On Sunday, May 19, a graduation ceremony was held for the Westside High School class of 2019 at Baxter Arena. The ceremony began at 2:00 p.m. and was available to the public via livestream. One aspect of the ceremony featured student speeches.

The graduating seniors that spoke at this event were Roshan Sapkota and Ashley Rogers. Sapkota served as the keynote speaker and Rogers was the closing speaker for the audience.

English instructors Molly Hunt-Spisak and Stephanie Pueppka were responsible for deciding which seniors would speak at graduation.

Students wishing to speak at graduation met with Spisak and Pueppka to discuss the requirements for their speeches. The students then wrote their speeches, leaving out their names. Spisak and Pueppka chose the eight best speeches, having those students perform them in front of Spisak, Pueppka as well as Assistant Principal Trudi Nolan. The best two speeches were then chosen to perform at the ceremony.

Spisak said she felt as though the speakers performed well and met all the given requirements.

“The students did very good,” Spisak said. “The things that we stress is the idea of a shared experience among your classmates but also to make it personal, and I think both of those speakers did a good job of doing well on both of those things.”