CHAMOIS — Chamois Class of 2025 graduate Rylee Davis opened Friday night’s graduation ceremony with these words: “Today is not just a ceremony. It is a tribute to every single person who helped get us here and who shaped who we are. Whether the role was big or small; whether you were the family that gave us our roots, or the teachers that helped us become the independent adults we (hopefully) are today; you are part of the reason we stand on this stage right now.

“This success does not belong to just us — it also belongs to all of you and the culmination of that support over our lifetime,” she continued. “This is a moment of shared achievement. Your jobs are done, and have been done beautifully. Please remember this as a celebration.”

Davis noted that each graduate met the standards that prepared them for the next step — entering the world and contributing meaningfully to it. “Soon, we’ll be handed a certificate that formally says so,” she said. “What cannot be handed out on paper, though, is the connections that we made along the way … and that is where this graduation stands apart.

“We’ve done more than learn biology and quadratic equations and simply coexist … We’ve grown up together,” Davis continued. “In this incredibly small town, in this small school, we have created a very unique, irreplaceable dynamic. In bigger schools, kids tend to ‘find their people.’ Here, though, we never had to. We all learned to value one another, no matter how different. Yeah, we got on each other’s nerves, but that’s part of being close. Our roles were interchangeable; teammates, friends, enemies, classmates — and, in a way, family. 

“This is a celebration,” she continued. “But it is also a farewell. Not a real goodbye, though; not really. I didn’t say we were leaving anything behind. We carry it all with us —  the voice that our classrooms helped us develop, the empathy that only small towns can generate, and the deep understanding of what community means, that we learned alongside each other. The teachers, the family, the friends that made us who we are today? They will always be a part of who we become. So thank you, everybody. As we walk across the stage today, though, let’s not think of it as a goodbye. Let’s instead think of it as a promise — to carry that empathy, that sense of community, out into the world.”

Class President Emma Weed also thanked parents, teachers, and staff.

“When tasked with writing this speech, I struggled to find the right words to condense 13 years of memories into five minutes,” she continued. “Instead of listing off the hundreds of inside jokes or memories, I have chosen to tell a story instead.

“The story of our class began in 2012, as a bunch of nervous 5-year-olds walked the halls for the first time, not knowing what the next 13 years would have in store. While I can admit I don’t remember much from that time, I can still vividly hear Landen (Northway) crying during the great chicken incident of kindergarten.

“First and second grade were a whirlwind of class dojo, glue licenses, and Guinea pigs named after presidents that, at the time, none of us really knew much about — minus Bill (Kirsch) who has always been our history buff,” Weed said. “I would also like to add that contrary to popular belief, I was not the cause of Dawson’s (Brandt) broken arm. It was the result of an unfortunate swing-set accident. Third grade marked the beginning of Caleb’s (Keilholz) impressive track career, as he was the undefeated winner of a fancy game of tag that we called “Infected.”

Weed noted that in fourth and fifth grade, competitiveness as a class really began to show, as countless fights over four square were a constant sound that could be heard on the tennis court and probably beyond the playground.

“By sixth grade, we had reached the halfway point of our time here at CHS, a reality that never truly hit us,” Weed said. “We were preoccupied, memorizing lines for the play, which was a riveting Cinderella remake, or getting our maps (that we tended to forget about) done at the very last minute, much to Mr. Hord’s dismay. As we moved on to the next chapter as junior high kids, we very quickly learned that our fears of getting lost or going to the wrong class were completely unjustified. How we thought we could get lost in only two hallways, I will never know. We gained Matthew (Rinne) in seventh grade, and we now cannot remember a time when he wasn’t in our class. He became our ‘Mary Poppins,’ always having various card games and silverware in his coat.

“We very quickly found out that Rylee (Davis) suffers from a calcium deficiency (or a deep hatred of sports), as she began her unfortunate trend of breaking bones in eighth grade,” Weed continued. “Her knack for forgetting things also reached its peak this year as she allowed rotten milk to explode in her locker over Christmas break. Legend has it the locker has never been quite the same since.

“Freshman year was one for the trenches, as demonstrated in Andrew Riddell’s history class, where we actually built trenches out of desks, cardboard, and anything else we could get our hands on,” Weed noted. “Our first year as high-schoolers was over before we knew it. Sophomore year marked the beginning of “Master Chef Thursdays,” in which we watched episodes of the show every Thursday instead of doing our online math. Sorry, Mr. McKague. We also took advantage of our downtime by playing Mafia. Turns out most of us are very bad liars and would have never survived the Wild West, especially Kendall (Mitchem), who could come up with the most outlandish reasons you have ever heard to explain how she was in fact not guilty. Melvin (McCleary) joined our class early on in the year and his infectious smile and jokes took us all by storm.”

Weed added that Mitchem’s animated storytelling has filled our ears with endless fishing tales and crazy experiences with animals.

“Junior year, we put our art skills to the test when building prom,” said Weed. “Who knew that fake mushrooms could cause such a passionate fight amongst our class?

“At the beginning of this year, most of us began deciding what we want our future to look like,” she continued. “We all collectively found out that Melvin had a twin on the first day of school. Jimmy (McCleary), while a late addition to our class, has added much needed enthusiasm into our lives. He is a fierce defender of animals, whether it be spiders in Mrs. Wright’s class to returning a bird nest to a tree, you can always count on him to be a protector.

“While we are at the end of our time here at CHS, this is not the end of our story, only the closing of another chapter,” said Weed in conclusion. “We have grown into an odd, dysfunctional family, and as we move on hours away from one another, we will never forget where we came from and who were the main characters in this chapter of our lives.”

Graduates then handed out their traditional roses to family, friends, and others who had a significant positive impact on them, followed by a slideshow with pictures of each student from birth through their senior year.

School Board President Steve Cramer and Superintendent Lyle Best  presented diplomas, and scholarships were announced.

“Each year, the American Legion Citizenship Award is presented to one female and one male student who are exemplary students, both in and out of school, display good citizenship, consideration for others, and exhibit high academic achievement,” Best said.

Valedictorian Caleb Keilholz (4.05) and salutatorian Emma Weed (4.03) earned the 2025 American Legion citizenship awards.

“That was overwhelmingly anti-climactic,” said Rylee Davis, in her closing speech. “But, we finally finished high school. Does it remind any of you parents how strange and far away the year 2025 seemed in kindergarten? How we couldn’t imagine what would fill that big gap? Or, how about when you used to notch our height along door frames? Like us, did you ever wonder what would be the last mark? There’s no mystery left in it now, and I can’t tell if thats a happy feeling or not.

“It’s bittersweet- but that’s how life is,” Davis continued. “We miss the past at the same time that our future selves miss this very moment. The ways we manage to get through the days that quietly turn into decades — that makes up our life, slowly, without us noticing. And after a while, like right now, we look back and are shocked that somehow time really was moving. And what is it we remember? The best parts of our past weren’t the grades or the trophies. It was the arguments we had over whether hot dogs were a taco, the games we played on the playground, the feeling of belonging that came when we realized only we understood each other and what we came from.

“The best parts of our future?” Davis added. “They’ll be the parts we spend with others, too. Loving, helping, and growing as adults, even if it is no longer with each other. I don’t want to dwell on the past for this, and I won’t rush what’s soon to come, either. We’re here now, together, maybe all for the last time. The people we love and who love us are in the audience, waiting to give us hugs and support.” 

Davis left her classmates with a quote from the late Chris McCandless: “Happiness is only real when shared.”

“As we move forward, I hope we remember that,” she said. “Because no matter where we go or what we do, the meaning of our lives, those sneaky decades that have slipped by, will come from the people we choose to share them with.”