March 29, 2024

NHS has 168 students graduating Sunday

Maytag Bowl is planned site

For the 141st time, Newton High School is about to send a class of graduates on its way.

Sunday’s NHS Class of 2016 ceremony is set for 3 p.m. at its traditional site — the Maytag Bowl. In case of another one of May’s traditions — inclement weather — the ceremony will be held in the same NHS gym, where the ceremony ended up being held the past two years.

The gym is where many attendees will first meet Sunday. The school district will operate a free shuttle bus service between the high school and the Maytag Bowl, beginning at 1:45 p.m. and continuing until the 3 p.m. ceremony start time.

This year’s commencement speaker will be Savannah Eadens. She is graduating with a host of honors and scholarships, and she will attend Columbia College Chicago in the fall; her commencement address is titled “A Roller Coaster Ride.”

Senior class president Grace Coen will also speak, and vice president Jake Bennet will read a poem. There will be music from both the varsity choral and combined bands.

This year’s valedictorians are Coen, Kate Wyre, Becca Gibson, Sierra Griffith, Alex Hutchinson, Jaci Reeves, Hannah Rhoads and Bryce Tish. Wyre will read the names of each of the 168 graduates.

NHS principal Bill Peters, who will also speak, said the Class of 2016 is leaving with many college credits already earned, and will benefit from $2.7 million in scholarships so far.

The Class of 2016’s motto, taken from “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” is “It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

Prior to Sunday’s ceremony, which is for graduates from the main NHS campus, 22 students are set to graduate from the Basics & Beyond program on Friday morning in an 11 a.m. ceremony in the Maytag Auditorium at Newton DMACC. They receive regular Newton High School diplomas, and are counted as part of each year’s graduating class.

There are no tickets and no charge for admission to commencement, whether it’s held at the park or in the high school gym.

Contact Jason W. Brooks at
641-792-3121 ext. 6532
or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com