We are in the last month of the 2015-2016 school year and most seniors have a nice case of senioritis. On Thursday, April 28 the seniors were called to a special meeting during homeroom in the wrestling/volleyball gym. The administration realizes that the seniors are almost checked out so the purpose of this meeting was to welcome the seniors into the Alumni Association. Seniors were given a gift of a key chain in homeroom reading “Elder Alumni” and with the year on it. Each of them were also given a Share a Coke with the Class of 2016 bottle from the alumni board.

During the presentation Mrs. Niemer and the always famous Mr. Bill talked about being alumni, what getting involved in giving back to Elder was all about, and most importantly the time we have spent here. Mr. Bill finally revealed what he did to the senior class knowing that his secret would be safe with them. Mrs. Niemer, who is in charge of the Annual Fund, started it out with asking the seniors to start giving back by donating $1 to the fund. This was to get the ball rolling on donations and also to get their contact information.

Another big part of the presentation was that a Marine Corps officer was there to give out an award. The award that was being was the Sgt. Greg Weber USMC American Spirit Award. This is given out every year to a senior at Elder that, upon graduation, is going to enlist in one of the five branches of the military.

This year’s winner of the award was Senior Jordan Dirr. Jordan is serving in the Army National Guard after high school. Jordan was completely surprised by the award and said he had two guys in mind that he thought were best suited before his name was revealed. When he heard his name he got a little dizzy at first from the shock. Jordan has received tons of congratulations from family who were brought in for the presentation and friends.

“I’m extremely honored to win this award. I have a large military history on both sides of my family and I know if some of them were alive today they’d be proud,” said Jordan.

Most seniors realize that their time at Elder is very limited, some can’t wait to get out, and some are still cherishing these last couples of weeks that they have left. During the presentation Mr. Bill talked about how we shouldn’t be sad about leaving because the strong involvement we can still have with the school and I couldn’t agree more.

Gallery • 4 Photos

Jordan and the USMC rep