'We've made it'

Friday was a big day for East Grand Forks Senior High School student Karli Fontaine -- she was getting ready to walk across the Civic Center stage and collect her high school diploma, along with 118 of her classmates.

Fontaine said she was "excited" about the achievement, and she figured out a few months ago that she wants to be a nurse. She'll probably start at Northland Community and Technical College and then transfer to a university to finish her degree.

"I just like helping people out," she said.

Being a senior was a lot of fun, Fontaine said, and it's a little hard to believe she's already done with high school.

"It went by real fast," she said.

But Fontaine was still "a little nervous" as the time for "Pomp and Circumstance" approached.

With a career path mapped out and high school over, what could scare someone like Fontaine?

"I don't want to fall," she said, echoing a common fear of tripping on the steps as she walked up to get her diploma on the stage.

Classmate Erik Barrera, who plans to major in social work and psychology at UND, was "for the most part" ready to graduate. He looks forward to going into social work, probably family counseling.

But he wasn't very nervous.

"I'm great, actually," he said when asked how he felt as the seniors got in line for the procession. Barrera attributed that calmness -- and lack of nerves about the possibility of falling -- to the practice the class went through before the big day.

"They pounded the idea of rehearsal in, so I think I've got it down," he said. "I'm ready."

'One heck of a ride'

Keely Campos, an honors student who plans to attend North Dakota State University in the fall, gave the first commencement speech titled "The Journey."

"We've made it to our destination guys," she said. "We're graduating."

But life isn't just about the destination, Campos said. She likened it to those long family road trips she went on as a kid, the kind that made anxious children ask "are we there yet?" just a few miles away from the driveway.

Campos said she used to hate the journey along the way, thinking it was just something to get through before arriving at the real reason for the trip. But growing up has taught her that isn't necessarily the case.

"I realized it was the journey that was the most important part and not the destination," she said.

Honors student Conner Jevning kept that theme in his speech, "The Road Ahead." Jevning will attend Stanford University in the fall to begin his major in engineering.

"For the last 18 or so odd years, we've been on this long road trip," he told his classmates. That metaphorical trip included learning how to deal with mechanical breakdowns, or even hitchhiking when they couldn't go it alone, he said.

But these young adults' journey is "truly just beginning" after graduation, Jevning said.

"It's going to be one heck of a ride," he said. "Before we know it, we'll arrive at our next destination."

Principal Brian Loer thanked families for the "15,925 hours" each student spent in the school system -- five days a week, seven hours a day for 13 years.

But that time came to an end at about 8 p.m. when Loer said the words everyone was waiting to hear.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the 2010 graduating class of East Grand Forks Senior High," he said, prompting an outburst of cheering and cap tossing.

And Fontaine, like the rest of her class, managed to get her diploma and move her tassel to the left side of her cap to mark the achievement -- all without getting tripped up on the stairs leading to the stage.

Reach Johnson at (701) 780-1105; (800) 477-6572, ext. 105; or send e-mail to rjohnson@gfherald.com .