Whitnall Commencement Ceremony Highlights Class Achievements

The Class of 2012 was a hard one to define for principal Anthony Brazouski.

“It’s difficult to narrow this one down,” Brazouski told the several hundred students, friends and family members .

Pretty darn smart would be a good start.

The 219 students in this year’s graduating class earned more than $2.9 million in scholarship money, with 75 class members, or roughly one-third of the group achieving high honors with 3.5 or higher grade-point averages.

Fifty-five students were members of the National Honor Society.

“This one is truly unique and made up of unique individuals, definitely over-achievers, definitely bright, and there are certainly a lot of characters out there,” Brazouski said.

During Sunday’s ceremony, senior class president Darcy McGlinn recounted her class’s journey from kindergarten, when she and her classmates were forced to take naps, to senior year.

“We’re probably one of the best classes every to pass through Whitnall, no bias or anything,” she said. “It’s crazy to think of how far we’ve come. …

“We learned who we are and who we want to become, especially in our four years in high school. … the choices we’ve made add up to where we’ll end up.”

Class valedictorian Danika Johnson, who will take her 4.585 cumulative GPA to the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse next fall, said Sunday was a day to take a breath and look around, and that high school was just part of a puzzle she and her classmates will continue to work on.

“All that we have done together these four years is something that will forever be a part of us,” Johnson said.

Salutatorian Stephanie Breunig, , highlighted the classes athletic achievements, academic achievement and spirit in her address to the crowd, saying there were future doctors, engineers, politicians and teachers sitting beside her.

“My mom used to tell me it’s not what you know, it’s who you know and that the relationships you form throughout your life are of the utmost importance,” she said. “And no matter how many times I hear it, there’s no denying it’s so, incredibly true.”

Amy Dorszynski, the senior class vice president; Katherine Singer, the senior class secretary; and Alex Sterling, the senior class treasurer, presented School Board president Nancy Zaborowski with the senior class gift: money toward revitalizing the school’s courtyard.