Government officials support graduation promises
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Students line up on the walking path bridge during the Graducation Matters parade.
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Students sign a pledge promising to graduate.
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Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau asks students to raise their hands if they plan to graduate from high school.
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Monte visits Pablo Elementary Students.
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PABLO – Ardon McDonald, 15, has seen why it’s important to graduate from high school. He said education creates opportunities. He believes in it so much that he volunteered to play his drum while singing an honor song to help open the Pablo Elementary Graduation Matters Celebration on Wednesday.
“Graduation is a big thing,” he said.
He learned about the importance of education by watching his mom go through college. She is currently working on her master’s degree.
“My mom inspires me,” he said, adding that she also pushes him to excel.
Several other people who also think graduating from high school is important attended the celebration - including Montana Governor Steve Bullock, Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau, and Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Communications Director Robert McDonald.
Pablo Elementary Principal Ryan Fisher welcomed everyone as several hundred elementary students wearing green Graduation Matters shirts filled the gym. Those students signed pledge cards promising to graduate from high school.
Tribal Communications Director McDonald told students that what they put into school is what they will get out of it. He got the kids moving with a big hand waving hello to different people in the room, including Lake County Sheriff Don Bell. Sheriff Bell waved back to the kids.
Principal Fisher introduced Superintendent Juneau as the first American Indian woman to be elected to a state office. She oversees 821 schools in Montana. Juneau started the Graduation Matters program in 2010.
“I want every student in the state to have the same opportunities I had because I graduated from high school,” she said to the students.
Governor Bullock asked the students what they think a governor does. The kids guessed that he was the leader of the state. Governor Bullock said his most important job was to “try to do everything I can to make sure that all of you succeed.”
As Superintendent Juneau went outside to participate in the school’s walking parade, she explained how the Graduation Matters program started. She said that when she took office in 2009 she looked at the data and noticed that too many students were dropping out of school across the state. The program, she said, is working.
“Now, we have a historically high graduation rate at 86 percent,” she said.
She joined the parade of students and the Ronan High School Jazz Band along with University of Montana mascot Monte and the Pablo Fire Department on a walk through town to celebrate Graduation Matters.
