The future is sitting right here

Good evening, Superintendent Lundy, School Board President Fleegel, Principal Lybert, Assistant Principal Guden, faculty, family, friends, Mom, Dad, Brody and the Class of 2025. Tonight is a very important night that I know everyone is very excited about. So important that Alli Sromek considered skipping, but decided she better not.

Now, I know what you're all thinking: “Why is this random guy speaking?” I thought they just picked the person with the highest GPA like Samson Whetstone, or the best looking like Mason Switlick or Preston Denzine. Come to find out it’s the class president and two others that are selected by the class to speak.

So I’ll introduce myself. My name is Evan Fechhelm, and I’m the class president. The last couple of years running for president were tight races. It was Me vs. Myself, so I was super surprised when I found out I won. Being up here by myself kinda feels like all those class competitions I did by myself, like decorating the hall our sophomore year and decorating the class Christmas tree our junior year for Winter Carnival. But, by some miracle, or maybe it was out of pity, we, as a class, finally were able to win our one and only overall competition, the 2024 Homecoming Spirit Cup.

We learned a lot throughout our time spent here at MASH, or “prison” as some of you have called it. We learned what a Yondr Pouch is, but at least it was only for one year. We found out that a ping pong paddle is in fact strong enough to break a window as Grant Neubauer discovered. We learned that if Dylan Maurer can pass Algebra 2 anyone can, and Tripp Reamer has to have a school record or something for the most mischief caused. Enough with the shenanigans; let's get down to business.

All of the scholars sitting here in front of you today have a plan for what they are going to do in the future. They are going to be the ones making this world operate from day to day. For example, when you go to see a nurse you could end up seeing Natalie Preuss or Kyanna Mallien. When you place an order on Amazon, the packaging could be engineered by Charlie Gierl. You might drive on roads designed by Parker Lissner and built by Austin Tischendorf. You might go to the dentist and be taken care of by Audrey Ruesch, so brush your teeth. Someday you might actually be able to afford a house, so you could buy land from Devyn Halopka and have Mason Harris or Javier Jacobo design it. You might have Owen Higgins or Alex Faude build it and have the plumbing done by Hudson Briggs and the electric done by Ben Gruber. Then, later on you might get the crazy idea to have kids, and their teachers could be Riley Clark, Dominic Fennell, or Lexi Hraby, and they might have Phy Ed with Gage Losiewicz. Maybe you’ll decide to get a tattoo of your kids’ names done by Talyn Peterson. When you finally decide you need a vacation and send the kids off to your parents who are sitting up there in the bleachers, you may end up flying in a plane designed by Erica Brandner. All of the catchy advertisements you see when you get there might be created by Sam Hierlmeier, and the food you eat could be prepared by Charlie Newberry. Just don’t end up breaking a leg, but if you do, Alli might be the surgical tech in the operating room, so let’s hope she doesn’t skip any of THOSE classes! And Sami Drozda plans to become an FBI Profiler, so I really hope you don’t get too wild on your vacation! My point is that these young adults sitting here before you today are going to be the ones that make tomorrow possible. Without them we won’t have the amenities that we enjoy in our day-to-day lives.

Now, I'd like to take a moment to recognize some of the students who are planning to serve our country. Please stand and remain standing as I call off your name. Amy Espinoza and Bethany Jokiel will be serving in the U.S. Army, Christian Mahner and Gatlin Piller will be in the Army National Guard, and Tripp Reamer will be joining the Marines.

To conclude my time serving as class president, I want you to know that it has been my pleasure to represent this class for the last three years, and I look forward to seeing all of you again in the future. Congratulations to the class of 2025. Thank You. — Evan Fechhelm Even Fechhelm