A TIME FOR TRADITION, REFLECTION, PLANNING

Columbiana High School Commencement

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Columbiana 2009 Commencement

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By Sean Barron

Know that it’s all right for your plans and goals to change, a speaker told the graduates.

COLUMBIANA — You might say that Kaitlin R. Steeb’s high-school years began and ended with Cascada.

During her freshman year, Kaitlin and many of her fellow classmates started what became a four-year tradition of gathering in a large circle, swaying and jumping to the German Eurodance group Cascada’s hit “Everytime We Touch.” Proms and other special events were fair game for their overt celebrating.

Kaitlin and several students found themselves doing the same Sunday — only this time, they were decked out in caps and gowns and had received their diplomas.

Memories of that tradition will likely be among many Kaitlin, class president, will carry with her long after Sunday’s Class of 2009 commencement ceremony in the high school.

“It hasn’t hit me yet,” Kaitlin said, trying to conjure up her feelings about being a new graduate. “It will be different in that I won’t see these people anymore.”

From here, Kaitlin plans to attend Kent State University to study journalism and mass communications.

Along those lines, her accomplishments include a Tom Holden Award for having written a public service announcement for the Girl Scouts of America.

For more than 30 years, Holden had been a sports reporter and news anchor on WKBN-TV 27 before stepping down in April 2005. He died June 11, 2005.

Helping the basketball team as a point guard win the district championships in his junior year will probably be a fond recollection Travis A. Denmeade will carry with him.

During the ceremony, Travis, one of four valedictorians, extolled the virtues of the Cleveland Cavaliers, telling his fellow graduates and an audience of several hundred that the team’s success is attributable mainly to the players’ unselfish attitude, hard-working attributes, teamwork and leadership qualities. He cited LeBron James as an excellent leader, imploring the students to follow the examples of James and the Cavs.

Travis said he plans to see friends this summer, then enroll at Youngstown State University to study engineering.

Evan C. Hill was a bit more stoic about his feelings regarding high school, saying he’s ready to take on the next chapters of his life, which will include time with friends before attending KSU’s Salem Campus to major in radiology.

“I want to hang out with my friends as much as possible before we scatter,” he added.

The 90-minute event’s keynote speaker was Donald Arthurs, president and chief executive officer of My Theater Co. LLC of Columbiana.

Arthurs, who’s also a 1994 Columbiana High graduate, said he originally wanted to be a rock star. His plans changed, however, and he became a software engineer — eventually landing an eight-year career with Turning Technologies Inc. in Youngstown.

For many people, fortune, fame, family and fun are benchmarks of success, though a danger of fame is that it can distort a person’s viewpoint of himself, he continued. One criterion for getting and keeping a job should be the level of enjoyment derived, Arthurs said.

“Life is too short to be unhappy,” he added.

Arthurs also told the graduates that it’s OK for their goals to change, and he encouraged them to remember their roots, be proud of where they came from and be true to themselves.

The commencement exercises also featured remarks by fellow valedictorians Gina C. Snavely, Anthony R. Casacchia and Heidi R. Moff, as well as Principal Timothy Saxton.

Musical performances were by the school’s concert choir and band.