Chelsea High School Class of 2025 Celebrates Graduation

With 183 graduates and four speakers getting the chance to address their students and fellow classmates, the 2025 commencement ceremony on June 1 was a strong sendoff for the seniors of Chelsea High School.

The graduation opened with the national anthem, performed by the CHS Chamber Choir and led by choir director Ken Davis. Following was CHS Principal Amanda Clor’s introduction and welcoming remarks to the teachers and students.

“To be honest, I wasn’t really nervous when I came here,” she said. “I thought with 15 years of experience, I knew what this would be. There would be your first day nerves, your mid-year rush, springtime chaos, right up to finals, and then rinse and repeat. But the first time I walked through the front doors, I was surprised. I saw how wonderfully wrong I had been. There were so many things I experienced that I never had that chance to see before.”

Chosen by their peers to represent this year’s graduates, the student speakers Gavin Cagney and 2025 Class President Jordan Nelson were next. Nelson thanked Dawn Putnam, Andrea Maines and Lonnie Mitchell, the three teachers retiring from the high school this year, for their many years of dedication to the Chelsea schools and students. He called for a round of applause for Mitchell, who has been at CHS for 37 years, in his speech, and shared words of advice he had given him.

“For 36 of his 37 years, he served as chair of the math department, where he demonstrated his core philosophy: do what you love, love what you do,” Nelson said. “Class of 2025, Mr. Mitchell would like to instill that same sentiment into us all as we settle into our future careers.”

Cagney also thanked teachers and his fellow graduates, listing the accomplishments of the class during their tenure at CHS, including the creation of multiple clubs, a student sports engagement of 70% and becoming the first sophomore class to defeat the senior class during spirit week in 20 years. To begin the official walk, Cagney sent off his fellow classmates with a word of advice and the 2025 class motto:

“Follow your passion, lead with your heart and be a bucket filler.”