Carrie Lane High School graduates Class of 2020

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Carrie Lane High School graduated 10 members of the Class of 2020 Saturday evening at a ceremony at First Congregational Church in Charles City.

The event was delayed because of COVID-19, but instructors and students expressed joy and satisfaction that the day had finally arrived.

“As we all know, 2020 has been a real crazy year. The things we thought of as normal, obviously, have been disrupted. It’s been stressful, it’s been hard,” said program director and instructor Don Betts.

“We’ve had to make adjustments on the fly. But making changes and adjustments on the fly is kind of what life’s about. You could argue that the people who are most successful in life, the most happy in life, are the ones that are able to make adjustments on the fly,” he said.

The first student speaker was Ethan Williams, who shared a heartfelt story of how he started at Carrie Lane and what it meant to him.

He said he was struggling at the traditional Charles City High School and felt like he was a throw-away.
“This was the final option for me,” he said. “The moment I set foot in here I felt the difference. … It’s because the people who are here care about you, from the bottom of their heart, from the moment they see you. It’s not about what happened in high school, it’s not about what’s happening to you in your personal life. … They see you and they see potential.”

But, Williams said, even though he got off to a good start in Carrie Lane his sophomore year, he wasn’t ready to change, and he quit going to classes three times over the next couple of years.

“I let myself give up. … I reached the bottom. … When you hit rock bottom it feels bad, it looks bad, and you don’t really think there’s any way out of it. But once I hit that rock bottom I was ready for change. Once I changed in here, I started changing here,” he said, first touching his heart, then his head.

Williams said he remembers the day after he had quit the third time when he walked back into Betts’ office without an appointment and poured his heart out to him.

“I told him I want to stop feeling like I can’t do anything. I want to start contributing and giving back to people who have given so much to me. I cried like a baby in his office,” he said.

“He listened to everything I had to say, patted me on the shoulder and said, ‘When do you want to start?’ He just as quickly welcomed me back as if it was my first day,” Williams said.

“To coach, it’s as long as you’re trying, that’s what counts. If you’re still willing to try, we’re still willing to have you. And then I had one of the best years of my life, ever,” he said.

“I hope that anyone who hears about my particular story can just take from it that, as long as you have people in your life who are willing to extend that branch for you, hold out a little bit of hope for you, even if you’re not ready for it yourself, as long as they’re ready and willing to give it to you, then it’s never too late. You’re never too far gone,” he said.

The second student speaker, Bailey Myhre, said, “After one crazy year we’re all graduating. I thought this day would never come.”

She thanked the teachers and said, “I came here in pretty bad shape. The second I walked in this door everybody had my back. Here it doesn’t matter who you are, your age, race, sexuality, your GPA, your class, your gender or anything else that could set you aside from everyone else.

“Thanks teachers and classmates,” she said. “Thank you for helping me stand here today and say, ‘I did it.’”

In parting words, Betts said he loved the beach and he especially loved sea shells, because they are all different.

“They come in different sizes, different shapes. Some are smooth, some are shiny, some have their edges rough, some are a little bit broke, but they’re all different, and I love that about those shells,” he said. “Think about what it takes for them to get to the beach, the waves crashing. Imagine all the turbulence they had to go through.”

Betts said the shells remind him of the Carrie Lane graduates — “all unique in your own way, all important in your own way, all special to someone in your own way. You have battled the elements and made it to the beach,” he said.

Members of the Carrie Lane Class of 2020 are Alexis Herman, Samantha Prigge, Michael Tobin, Adrianna Ferch, Olyvia Zuspan, Bailey Myrie, Araina Jung-Boatwright, Luke Smith, Ethan Williams and Faith Crabtree.