Class of 2017: looking back at the History that Shaped the Journey

I’ve been here before. This is my third child to graduate from Mount Si High School, but this one is my only son.

We moved here when he was wearing Buzz Lightyear pajamas and still in diapers. We were looking for HOME, for COMMUNITY.

We found it.

It isn’t an exaggeration. 18 years flew by. Memories have flooded back. Weren’t they just starting kindergarten? Appreciating those long summer days in blow up pools, lightsaber battles in the front yard, riding bikes in the cul-de-sac with neighborhood friends.

How can elementary school be finished? That first middle school dance. That first cell phone. Flying between activities. Get the homework done. Friends becoming everything. Finding some family time.

High school. Really? Slow down the clock. Will he ever tell me anything? Drivers ed. Can he really being driving away from our home?  SAT’s. College, career discussions. It’s gone too fast.

Today is the last day of high school. Am I really old enough to have a child done with high school?  I am. He is.

Knowing they will always be our children – even as they spread their wings. Always wanting the best for them. Hoping they know how much they will ALWAYS mean to us.

Congratulations graduates – AND parents!

A Look Back at the history that shaped the Class of 2017

Born When:

• President Clinton was finishing his last term
• The Monica Lewinsky scandal and impeachment of President Clinton was the top news story
• The world population hit 6 billion
• The Columbine school shooting claimed the lives of 13 people
• Shows like The Sopranos and The West Wing aired for the first time
• The Star Wars universe debuted its first prequel
• Google had just launched
• JFK Jr. died in  plane crash
• The first homes were built in a new community called Snoqualmie Ridge

Learning to Walk and Talk When: 

• Tiger Woods became the youngest player to win a Grand Slam in Golf
• Hillary Clinton is elected to the US senate, becoming the first US First Lady to win public office (and while still the First Lady)
• Bush defeated Gore after a contentious recount in Florida
• The Kingdome was imploded to make way for Safeco and Centurylink Fields

Potty Training When:

• Planes flew into the Twin Towers and Pentagon on September 11th, 2001
• President Bush proclaimed a “war on terror” and established the Office of Homeland Security
• U.S. invasion of Afghanistan began
• Jimmy Carter went to Cuba for a five day visit with Fidel Castro, making him the first US president, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro’s 1959 revolution
• Jason Bourne first hit the big screen
• The Snoqualmie Valley School District passed a capital construction bond that built two new schools – Cascade View ES and Twin Falls MS – and also built Wildcat Stadium where they graduate this year

In Preschool When:

• American Idol first premiered
• Invasion of Iraq begins
• U.S. forces captured Saddam Hussein
• The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%
• Finding Nemo came out
• Beyoncé released her first solo album
• Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his Harvard dorm
• Friends aired its final episode after a 10 year run

In Elementary School They Were:

• In Kindergarten when the third largest earthquake ever recorded (9.3 magnitude) created a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and edges of the Indian Ocean, killing 230,000 people
• Just starting 1st grade as the nation dealt with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
• 1st graders when shows like Grey’s Anatomy, The Office, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Supernatural, Bones, The Colbert Report, and How I Met Your Mother were all just starting their first season, and Will & Grace aired its final season
• 2nd graders when J.K. Rowling finished writing the final Harry Potter book and Steve Jobs announced the iPhone
• 3rd graders when Amy Adams’ Princess Giselle became Disney’s first live-action princess in Enchanted; North Bend got its water rights back, signaling the beginning of more growth
• 4th graders when stock market crashed, the U.S. banking system nearly collapsed, and the bottom fell out of the real estate market; Captain Sully made a successful crash landing on the Hudson River in New York; President Obama was elected, making him the first African-American president of the United States
• 5th graders when Avatar broke box office records; Toy Story 3 was released; the iPad launched; a deadly earthquake hits Haiti; and the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and caused an environmental disaster off the Gulf of Mexico

In Middle School They Were:

• 6th graders when The Oprah Winfrey Show aired its final episode; U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden; the U.S. military policy; “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” was repealed; a 9.0 magnitude earthquake hits Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people and caused the second worst nuclear accident in history at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant
• 7th graders when Steve Jobs steps down as the CEO of Apple; Kim Jong-un was officially appointed Supreme Leader of North Korea; Ashton Kutcher replaced Charlie Sheen on Two and a Half Men, New Girl debuts on Fox
• 8th graders when Snoqualmie Middle School closed, President Obama was re-elected, bombs exploded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon; dozens of students and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School were killed by a mass shooter; Edward Snowden leaked NSA documents; Pope Francis took over as the head of the Catholic Church; Malala Yousafzai survived after being shot 3 times by the Taliban, and despite the predictions of the Mayan calendar, the world didn’t end.

In High School They Were:

• Freshmen when: the Mount Si Freshman campus opened, the Seahawks won the Super Bowl; music from Frozen was everywhere; the ebola virus epidemic began, Malaysia Airlines flight 370 disappeared; and Jimmy Fallon took over The Tonight Show.
• Sophomores when: Valley voters approved a $244 million bond to rebuild MSHS and build Timber Ridge Elementary; MSHS moved from 3A to 4A; New York’s 104 story One World Trade Center officially opened, the Charlie Hebdo attack happened in Paris, the Seahawks returned to the Super Bowl but lost in the last seconds; ISIS became Enemy #1; the U.S. and Cuba resumed normal relations; and a major earthquake hit Nepal.
• Juniors when: Queen Elizabeth II passes the record set by Queen Victoria to become Great Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, Justin Trudeau is sworn in as Canadian Prime Minister; Trevor Noah took over The Daily Show after Jon Stewart ended his 16 year run; Adele’s single “Hello” becomes the first song with more than a million downloads in its first week; Twin Peaks came back to the Snoqualmie Valley to film
• Seniors when: Timber Ridge opened as the 6th SVSD elementary school and the district broke ground on the new MSHS, bringing a temporary gravel parking lot and cranes to campus; Donald Trump was elected president; the Oscars had the Moonlight/La La Land mix up when presenting the award for Best Picture;an estimated 5 million people marched worldwide in the inauguration day Women’s March; Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds died within one day of each other; the iPhone 7 came out without a headphone jack; Snoqualmie Valley home prices again hit record highs; and John F. Kennedy would’ve turned 100.