Sierra Lutheran High School’s class of 2021 closed out its final chapter Saturday receiving words of encouragement, hearing music from their classmates and thinking on fond memories of whipped cream and faculty who began as new Nevadans and newlyweds with the seniors who started off at the school as freshmen themselves during the 2017-18 school year. Twenty-six graduates celebrated the occasion that included an invocation, addresses or lessons from the four valedictorians including Jake Tack, Andreas Gilson, Elia Keatington- McEllistrem and Mikayla Talkington, and worship music led by Gilson and the worship band. After the awarding of the diplomas, the graduates had an opportunity to present flowers to their mothers, a school tradition, and the class gift. “Due to the time and energy that gets put into our football program and the increasing usage of our field, the class of 2021 would like to present the school with its own flagpole for the field in hopes that we will no longer have to drape the current flag over the shed for our home football games and pep rallies,” graduate Stephen West said about the choice of gift to laughter. History and political thought teacher Danika Neal provided the graduation address and read a few thoughts from a journal to encourage the graduates. Neal came on staff in 2017 with the class when most of the students started as freshmen at the school. She shared her reflections about coming to Nevada as a new teacher after studying at Concordia University Irvine, having just married Brandon Neal, also now a teacher at SLHS. Reading a few words from one of her entries about the students before beginning at the school, she commented on how amazed she was that her words had come to fruition about these particular students. “…‘If you could see what I see, you would see that you have so much in front of you,’ ” she wrote. “ ‘You hold everything in your hands, to learn, to grow, to serve, to choose what is right, what is true and what is love. You would see that the world is so much bigger than you know…’ ” Sierra Lutheran’s newest graduates will be attending various schools locally and abroad, including Western Nevada College, Truckee Meadows Community College and the University of Nevada, Reno or schools in California, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming or beyond.
Elizabeth Loflin will be attending UNR in the fall to study nutritional science and received several scholarships, including one in the amount of $5,000 for books. After she finishes at the university, she hopes to go into medical school to become a plastic surgeon. “I’ve always wanted to help people, especially people who are insecure about something and my grandpa’s a doctor, so I’ve always been interested in medicine,” she said. “I’ve been very fortunate to be here every day. I’m very nervous right now. I’m very excited for the next chapter of my life.” Pastor Mark Duerr, school chaplain, after the ceremony said high school is a fulfilling time to be a part of as a teacher for students as they learn to think for themselves and establish who they are independent of their parents. Serving as a senior adviser, he called the students this year good sports for enduring the year of COVID-19 and a season of change. “High school kids are amazing,” he said. “They have so much personality and they don’t have a filter. It’s fun. I’ll be sitting in my classroom grading something, and they’ll come in and do some weird dance and then leave, and I’ll be like, ‘What just happened?’ “But then also, they’re old enough, they’re starting to think, ‘Who am I, what do I believe, why do I believe that?’ as they’re going through the different classes, they’re applying what they’re learning,” he said. “And they’re coming and asking questions … ‘I saw this video on Tik-Tok, what do you think?’ So it’s an amazing time to be a part of and to engage.” He said most know where they want to go, speaking of the potential engineers, neuroscientists and English majors. “The diverse areas is really awesome,” he said. “It really shows their personality. … A number of my students are so excited.”
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