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Parker graduating class urged to savor a special moment

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Parker High Graduation 2010

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JANESVILLE — Even with the new remodeling, Parker High School was no Monterey Stadium.

The parking lot was full by 6 p.m., with students in green Vikings jerseys guiding the way. Katie Marshall and her friends, who were selling bottles of water for those in the bleachers, greeted parents and students at the gym.

“How cold is it?” asks a parent.

“Oh, it’s cold!” Marshall replies. Maybe it wasn’t needed, as the gymnasium wasn’t too hot, considering the hundreds packed into the venue. Of course, not all of the lights were on either.

None of that bothered, Justin Casey. Why should it? Living up to his name, he was prepared for anything. Decked out in pink-polka dot rain boots, a multi-colored umbrella stuffed in the side and a pair of Dolce & Gabbana glasses he referred to as “Gemmy-gogs,” Casey wasn’t going to let a little rain get in the way.

Of course, it wasn’t raining inside. Or outside for that matter, as School Board President Bill Sodemann noted before the ceremony.

“We can’t win,” Sodemann said as he watched students lining up. “If we had been outside, it would have been a monsoon.”

Is it air conditioning?

With the recent remodeling project at Parker, many may have expected a light breeze to meet them at the door. And it did. But it dropped off once they got to the main lobby.

Instead, two massive fans stretched across the lobby to kick up the air. Parents and family viewing the procession in the auditorium across the lobby may have been cut off from their students, but they got at least a taste of the air conditioning that seemed to be non-existent in the gym. Of course, there were about 80 people in the lobby compared to the hundreds in the gym.

Principal Dr. Steve Schroeder said they made sure to pump as much cold air from the east wing of the building as possible starting at around 12:30 p.m. He said it would have been a lot hotter without the air conditioning.

Necessary distractions

As students waited in the hallways, distinct and repeated plinks sounded around them. Daniel Schlette held on, even if his friends joined the chorus.

Schlette and many other students were given glass marbles as they waited. They were told to hang on to them and hand them to Schroeder as they shook his hand.

“I think it’s supposed to distract him, or something,” said one student. Another suggested the last student would present him with a jar.

The final tally?

“I think I got about a dozen,” Schroeder said.

Of course, there was more in their arsenal of mischief.

During the choir’s performance of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing,” someone from the audience batted a beach ball toward the graduates.

And in the world of baseball

He never would have been picked by his class to give a commencement speech, by his own admission. But 1972 Parker alumnus Terry Ryan, who served as general manager of the Minnesota Twins until 2007, was at the commencement.

And while he certainly doled out the usual advice—have a good work ethic, be honest, remember your parents and friends—Ryan spent as much time reflecting on his tenure with the Twins and what it taught him.

“Success isn’t guaranteed, you have to fight for everything you can get,” Ryan said.

A little madness

“You know it’s special, because Bill Conway is wearing a suit,” Sodemann said near the start of his speech.

The Parker teacher certainly didn’t seem a usual fit for a blazer and slacks, but the state’s PTA Teacher of the Year recipient felt a little more at ease with the prop used for his final “lesson.”

“As if four years wasn’t enough, two more minutes is mine,” Conway said. “I’m not sure if it’ll do any good. I’ve spent the last few years telling you to spit out your gum, take off your hats. I see a lot of hats.”

With that, Conway adorned himself with an oversized top hat, a la the Mad Hatter.

But, in all seriousness, Conway had one last message for his students.

“So now I’ve got one last chance, one last minute to say something to you all,” Conway said. “Did you know that I jumped out of a plane last week? It was so awesome. … That was a moment. This is a moment. It’s life changing. You’ll never be together again. So while you can, look around at this sea of green.”