- The following program
is a PBS Wisconsin Original Production.
- Announcer: Funding for
Celebrating Wisconsin's Graduates
and PBS Wisconsin's At-Home Learning Initiatives
is provided by:
A. Paul Jones Charitable Trust,
Timothy William Trout Education Fund,
a gift of Dr. Monroe and Sandra Trout,
Focus Fund for Young Performers,
and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.
♪ [students perform "Pomp and Circumstances" March] ♪
- Emma: Life changes with the blink of an eye.
When we were little, we looked forward
to growing up, dressing in black robes,
and walking our final steps across the stage.
We looked forward to celebrating our graduation day
with our friends and families.
- Aniyah: But our senior year was cut short.
When we last walked out of our school doors this March,
we did not know that it'd be the last time
that we would see and communicate with
our teachers and our friends face to face.
- Emma: But even though
we could not say our good-byes in person,
our communities have found new ways to come together
and show us their support.
♪ ["Pomp and Circumstances" by Edward Elgar] ♪
- Aniyah: So now,
we're going to show you some of our stories.
This is a celebration of graduating seniors
from all around the state,
letting you know that despite the current challenges,
we are proud of everything that you've all accomplished,
and we're looking forward
to starting the next chapter of our lives.
♪ ♪ - Commentator: Here comes Brown!
- When she was only a sophomore,
Milwaukee Rufus King's Amari Brown
won a state title in the Division 1 200-meter dash.
- Commentator: This is all Amari Brown, from start to finish.
Champion Division 1 200-meter dash!
- Amari: My name is Amari Brown.
I'm a graduating senior at Rufus King high school.
- Commentator: Amari Brown out, strongly.
- Commentator: It's going to be Amari Brown
getting a big win for Milwaukee King.
- As a junior, she built upon
that first state title by adding three more.
- Commentator: Look at Amari Brown go!
Brown pulls away, wins it.
- Amari: I won state in the 100, 200, and the 4x1.
I broke my personal best for the 100 and the 200.
Being able to accomplish that at that meet,
it put me on a step
to where I knew I was on the way to like my future goals.
- But with Amari's senior track season canceled,
she's had to let go of some present goals
and focus on the future.
- Amari: My next goal was to break the record in the 200.
And the fact that I didn't get to do that,
that hurt it.
But, you know, I feel like, with the season,
everything happens for a reason.
But even with this is the fact that, you know,
you have to just keep going no matter what happens,
and maybe something greater will happen in the future.
- And something greater
is happening in the future,
Amari has signed a Division 1 scholarship to run track
at the University of Alabama,
where she plans on majoring in Construction Engineering.
And more than anything, Amari's grateful
for all the support she's had along the way.
- Amari: There's been a lot.
This has been a long journey.
I feel like there's always people here.
I've never been in a situation
to where I feel like I was alone.
- So, I really have a message of thanks for my coach.
Coach Ray, honestly, he has been here since the beginning
and I feel like, you know,
he's made me into the person who I am today.
- I really want to give a huge thanks to my mom.
She always made something happen for track.
She always made something happen for school.
She always made sure it happened.
Like, there's nothing I ever asked for that I didn't get.
I'm just grateful for everything.
I mean, I know everybody don't have the same opportunity
or the same people in their life to make it happen.
But I feel like when you do get those type of people,
cherish them
'cause not everybody has those same,
you know, people around.
- In the small town of Freedom, Wisconsin,
graduating Senior Dakota Schuh
has been balancing his schoolwork
with an activity
that gives back to his community.
- Dakota: My name is Dakota Schuh
and I go to Freedom High School.
I am a volunteer firefighter for Freedom.
I'm actually a third generation.
Ever since I was young,
my dad and grandpa have been going to calls.
So, I always kind of wanted to join.
So, I started class when I was 17.
I did-- went to all the trainings,
all the meetings, and everything.
But I couldn't respond to calls or anything
until I was 18, per state law.
And then, as soon as I turned 18,
I was able to get my pager
and go on calls then.
- Dispatch on emergency pager: 1969 is out.
- Community, to me, means
helping neighbors out,
helping people that aren't neighbors out.
It is important to me to volunteer as a firefighter
because I feel it gives back to my community.
I don't have a lot of money to donate to everything,
so I donate my time.
It really makes me feel good to help people,
especially when they're at some of their worst times
if I can show up and help them out.
It's like another family I joined, pretty much.
And everyone on it's
just as nice as the next person.
- Beatrice: My name is Beatrice Youd
and I am a senior from F.J. Turner High School
in Beloit, Wisconsin.
- Beatrice Youd's love of science
has led her to search for solutions
that will help the environment.
- Beatrice: So my current project
is about septic systems and filters,
biodegradable filters that you can put into septic systems
to filter out something called phosphate,
which causes some really bad environmental effects.
I tested these different biodegradable filters
and their ability to kind of fix phosphate and filter it.
I tested this in my house, as any high schooler would.
I built a septic system in my basement.
And thanks to my amazing chemistry teacher
and other science teachers,
I was able to test this.
- Her commitment to science
has earned Beatrice numerous awards
and presented her with extraordinary opportunities.
- Beatrice: As a result of my science projects,
I've gotten to meet so many amazing people.
I have been lucky enough
to travel all over the United States
to present my research,
and that has really been a highlight.
- And even though she's missing out
on a traditional graduation ceremony,
she's remaining optimistic and looking forward
to attending Harvard University in the fall.
- Beatrice: It took a while for me to kind of accept
that I wasn't going to get a normal graduation
or kind of finish out school.
But I'm very excited about college.
I'll be in a completely different area
and I just can't wait
to meet all sorts of new people,
expand my horizons.
I can't wait to meet all of my professors.
They are great researchers
and I'm just happy to be
in the same room with them. [laughs]
- Michael: My name is Michael Rick
and I go to Janesville Parker High School.
- Michael Rick is passionate about the theater.
[audience claps along to the music and cheers]
- Michael: My best memories in high school
totally revolve around theater.
Whether that was rehearsing or performing,
it was the reason that I went to that high school
in the first place.
I wasn't supposed to go there,
but I school-choiced there for their theater program.
And it's my favorite thing.
- ♪ Come, get together ♪
♪ Let the dance floor feel your leather ♪
♪ Look at me ♪
♪ You see this face ♪
♪ In terms of beauty I'm a basket case ♪
♪ No one hits like Gaston ♪
- This year, Michael's talent and dedication
earned him a role that was a unique opportunity
for a high school student.
- Michael: The first high school in the nation
to put on Chaplin: the Musical.
I have a little painting that someone did for me back there.
I got to play Charlie Chaplin.
♪ I've never known a morning ♪
♪ I haven't felt alone ♪
Michael: Unfortunately, our show got cut off by a weekend
because of COVID-19.
So, we did get to perform three shows,
but not the full six.
♪ [playful Chaplin comedy background music] ♪
- Though this year's performance run was cut short.
Michael is still looking forward
to continuing his passion in the future.
♪ ♪
- Michael: I'm planning on attending either
Oklahoma City University or Syracuse University
for a BFA in musical theater.
And I'm hoping to, one day,
do this professionally.
I'm excited.
I'm nervous, but that's what I'm looking forward to.
♪ [Sing Yee Her sings "No Lub Siab" by Maly Vue in Hmong] ♪
- Sing Yee Her: My name is Sing Yee Her
and I go to Eau Claire North High School.
- Hmong music and dance
have always been a big part of Sing Yee Her's life.
- Sing Yee Her: You can just express your feelings and stuff
and let out your emotions.
And, I guess, you're just like
in your own world when you're dancing.
- A world that got even bigger for Sing
when she started competing
in local Hmong music competitions.
- Sing Yee: Couple years ago,
I went to my first singing competition.
♪ [sings "Kev Hlub Ntawm Kuv Niam" by Koob Tsheej Xyooj] ♪
I was really nervous.
And then, like two months later,
I signed up for another singing competition,
which is in Eau Claire.
I ended up doing really well [laughs]
and I ended up winning first place.
So, that was really exciting for me.
- Off the stage,
Sing's attention is focused on sports.
She's a three-sport athlete
for the Eau Claire North High School Huskies.
- Sing Yee Her: Some of my favorite memories
from high school are...
getting on varsity soccer my freshman year.
That was, like, one of my goals
to get on varsity for soccer.
- But like many athletes across the state,
her senior year of soccer
was canceled due to the current pandemic.
- Sing Yee Her: I'm going to miss, like, my underclassmen
because I have a lot of underclassmen friends.
Some of them I play soccer with,
and since, like, we didn't get our season this year,
like it's real.
I'm getting sad talking about it,
but I just wish, like, I could play ball with them again.
[sniffs, laughs lightly]
A message that I want to give to us seniors
is just stay positive in life.
Even though our senior year
didn't end how we wanted,
there's still going to be better things for us later in life.
So, just stay positive.
- And now, with a message for the Class of 2020,
here's Marquette University High School,
Class of 2005 graduate, Charlie Berens.
♪ ["Pomp and Circumstances"] ♪ - Charlie Berens: Hey, there, Wisconsin classes of 2020!
Boy, howdy, who saw this coming, huh?
Now, if you're out there going, "Uh, I did,"
well, one of two things is correct.
Either one: You're lying,
or two: you got a time machine.
And if it's the latter,
I'd like to talk to you after this speech
'cause we've got to go back to 2011
and put a bet on the Packers, okay?
You fly, I'll buy. All right?
Anywho, back to the speech.
Look, your senior year ended early
'cause of the gosh darn COVID,
ya know?
And that's tough!
But that's okay 'cause we're Wisconsin.
All right?
We know a thing or three about toughness.
I mean, how many of yous
walked to school in February?
Actually, forget walking to school.
How many of yous walked outside in February?
That's tough.
How many of yous can spell Oconomowoc
on your first try?
Tough!
How many of yous have
cut the grass and shoveled the walk
on the very same day?
Toughness.
But then, along came the gosh darn COVID!
And, you know what, Wisconsin Classes of 2020?
It made ya even tougher!
You know, tougher than...
tougher than my venison jerky.
[record player slows abruptly] - Deer: What now?!?
- 'Cause just like my venison jerky...
you, too, are well marinated.
For four years,
you've been soaking in knowledge
like it's Worcestershire sauce,
absorbing the memories,
blending friendships
like flavors that'll last a lifetime.
[record player suddenly slows]
But then came [slaps knees] the gosh darn COVID
and just like my jerky,
you were plucked from your marinade
the way a raccoon plucks a carp
from the shallows of Lake Winnebago.
[music resumes] And you were ruthlessly left out
to dry-- dehydrate, if you will.
You've missed out on proms and sports seasons,
ceremonies and celebrations.
But, you know what? It's made you tough.
And it's that combination of flavor and toughness
that's made you a healthy and delicious snack.
Now, I know these words
can't possibly make up for what you've lost.
But just remember this,
"Life is like a tackle box.
"Don't mourn the lures you lost yesterday,
"And don't worry about the lures you'll lose tomorrow.
Enjoy the lures you have today."
Class of 2020,
Keep 'er Movin'!
- Cortney: My name is Cortney Zimmerman
and I go to Spencer High School.
- Graduating senior Cortney Zimmerman,
from Spencer, Wisconsin,
has worked with livestock
for as long as she can remember.
- Cortney: I've been working with them
ever since I was really little.
So, going out to the farm and being with my cattle or my pigs
is kind of my go-to,
whether it's a stress reliever
or I just need some time away from the computer,
especially now, with having everything online and virtual.
It's a lot of work to, like, prepare for shows
or, like, getting them ready to travel,
but it's just the experiences that are really worth it.
- Cortney's love for agriculture
led her to become active in FFA,
Future Farmers of America.
- Cortney: It is a organization
that students can get involved
from grades seven until shortly after high school.
They just get to be hands-on in agriculture
or just like teaching others about agriculture,
whether it be a stranger on the street
or the elementary students in our school.
- Cortney is currently running
for the position of a Wisconsin state FFA officer,
and she has learned that the skills she's gained
will serve her beyond the world of agriculture.
- Cortney: So, FFA has given me the opportunity
to meet so many people
from across the nation.
Through this,
I've been pushed to, like, talk to people
and really grow myself.
And it's really helped me
not be such a shy person
so that someday when I'm looking for a career
or I'm interviewing for a job,
that I'm not super scared about getting ready for it.
And I know that I can just go in there
and give my best
and have opportunities to back me up,
and experiences that will
definitely help me in the future.
- Devon: My name is Devon DeVerney
and I go to Lakeland Union High School.
- Devon played Varsity football for three years
and was crowned homecoming king this past fall.
But it took Devon time to find his place in high school.
- Devon: I grew so much
through my freshman to my senior year
because I used to be quiet,
like, the kid that sits in the back of the class
and now I'm the kid that sits in front of the class.
- Devon is a member
of the Lake Superior Chippewa Ojibwe Tribe,
and he's proud of his culture.
- Devon: I participate in ceremonies, and I spearfish,
and I harvest wild rice and I hunt.
Being Native American
means I might be
the minority of a group
or, in cases, at the school I am,
but I honestly don't have that label on me
because I'm such a role model in the school
that people really don't see color in me
and I'm more of a human than anything.
But it still means
that I try to teach others
not to see color.
I'm going to Haskell University
in Lawrence, Kansas,
and I'm going there
because it's an all-Native American school.
I'd like to come back here
and teach history and Native American history
and hopefully,
teach my language, Ojibwe.
I want to be a role model in the community.
I want to be the teacher that makes a D-
feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor,
an A- feel like a shot in the gut
because both push people
to do their hardest.
And I want those daydreamers
to be dream chasers
into dream catchers.
Hopefully, I can help this community
and make it even better than it was when I left it.
- Aleya: My name's Aleya Stibbe
and I'm a senior at the Richland Center High School.
[cheering, movement sounds]
- Aleya was a star member
of her track team.
She had just recovered from an injury
she suffered in her junior year.
She was looking forward to competing at state
for the third year in a row.
- Aleya: Coming into this season I was looking forward to
because I worked so hard
to overcome that injury.
I did a lot of PT for it.
And I was coming back strong.
I was definitely upset when I heard
that the season was going to be canceled.
I wanted my last track meet,
my last state meet, whatever it was.
It was just, like, heartbreaking, I guess.
- Aleya turned her attention to another passion:
nursing.
She has been working as a CNA for two years
and has been facing the pandemic head-on.
- Aleya: At the age of 16,
I decided to get my CNA
at Southwest Tech.
Since I was very young, I've always wanted to become a nurse.
It just feels right.
Like, I enjoy doing what I do
and helping people.
The pandemic hasn't really affected
my decision to go into the nursing field because
I've always really wanted to go into the nursing field.
It's kind of made me realize
that I actually want to keep going
in the medical field and down this path.
I feel like I'm making a difference.
- Ella: My name is Ella Syverson
and I go to Lake Superior High School.
- Ella Syverson
has always felt the need to act.
- Ella: I think I've always been an activist.
Even when I was, like, a little kid,
I was always the person being like,
"No, that's not fair.
There's a better way to do this."
- That desire to do better
has led Ella to organize several rallies and events
within her community.
- Ella: I've gotten really into community organizing
and activism the past couple of years.
So, I started a branch here
of the Youth Climate Action Team.
I organized a big strike
for September 20th,
the Global Climate Strike this year.
That was really amazing.
We're a small rural community,
but we had 400 people turn out for that.
- At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,
Ella was driven to help deal with the fallout.
She joined with a local organization,
and helped to provide aid
to people affected by the pandemic.
- Ella: It brings me hope, really,
when I see people coming together
in this way.
And it's also sort of, like,
what you need to keep on going.
I think the reason I do this work is because
I like connecting with people in this way, as well.
Like, I came because I wanted to make a difference
and I stayed because I built relationships
with the people I'm working with
and the people in my community
who we're reaching out to.
And that's really important to me.
- Ella realizes the historical hardships
her class is facing now.
But it's through these hardships
that hope for the future still appears.
- Ella: We're living through history right now.
And while this is a crisis,
I think we're incredibly resilient
and we will get through it.
We'll look back on this time,
and we'll remember the hardship,
but we'll also remember
the Zoom calls that we've had with our friends
and our communities coming together
to put up signs in their windows in support.
And, I think,
while this may be the end of high school,
like, we have a lot more to come that's beyond graduation.
And I'm really excited
to be looking forward to what's in the future.
- West: My name is West Whiting and I'm a senior
at Chetek-Weyerhaeuser High School.
- West Whiting
has always felt at home in art class.
- West: I think it was,
like, just something I was able to connect with.
Like, I didn't connect with many other subjects.
So, it just kind of felt like it was my niche, really.
- West had always loved drawing,
but when he got a camera his freshman year,
it opened up new creative possibilities.
- West: Once I got that, I really--
Like, my world, like, exploded.
I got to try all sorts of new kinds of things
and I got to really just expand my art world.
- Whether taking his camera with him on trips
or exploring his surroundings
in northwestern Wisconsin,
West is crafting images
that invite us to see the world differently.
- West: Kind of my whole thing
is showing beauty
in things that you normally would just walk right past,
I guess.
When I take pictures these days,
I mostly take macro photos of really little things.
Like, I can just be walking,
and look at a rain drop, and kind of just see
this beautiful thing
that otherwise people would just normally walk by,
just because they're like--
they're a reflection of our world.
If you get really close,
but they're all distorted and funny
when you look inside of them, so...
I guess, really, just my whole thing is
just showing beauty in things
that people normally wouldn't pay any mind to.
- West's attention to small things
is earning him some big honors.
- West: I kind of realized
that I was maybe onto something there when
I got a perfect score on my AP portfolio last year.
Like, it gave me a boost of confidence and I was like,
"Oh, maybe I'm not crazy.
Maybe this is really something interesting and something new."
- As he reflects on the past,
West is looking forward
to a future pursuing his artistic ambition
as a student at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.
- West: Looking back, as a kid, I always thought, like,
"How am I going to get to a place where I can
do the things that I wanted?"
You know, like being a traveling photographer
or something like that.
And now, the door is right in front of me
and I just have to open it.
♪ ♪
- Emma: We leave with you tonight
with an example of the great things
that are possible,
when we come together from all around the state
and join our voices.
♪ [acapella vocalizations] ♪ - Aniyah: On that note,
here are some students from Port Washington,
Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau,
and Milwaukee High School of the Arts
reminding you all to smile.
♪ ["Smile" by Charlie Chaplin] ♪ ♪ Smile ♪
♪ Though your heart is aching ♪
♪ Smile even though it's breaking ♪
♪ When there are clouds ♪
♪ In the sky ♪
♪ You'll get by ♪
♪ If you smile ♪
♪ Through your fear and sorrow ♪
- Ella: Since we can't really have
all of the graduation rituals that we would have had before,
our community has really rallied
to come together and support seniors during this time.
I definitely feel like we haven't been forgotten
by any means.
- ♪ For you (you) (you) ♪
♪ Lah-da-da ♪
- The community is really banding together
to honor the seniors
and it's-- it's really touching.
- I think it should make everyone feel good.
They're trying their best to do everything they can
to support the seniors through this difficult time.
There's not much you can do, but doing what they are doing.
- ♪ The time you must keep on trying ♪
♪ Smile, what's the use of crying? ♪
♪ You'll find that life is still worthwhile ♪
♪ If you just smile ♪
- It'd make me feel happy
that people have our back,
that they still care about our graduation,
and how special it is because
you only graduate from high school once in your life.
- ♪ Oh, oh, smile ♪
- This is something that we're all going to remember.
But rather than looking at it negatively,
we can look at this all positively.
We can remember the times that we've had.
Here's being able to spend time with our family,
doing what we love the most at home.
And I know that this will pass.
I know that we can get through this.
- ♪ If you smile through your fear and sorrow ♪
- The Class of 2020, especially,
this isn't who we are.
It's just an inconvenience that has happened in our lives.
And no matter what, we can push through and get through it.
- ♪ You'll see the sun come shining through ♪
- Even though our senior year
didn't end it how we wanted,
there's still going to be better things for us,
like, later in life.
So, just stay positive.
- ♪ Light up your face with gladness ♪
♪ Hide every trace of sadness ♪
♪ Oooo-oooh ♪
- Outside of just not being able
to have that graduation ceremony,
there's bigger things going on in the world.
You just have to, you know, stay strong.
You keep going, and realize that there's more to it
than what you are experiencing at that moment.
- ♪ Smile, what's the use of crying? ♪
♪ You'll find that life is still worthwhile ♪
♪ If you just smile ♪
- This is the start of a new chapter for us
and it's at one of the hardest times
that nobody in our generation has ever faced.
And I think we have the power to really make the best of it.
- ♪ Smile ♪
♪ You just smile ♪
♪ Oh ♪
♪ You just smile ♪
- This program was funded by...