycling center was on the same road and Saturday was the day everyone tried to get there.  What a mess!  When we finally got back to Bonnie's, I helped get appetizers out and then lunch around two.  There were more than a dozen adults and probably thirty young people coming and going.  What a great group of people starting with Trevor who we had met at MacArthur Beach three years ago.  After lunch most everyone went down to the field next door and played or watched kickball and then came back and either played games around a circle of chairs or stood around the fire in the portable pit.  We were exhausted by the time we left about seven-thirty.