Commencement for the Greene County High School Class of 2020 was held Sunday, a month later than usual and with graduates spaced 6 feet apart on the track at Linduska Field rather than sitting shoulder to shoulder in the middle school gymnasium.
The commencement ceremony was only that last high school experience that was vastly different for the Class of 2020, a class that was born into the tumult of twin airliners crashing into the World Trade Center, and finished their senior year with no in-person attendance after spring break, no spring sports season, no prom, and no Senior Awards Night, all due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Class president Sophia Ausberger spoke at the group commencement, which was attended by 70 members of the class. Others had chosen to walk across the stage earlier in the afternoon without their classmates, but without a limit to the number of relatives and friends in attendance with them. Graduates at the group commencement were limited to only parents and siblings in the audience.
Ausberger named some of the things she and her classmates missed out on due to the pandemic, and said, “It would be so easy to let the loss define us… We could allow ourselves to be bitter, and to wallow in the unfairness of it all,” she said.
She named 9-11, the recession of 2008, the growing threat of global climate changes, civil unrest, and pandemic as making the Class of 2020 “one of the most passionately involved and socially charged classes yet. We will not sit idly by as the future unfolds before us. Learning how to live in this new normal has only made us better…”
She said her class was lucky to learn how many things they have to be grateful for – including good health – as this time in their lives. She also quoted President Barack Obama: “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek …”
Guest speaker was Jim Andrew, a member of the Jefferson High School Class of 1967. His was the first class to graduate from the “new” high school. The Class of 2020 is the last class to graduate from the building. He reminded the graduates that they’re the “new blood, brains and brawn that will guide us in the future.”
The class was presented by principal Brian Phillips, who noted that two graduates – Kyle Hack and Logan Brophy – were not in attendance because they’ve already reported to duty to the Iowa National Guard. Diplomas were presented by school board president Steve Fisher.
Sophia Ausberger and Kassie Lamoureux were co-valedictorians. Kaitlin Tjostem was salutatorian.
Valedictorian Sophia Ausberger 
Valeditorian Kassie Lamoureux 
Salutatorian Kaitlin Tjostem
The group commencement was livestreamed by Sebourn Video Services. A strong wind challenged not only audio of the livestream, but a Ram backdrop behind the stage.
