By Steve Powell

spowell@marysvilleglobe.com

TULALIP – Heritage High School graduates showed a range of emotions at their graduation Tuesday night.

Kiana Hernandez was relieved.

“It’s been a long, rough journey, but I made it,” she said with a huge smile.

Kiana said she will take a year off before going to college.

“Just go with the flow,” she said, adding, “I’m scared for the real world.”

Her mom, Elishia Stewart, said Kiana was one of the last to find out she would graduate.

“It was a struggle,” Stewart said. “She got sick when she was a freshman and almost died.”

That put her far behind, her mom said, but Kiana worked hard and was able to make up ground online.

Jordan James and Quinton Hill seemed a little nervous, even though they already know what they want to do for careers.

“It’s coming too fast,” said James, who is going to a diesel mechanic school in Bellingham.

Hill, who plans to attend college for wildlife conservation, added, “It seems like we just started high school, and now we’re done already.” Once the ceremony started, the 16 graduates showed even more emotions, laughing and crying as different speeches were made.

Teacher Bruce Campbell, who was selected by the seniors to speak, made it deeply personal for each one, talking about his love for them and giving them advice.

He told the story of a carver who would look at a pole for hours, days and sometimes weeks before starting work. Campbell said the carver waited until he saw what the entire totem was supposed to look like. “After that it’s easy,” Campbell said the carver told him. “You just cut out all the stuff that’s in the way.”

He encouraged the graduates to do the same thing.

“Visualize your future. It may take awhile. When you see that image, clear away the stuff you don’t need,” Campbell said.

Overall his advice to them was, “Let your curiosity overcome your fears.”

Cyena Fryberg gave a lot of thanks in her speech representing the students.

She thanked the parents who got them out of bed, fed them and took them to the bus stop. She thanked them for helping with homework and listening to their complaints.

“Thanks for giving us the space to work things out for ourselves,” she said.

Cyena thanked all involved in sports at Heritage for teaching them, “how to power through adversity, discipline and good sportsmanship.”

She also thanked the counselors.

“Without your help some would not have graduated,” Cyena said.

She ended by talking about friendship.

“Our memories fade, but we’ll remember the friendships we made,” Cyena said.

Tribal Chairwoman Marie Zackuse thanked the staff for helping the graduates through school the past four years. “Thank the Creator for carrying the graduates through hard times,” she said.

She also thanked family, friends and community for their support. She encouraged the graduates to go to college and come back and work for the Tulalip Tribes, which has a lot to offer them.

“Hard work brought you to where you are today,” Zackuse said. “Please continue that hard work.”