Family, friends, and faculty packed the gymnasium at South Summit High in Kamas Friday night. So many that some were turned away because the gym reached capacity.
Mia Butikofer is the president of the senior class.
“Well, you guys, we’ve done it," Butikofer said. "We’ve come so far. And in the wise words of the highly respected poet, Drake – 'started from the bottom, now we’re here.'”
She said the class has had to work through a variety of hurdles throughout its four years.
“Starting with the pandemic shutting us down during our last quarter of our freshman year, then having to continue into sophomore year doing athlete Covid testing every week… and of course the masks and our favorite mask police in English, if you know, you know," Butikofer said. "Then you jump to our junior year with the school year starting out with carbon monoxide poisoning alerts going off, and of course, the ACTs. But we stayed strong through it all.”
Student body officer Maddoc Cox used his speaking time to read an Emily Dickinson poem, and offer words of support to his peers.
“We will all go through hard times, some more than others," Cox said. "It is guaranteed that life will be complex and tough at one point or another. But while we go through these hard times, and as we take the big step to the great unknown, let us never stop hearing the song of hope. Because it never stops singing, we just stop hearing it.”
To symbolize the evolving world the students are entering, South Summit Principal Chris Jensen used the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT to write a portion of his speech.
“When faced with a choice between the path of least resistance or actually spending time and creating truly original work, choose to be authentic,” Jensen said. “Your heart, soul, and spirit give you a particular and important voice for this world. I’m so proud of the class of 2023.”
A video of the full graduation ceremony can be found below:
