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Evansville High School graduates 120 seniors

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Evansville 2011 Graduates

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EVANSVILLE — Although it was cloudy and cool outside Evansville High School, it was bright and warm inside where 120 seniors and their families gathered for the 2011 graduation ceremony Saturday afternoon.

The next step

Katie Wendt posed with four of her closest friends, who have been in school together since kindergarten. Her older brother Josh Wendt snapped their picture.

“We’ve always been a group,’’ said Wendt, who has enrolled in the nursing program at UW-Oshkosh.

“I’m very excited for the next step of my life. But I’m nervous, too. I’m going to new place, expanding my horizons and taking what I’ve learned here and continuing my life,’’ she said.

'Only we understand'

Class officers Rachael Bromley, Mary Andrew, Haley Barlass and Samantha Viken’s speech was to be a comfort to the seniors, who will always be connected in a unique way—their language of Evansville-ish.

“Our language has its own vocabulary; words only we understand were created throughout our school experience. This is our shared language, and it is what will link us long after we leave. We will all still be connected forever because the Class of 2011 is the only group of people in the world who speak our language. So when we run into each other in the future, we will not need a translator; we will look at each other and just begin to talk and be instantly transported back to our childhood,” said Bromley, class president.

Fortune cookie wisdom

Co-valedictorians Madeleine Blain and Lauren Janes dispensed wisdom through fortune cookies and horoscopes with graduates.

“Maybe our horoscopes or fortune cookies will come true, but most likely when we look back, it will be the actions we took that made our futures a reality. Look around you. The people filling these stands, the friends in the chairs beside you and the memories you made have all helped you in your life thus far. Be grateful and take the wisdom they offer. Evansville High School Class of 2011: Change. Learn. Fail. Live. Your future is in your hands,” they said before passing out fortune cookies to the graduates.

'You teach us'

Guest speaker Ellie Haberl, an Evansville High School English teacher, shared a secret with the Class of 2011 as her parting gift to them.

“Although we bear the title of teacher, although we pretend to be the source of knowledge and instruction in school, this student-teacher relationship is not entirely accurate. In so many ways, each day of school YOU teach us. The gifts you give to us—your humor, your questions, your way of viewing the world—benefitsus, change our lives in such a positive way that our title of teacher is not wholly appropriate. And that is our secret. So thank you for all the lessons you have taught us.’’

Riding in style

Dylan Arthur Charles Schuett rode in style to and from his graduation ceremony in a Harley-Davidson stretch limousine that grandparents Margaret and Phil Tyrrell Sr. of Janesville hired at $120 an hour for the special occasion.

“He’s a neat kid, polite and helpful,” they said.

Schuett described the gift as “amazing” and said with a smile that he loved his grandparents for being so generous.