Lisbon held commencement exercises at the Lisbon Lion’s Den Sunday, May 18. A total of 56 students received diplomas.

Lisbon secondary principal Jack Leighty said that he has come to enjoy the class of 2025.

“I just know that on any Tuesday or Thursday, I had to be monitoring the student section, as they rooted on the volleyball play- ers,” Leighty said. “Mostly, it was keeping them off the court.” Leighty said the class had an average GPA of 3.425, and were well represented at post-season competitions by the class. Wesley Sadler was the valedictorian of the class.

He made light jokes about the speed with which students exit the parking lot at the end of the school day, noting he has been in three crashes, none of which were his fault.

He also joked about some classmates who found ways to get out of their classwork in ingenuous ways. “You have to admire the hustle,” he said.

His last bit of advice for students, though, was a home run.

“As life throws you curveballs, you’ll take what you learned here to know when to hit them out of the park,” Sadler said.

Ellen Johanns was elected speaker of the class of  2025.

She used the potential walk-up music that she might have been expected to play as a point for her speech.

“In life, you have to be ready to expect the unexpected,” Johanns said.

Johanns then went through a bit of her memories of each of the members of the class of 2025 from her time with them in classrooms throughout the year. She also adapted the seven pieces of advice Polonious gives his son Laertes in Hamlet into more modern lingo to try and connect with students in a new way from the work.

Johanns recounted that when she had graduated high school, she had been on a different major and possible career path originally, and she eventually found herself leaning to teaching English and language arts, which also introduced her to many of her friends whose own career paths differ from what they originally planned to major.

“When you get to that place where life has thrown you a pivot or unexpected result, like not getting the career, kid or relationship you expected, be glad for where those pivots eventually takes you as well,” Johanns said.