Irrigon's First Graduates in Half a Century

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By Sara Desautel

Summary

The first graduating class in nearly fifty years. Boardman and Irrigon high school students used to share their schools, but now Irrigon has a building of its own.

Story Published: Jun 1, 2007 at 5:51 PM PST

Irrigon's First Graduates in Half a Century
IRRIGON--Up until three years ago, all Irrigon and Boardman high schoolers were bussed to high schools in Boardman.

Kimberly Hollis said, "We'd bus to Boardman and then we would bus back. I didn't really like it because the classes were bigger and I didn't get as much education out of it."

Irrigon High School's building became a middle school in the late 1950s.

Eva Smith said, "Everybody else, they've had their high school be a high school for quite a long time. Either that or their high school was built as a high school. This went from being a high school to a middle school and now we're a high school again."

Three years ago, these students became the first to attend Irrigon High.

Kimberly Hollis said, "They'll be nobody else that's the first graduating class. Just us."

Thirty-seven seniors will take home diplomas.

It will be the end of their long reign as perpetual seniors.

Morrison said, "We've been the seniors all three years, we've have lower classmen and no one was ever above us. So, we kind of didn't get the short end of the stick at any point."

That wasn't the only privilege.

This class got to pick the mascot, the fight song, and write the student constitution.

Friday night marks the end of their influence on the school's future but the first for many Irrigon high schoolers to come.

Morrison said, "The community has been wanting this for a very long time. They're very happy that it's finally happening. A lot of them plan on being here. They don't even have any relatives graduating, they just want to be here because it's the first.

Irrigon High's class of 2007 graduation is Friday, June 1st at 7pm in the school gym.