Forty students graduate from Nome-Beltz

By Laura Robertson

On Wednesday, May 28, Nome’s streets filled up with trucks and cars decorated in Nanook blue and white, celebrating the Nome-Beltz graduating Class of 2025 with a customary graduation parade.
Seniors sat in the backs of trucks, some covered in blankets against the biting chill in the air, waving to crowds of cheering well-wishers as they paraded through town. 
Over 90 minutes, the 40 graduating seniors and their families traversed the whole city, finally arriving at the Nome-Beltz High School gymnasium to make the final transition from students to alumni.
At the ceremony there was dancing, four student speeches, and a chance for each student to cross the stage and receive their diploma.
English teacher Rachel Finney gave the commencement address.
After Jackie Reader sang the National Anthem and the Alaska Flag Song, Cultural Studies Teacher Phyllis Walluk led the high schoolers in two dances: the welcome song and the Bering Sea Land Bridge song.
After dancing, the valedictorians and salutatorians gave their speeches. Nome-Beltz had three valedictorians this year: Luke Hansen, Finn Gregg and Taylor Gorn.
Lauren Kingstrom was the salutatorian.
Kingstrom’s speech focused on celebrating the individual achievements of each of her classmates and remembering time spent together. She joked about entering high school as freshman during the masked COVID years, about embarrassing moments they shared, and about the WiFi which they weren’t allowed to access, but all did.
Hansen spoke next, using his speech to provide younger students with advice. He told freshmen to immediately find upperclassmen to look up to and emulate, to take school seriously and to test their limits. He counseled sophomores to make mistakes and to have fun, remembering that school would get more serious soon. To juniors, he said, get involved. Addressing the seniors, he talked about his calculus class, “where limits existed but my understanding did not,” he joked. Math teacher Holly Harlow had encouraged him to stay in the class. He encouraged his classmates to surround themselves with people who encouraged them.
“Having people who believe in you even when you’re ready to quit makes all the difference,” he said.
Gorn used her time to talk about grappling with the uncertainty of what would come next in their lives. She said that it was “genuinely scary” knowing her entire routine would change. “Right now, each of us have labels and identities,” said Gorn. “All of that has been true, but once we graduate, what will we call ourselves?” Gorn said that while she wasn’t sure what would come next –joking that she still didn’t have a major– this was the moment to take what they had learned in high school and make their families and community proud.
“Whatever I choose, I’m going to try and I’m going to fail. I’m possibly going to cry and I’m going to laugh. I’m going to get frustrated,” said Gorn. “But embracing the uncertainty of the future and not knowing what options or outcomes are ahead of us is very exciting, and I know that if each and every one of us tries, we will succeed.”
Gregg’s speech called on students to have goals for themselves. He talked about being involved in a wide variety of things, encouraging students to take classes, talk to people, and sign up for activities that interested them. He added that consistency and perseverance can take you anywhere. He shared a favorite quote: “The best time to start something is yesterday. The second-best time is today.”
“Don’t waste your precious time,” said Gregg.
Rachel Finney gave the commencement speech, calling back to the “hero’s journey,” a literary structure from across time and cultures in which a protagonist goes on an adventure, faces challenges and returns transformed from what they have experienced. Weaving in references to literature, Finney told the students about the hero’s journeys they had been on, and the ones they had yet to face. “Even ordinary people like you and I can set off and do extraordinary things,” said Finney. “It all starts when we leave behind what is familiar to us and embrace the unknown.”
Finney talked about the seniors’ resilience when starting high school during the pandemic. She encouraged them to view their trials as stepping stones. She reminded them they were surrounded by mentors and allies. “You have grown up in a community that is loving, supportive, and ready to help you at a moment’s notice,” she said.
Somewhere in the hero’s journey, Finney said, they would face the abyss, the darkest part of the cycle and the greatest challenge. She warned them that they would be tempted to quit but reminded them of the grit and tenacity they’d already shown in facing abysses. “With every abyss, there’s transformation waiting on the other side.”
In life, after the hero’s journey ends, she told the students, it immediately begins again. She told them she hoped they felt a little more prepared for their next journey than the last one.
There was a slideshow celebrating the seniors, and then it was time for the seniors to cross the stage and receive their diplomas. As they did, family and friends waited on the other side to shower them with kisses and leis.
After the last student had crossed the stage and turned their tassel, Principal Teriscovkya Smith pronounced them all official graduates.
The students threw their hats in the air and balloons poured down on them as families swarmed for hugs and photos.