The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

There was no relief from the hot weather in the Naselle gym on Saturday at the graduation for the Class of 2016. Programs became fans, flapping in the faces of people all over the room.

Class Valedictorian Taylor Eaton welcomed the crowd to the ceremony before Faculty Speaker Rob Dalton stepped up to the podium.

Dalton told stories on the graduates.

"They voted for me to speak," he said with a laugh, "consider it self inflicted."

He told a story on a fifth grade Makayla Matthews.

"When I was a fifth grade PE teacher," Dalton said, "the class was sitting down on the ground in front of me. I was standing there when I got a strange sensation on my left arm. I looked down and there was Makayla with puppy dog's eyes, mouth wide open, and beaming from ear to ear. She was so proud of what she'd just done."

"I looked down at my arm and I looked at her," he said.

"'Did you just lick my arm?'" Dalton asked. "No words, all I got was a massive smile and a head bob up and down."

Dalton joked about Hayden Gudmundsen's dance moves, describing them as "muscle spasms." And he really told on Salutatorian Kendra Leeland.

"Kendra gave me a bird in the parking lot," he laughed. "No, not a bird. The bird. That's only the second time in 20 years that I'm aware of that I've been flipped off."

He turned serious.

"You do have to be mentally tough," Dalton told the class. "Life can be hard, it is for most of us. Some of you have already learned this firsthand and had the mental toughness and the determination to make it thus far, but others have used similar circumstances as an excuse to fail. In your future, you will make mistakes, you will have self doubt. There will be people and circumstances which seemingly will try and stop you from being successful. You must keep your eyes on your goals, persevere through the rough patches and stay mentally tough."

Student speaker Jake Clark spoke about the power of curiosity. Then he told more stories on his classmates and teachers.

"This may be the last time I see some of you," he said. "After 12 years together, learning and growing...I believe we can do whatever we set our minds to, I believe in the Class of 2016."

Diana Zimmerman

Salutatorian Kendra Leeland, left, and valedictorian Taylor Eaton prepare to lead their classmates into the commencement ceremony.

Superintendent Lisa Nelson, the final speaker, presented the class as they moved their tassels from one side of their cap to the other to symbolize their transition to graduate. She delighted the very warm crowd when she informed them that she had knocked her speech down to just a few minutes because of the heat.

"It's not your job or your wealth that defines who you are as a person," Nelson said, "but it is your character that most certainly does. Being a person of great character will forever make you invaluable to this world. As Mark Twain said, 'The two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why.' Now today is obviously not one of those days. Today is a day to stop and pause and celebrate and give thanks for the many accomplishments so far. Just stop and take it all in because tomorrow begins your journey to figure out the why."

Suddenly caps were flying and the Class of 2016 was covered in silly string.