The “last” graduation at Cascade Locks High School happens Saturday, with a poignant and timely nod to history.
    The school will bestow honorary degrees upon the Class of 1949, the school’s first graduating class, at 1 p.m. Saturday in the gym.

At HRVHS, first-year Principal Karen Neitzel will preside over Friday’s commencement, and at Horizon, students and family will hold graduation Saturday for the first time in the new gymnasium.

But for CLHS, commencement 2009 will be a true milestone.

Cascade Locks takes a look at its history in what may be a summing up for CLHS. Though the facility will continue as a K-8 school, next year the high school students will attend HRVHS and other schools.

“The last graduation for a period of time” is the smoothening terminology used by its principal, Ed Drew.

He points to the prominent role that alumni, from the Class of 1949 onward, have shown in supporting the school over the years.

“As this is the last graduation for a period of time, we felt it was important to honor the seven graduates, but at the same time will be a well-received acknowledgement for the first graduates,” Drew said.

There may be a Cascade Locks High School again one day, and whatever happens, one thing is for certain: the high school will live on in the hearts of its students, current and past.

Good luck to the graduates of all three high schools. (Look for photos of the graduates on our annual commencement pages, in the June 6 edition.)

Wherever you go in the months and years to come, remember the words of former New York mayor Ed Koch, in his 1983 commencement address at Polytechnic Institute of New York:

“The fireworks begin today. Each diploma is a lighted match. Each one of you is a fuse.”