STOW: Wednesday marked both a beginning and an end for graduating high school seniors in the Stow-Munroe Falls school district.
In what is a relatively new tradition for the district, about 150 of Stow’s 438 graduating seniors returned to the halls of their former elementary schools in their caps and gowns for one last walkthrough. Last year’s senior class was the first to do so. This year for the first time, students will also visit Lakeview Intermediate School and Kimpton Middle School.
On Wednesday afternoon, about 25 seniors were guests at Indian Trail Elementary School, a kindergarten through fourth-grade school.
Indian Trail Principal John Lacoste set up a table full of goodies for the seniors: sunglasses, because their future is so bright; water, because the temperature was nearly 90 degrees; and candy for all of the sweet memories they made there. The table stood before a display of baby photos of current fourth-graders, who will be moving on, themselves, to intermediate school. “We came as strangers,” it read. “We leave as friends.”
“There was a time when those kids who are here [to walk today] were up here,” Lacoste said, pointing to the board.
Also on the table was a framed photo of Lacoste with a kindergartner, taken his first year as principal. That was 13 years ago, and Grace Ehlert, the smiling little girl in the photo, is now 18 and was one of the cap-and-gown adorned seniors at the school.
“Hi, nice to see you!” Lacoste greeted students as they began to arrive.
Cameron Krec, 18, has been back to the building for field experience for his teaching professions program.
“It’s a lot smaller, being in here,” said Krec, who hopes to be a teacher and will attend Kent State University in the fall. “It’s just kind of weird, but it’s kind of nice. It’s kind of refreshing, it’s kind of a familiar atmosphere. The principals and the attendance ladies in there remember me.”
What were some of his fondest memories from Indian Trail?
“Probably gym class and recess,” he said.
“It refreshes memories from when I was a student here,” Ehlert said. She will attend Malone University in the fall and also hopes to become a teacher.
“It’s definitely weird being back,” said Autumn Simpson, 17. “But it’s nice to be back and to see the familiar faces.”
Autumn will attend Heidelberg University and also hopes to become a teacher. Some of her fondest memories include her teachers “and the impact they made.”
“Looking back, it makes me want to be the type of teacher that some of them were to me,” she said.
And the educators remembered them.
Dee Matyi, an educational aide at the school since 1991, stopped to have her picture taken with Ehlert.
“Congrats, sweetheart,” she said as she and Ehlert checked out the photo on her phone.
“I’m so proud of her,” Matyi said. “She’s really, really done so much. She’ll start as a sophomore at Malone. I’m thrilled.”
Matyi said she felt excited for the seniors.
“They are starting on another journey in their life and they worked hard to get to this point, and that’s what’s important. They’ve done it,” Matyi said.
Lacoste addressed the seniors before they lined up in the preschool wing to start their walk.
“Tomorrow night is the big senior walk, the real deal,” Lacoste said, referring to Thursday’s graduation ceremony. “You’re always welcome back. In the end, that’s what I can tell you; you’ll always be part of our hearts, and we’ll be part of yours. …
“As you go through the hallways, the look on their faces will remind us that you are inspiration to our younger ones. Some have never seen a graduate, they’ve never seen a cap and gown.
“Congratulations, we are so very proud of who you are and what you’re about to become.”
And then it was time for the big walk. The elementary students lined the hallways with homemade posters congratulating the class of 2017, applauding and high-fiving the passing seniors, little voices calling out encouragement. Pomp and Circumstance played over the school’s loudspeakers.
“It was good, bittersweet,” Autumn said after the walk.
“It felt like walking back in time,” said Chase Radcliffe, 18, who will be going into the Navy in the fall. “It just felt strange but it also felt familiar and friendly.”
The seniors left an impression on the little ones.
“It was really cool,” said fourth-grader Kira Steinheiser, 10. “It was inspirational. I want to be like them one day. I want to do that.”
Kira, who will be moving on to Lakeview next year, can hardly believe the seniors were once her age.
“It’s crazy,” she said. “We saw their pictures.”
The walk inspired fourth-grader Gavin Pellerite, 10.
“When I graduate I want to walk down this hallway, too,” he said.
Stow-Munroe Falls High School Principal Jeffrey Hartmann was at Fishcreek Elementary for the walkthrough.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity to reflect on your time in a community and a school system,” he said. “It takes an entire school system to get a kid to graduation. The senior walk reflects the adage of it takes a village to raise a child.”
Before carpooling to Lakeview, a group of seniors posed in front of Indian Trail. First, they took a nice, serious picture. Then they dabbed and stuck out their tongues before preparing for the serious business of moving on.
Monica L. Thomas can be reached at 330-996-3827 or mthomas@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @MLThomasABJ and www.facebook.com/MLThomasABJ.