by Shelley Bennett
Join me Friday at 7:00 for the annual Grizzliette Show!
You’ll enjoy a showcase of all of the team’s routines they did this year plus lots of new ones, including the always fun class competition.
J&J Performing Arts will provide entertainment in between drill team’s performances.
It’s held in the LHS Big Gym and tickets prices are $10 for adults, $7 for high school students, and $5 for senior citizens, K-8 students, and those with an ASB discount.
All proceeds go to help the Grizzliettes with camp, competition, and other expenses.
Speaking of LHS, you might have heard that our superintendent, Morgan Nugent, has resigned. His email to staff brought back some memories of when I knew that Mr. Nugent was here for our kids.
It always takes a minute to get to know your new administration and I had just got to know Mr. Nugent a little when the school shut down due to Covid-19.
We were struggling with how to honor our grads and I’m sure Mr. Nugent was weary of my somewhat hare-brained ideas. I would have done anything to give Landon and his classmates a graduation.
One night after Leo got off work (surveying is social distanced and essential), we went for a drive. This had become a habit with us, a time when we could talk and destress.
Our recent proposal to have a parade down Main Street had been vetoed due to Cal Trans. So, I was probably crying or about to when Leo re-routed our trip to the corner of Alexander Avenue and Riverside Drive.
“What if,” he asked, “we started the parade here?” He proceeded down the road, turned right on Richmond Road and entered the back parking lot. “There will be a balloon arch here to welcome the grads and then the cars can que up and you and Dawn can figure out the rest.”
The balloon arch is what sold me. Suddenly I could imagine our back parking lot with purple and gold décor, music playing, speeches being given, and Mr. Nugent announcing the graduates as they walked across the stage.
The next morning, I pulled into the school parking lot at the same time as my friend Dawn Lightsey, our registrar. “Get in!” I said and set out to take her on the parade route, complete with a graduation playlist I had made the night before.
She was, of course, excited about this possible solution but it was time to take it to administration. We texted or called Mr. Nugent, our VP Josh Blackburn, and senior counselor Micah Freeman. Everyone packed into my Suburban, I turned on the playlist, and Dawn and I both started narrating our idea.
I’m sure they thought we were crazy. However, they gamely went along with us and I could see the plan forming in Morgan’s eyes. It was at that point that I knew graduation would happen. I could trust our admin to follow through.
It was the beginning of huge undertaking that involved the entire Lassen High staff, Susanville Police and Fire Departments, Public Works, Lassen County Sheriff’s Department, Susanville Stuff, KSUE, and a multitude of hours and volunteers.
In the end, it was not the graduation we had planned, it was the graduation we had and it was definitely a night to remember.
The balloon arch? Well, after 8th graduates Sofia Bennett and Katelyn Kirack spent HOURS constructing it for their brothers’ graduation and Leo stood on a ladder in the back of his truck to attach it to the fence, a typical Lassen County afternoon wind storm kicked up and that was the end of it.
Remember when news was ‘newsy’? When you read about weddings, family events and engagement announcements in the newspaper? If you have something that might be newsworthy, please submit it to [email protected] and I’ll do my best to include it here in “The Good Stuff.”
