SOAP LAKE — Dressed in graduation caps and gowns, 45 Soap Lake High School seniors walked through the high school’s gymnasium for the final time as Eagles on Saturday, earning their diplomas and becoming Soap Lake alumni.

“Looking back, maybe we should have brought some tissues,” Soap Lake Principal Levi Spencer joked during his welcoming remarks.

After seniors walked into the gym in groups of two to the tune of “Pomp and Circumstance,” the soon-to-be graduates and those in the crowd were welcomed by Spencer and watched a video with photos of the graduates from their youth, set to the tune of Macklemore’s “Good Ole Days.”

Graduates then rose from their seats in front of the gym and walked into the crowd for the rose ceremony, passing out roses to loved ones in the crowd.

The first student speaker of the afternoon was Associated Student Body President Madison Pearce, who ended her speech with words of wisdom from various Disney characters.

“Let me leave you with some important words of wisdom that hit different today,” Pearce said. “As Simba said, ‘As we go through life, you will see so much that we don’t understand, and the only thing we know is that things don’t always go the way we planned.’ As Cinderella said, ‘A dream is a wish your heart makes. As Dory said, ‘When life is getting you down, you know what to do — just keep swimming.’”

During Superintendent Kim Casey’s time at the podium, she took the time to honor Soap Lake graduates who have earned their associate of arts degrees from Big Bend Community College, those who attended Columbia Basin Technical School and those who graduated with bilingual honors from the Standards-based Measurement of Proficiency test.

“In our small community, there are students that speak English, Spanish, Russian and Ukrainian — in our little bitty community,” Casey said. “We have some students up here … their native language may be Spanish, and one of their best friend’s native languages may be Ukrainian, and they are teaching each other. If you think about that for a moment – the world is their oyster.”

Soap Lake’s Valedictorian Zoe Alberti opened up her speech by introducing herself to fellow graduates as well as the crowd, noting how she’d spent her first nine years in school at the Wilson Creek School District before switching to Soap Lake to continue in the Running Start program.

“I know I don’t know any of you, but I know you’ve had your own struggles and hardships you fought through to get here today,” Alberti said. “We lived through a freaking pandemic, and in a time where you can get a self-help book written by AI. Despite all that, we made it. Congrats, and I’d just like to say I’m proud of each and every one of you for being here today.”

The staff speech was conducted by Matthew Brewer, who spoke on how the high school students had done just as much teaching to him as he had done to them. Brewer also left the graduates with four nuggets of wisdom from his “final exam:” Check your prejudices; kindness, compassion and forgiveness will take you anywhere; your story is not written by anybody else, just by you; little things are big things.

“I have something I have to admit to you,” Brewer said. “I have not been here as a teacher; I have been here as a student. I have found the best teacher in my life has been my students. I feel like this is my last chance to have class with them – my last chance to learn from them, I feel like it’s time for my final (exam).”

Once tassels were turned and caps fell to the floor, the newly-minted Soap Lake alumni took to the cafeteria for a flood of photos, hugs, smiles and celebrations of completing high school.

Ian Bivona can be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.