Wilson Creek celebrates students
Wilson Creek High School graduates (left to right) Kesiah Cook, Davey McMillan, Ella True, Kass Newman, Rylee Jo Wilson, Taeven Brashear, Annika Mikel Tillson, Elijah Adamson and Madelayna Grajeda start to toss their caps at the school’s 2022 graduation ceremony on Saturday.
CHARLES H. FEATHERSTONE/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Wilson Creek High School graduating seniors Kesiah Cook, Davey McMillan and Ellah True during the school’s 2022 graduation ceremony on Saturday.
A Wilson Creek High School graduating senior thanks a family member during the school’s graduation ceremony on Saturday. Giving flowers to family members is a regular part of the tiny school’s graduation ceremony.
Wilson Creek High School valedictorian Kesiah Cook speaking during the school’s 2022 graduation ceremony on Saturday.
Wilson Creek High School graduating seniors Davey McMillan, Ella True and Kass Newman during the school’s graduation ceremony on Saturday.
WILSON CREEK — If you don’t play to win, don’t play at all.
That was the advice graduating senior and Wilson Creek 2022 valedictorian Kesiah Cook gave parents and teachers attending the Wilson Creek High School’s graduation ceremony on Saturday.
“Our class was like that,” Cook said. “We had a very competitive spirit, we took things very seriously, and we had to show the rest of the school that we were the best.”
Cook was one of nine seniors who graduated Saturday in the first proper graduation ceremony the Wilson Creek School District — 129 students total, according to data available from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, with 58 of them at the high school — has been able to hold since 2019, prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was exciting to see the kids get proper recognition and the families be able to enjoy it in a traditional way,” said Wilson Creek Superintendent Laura Christian. “We have some very impressive students at this school.”
During the ceremony, Dean of Students Anna Thomas highlighted the more than $195,000 in scholarships for college and technical schools won by graduating seniors Cook, Davey McMillan, Ella True, Kass Newman, Rylee Jo Wilson, Taeven Brashear, Annika Tillson, Elijah Adamson and Madelayna Grajeda.
Cook, who herself earned more than $70,000 in scholarships and plans to study dental hygiene at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, was excited that graduation had come but said she was going to miss Wilson Creek.
“I’ve been crying for hours,” she said after the ceremony. “It’s the saddest thing ever.”
Newman said he is going to spend much of the summer riding in rodeos before he heads off to Arizona to study agricultural business on a rodeo scholarship. He said he enjoyed growing up in a small community because everyone knows everybody else and everyone is willing to help, but he’s also looking forward to what comes next.
“I’m ready to move on,” he said.
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.
