June 11, 2017

Luke & Avery Graduate From Prior Lake High School


Luke & Avery Graduate From Prior Lake High School
Todd Swank's Diary Entry for June 11, 2017


We've been going to graduation parties all week and have been hanging out with lots of fun people.  Here I found myself with the local Prior Lake power players - Mayor Kirt Briggs, School Board Member Melissa Enger, County Commissioner Tom Wolf, and Tom's wife Kellie.  It was a very interesting conversation about local politics and I always enjoy hearing some of the inside scoop.


Miss Sheri had some fun conversations with her college roommates, Cathy and Robin.  Robin was in town celebrating her 50th birthday and the ladies got into all sorts of shenanigans.


Luke and Avery's last day of school was on Tuesday and they were invited to attend a Senior Recognition Night at the high school.  We weren't sure what that was about, but were curious to discover why.


It turns out they were each awarded two different scholarships.  They each received one from Prior Lake Dollars for Scholars, Luke received one from the Prior Lake Lions Club, and Avery received one from the Prior Lake Rotary Club.  We are all very appreciative of their support!


After the ceremony, we were standing around talking with some of their classmates when suddenly we realized that the 6 boys having a conversation were all Eagle Scouts so we felt like we had to snap this picture of the group.


Long time readers of my blog will know about our history with Albino Squirrels.  Neither Miss Sheri or I had ever seen an albino squirrel in our lives before our boys were born.  We have now seen them in our yard every summer since they were born.  That's across two different houses.  We thought it was nice to see an albino squirrel in our yard several days this week to help them celebrate their graduation from high school.


Friday rolled around and the boys got ready for their graduation ceremony.  Blue was very excited to have the opportunity to pose for some nice pictures with us.


We were a little nervous about it being extremely hot for the 4 hours we would be sitting in the bleachers for their ceremony, but it ended up being a very pleasant temperature.


Grandma Linda, Grandma Leona, and Sheri's college roommate, Robin, joined us to watch the ceremony.  We showed up two hours early to get seats so it was nice to have company to help us pass by the time.


Our good friends, Dan and Jen, had their friend in Sherry in from Florida and they sat right behind us so it was fun getting rowdy with them also.


Soon the kids started filing on to the field and we were excited to see the boys get out there.  Avery was pretty excited to see us also.


The ceremony went for about two hours.  Their class had 616 students graduate of which approximately 589 were in attendance.  It takes quite a bit of time for 589 people to walk across the stage to get their diplomas.


The boys said they were quite confident about graduating, but when the ceremony began I thought they looked a little bit nervous.


Eventually their names were called and they confidently made their way across the stage.  We are very proud of both of them.


I always enjoy at the end of a graduation ceremony when all the graduates throw their caps in the air.  I'm always curious to know how many people permanently lose their caps, but it didn't seem to be much of an issue for anyone.


We came onto the field afterwards and helped the boys celebrate their achievements.  There's a lot of great people in Prior Lake so it was an awesome feeling getting to share this moment with all of them.


The boys have made a lot of good friends over the years and they all have amazing journeys ahead of them.  These guys all have very bright futures.  Congratulations to the Class of 2017 everywhere!

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