Dexter High School’s Class of 2025

In front of a full house of family and friends, the Class of 2025 was honored and recognized at the Dexter High School Commencement Ceremony on May 30. Even with a little bit of rain, the spirits of the graduates and their supporters couldn’t be dampened as they gathered to celebrate the culmination of years of hard work and dedication.

The ceremony took place at Al Ritt Stadium. The DHS Class of 2025 saw 280 graduating seniors receiving their diplomas. The ceremony included three student speakers chosen to represent their class. They were: Nathaniel Terbush, Jinxuan Crystal Duan and Violet Hobbs.

Terbush’s talk was titled “Embrace Every Opportunity.”

Citing some of the challenges they faced together, such as the tornado in 2012 and Covid in 2020-21, Terbush said even with these they are still standing there today to mark the big moment. He said they are closing a chapter and entering a new one that will have its own challenges ahead. Wherever this may be college, military or in the workforce, Terbush said they should make their own choices and decisions, not what others might want them to do.

He said you only live once and when you’re faced with the challenges, to not give up. At DHS they probably all had that class or schedule they weren’t excited about, but he said he learned not to give up and that life-changing opportunity might at first be a challenge.

Being true to yourself and chasing that dream is important, he said.

“So don’t give up, on that class, that teacher, that friend or even that random person that is talking to you at the gas station, because sticking it out and being willing to learn can often come with life changing results, connections and opportunities,” Terbush said.

Jinxuan Crystal Duan, who moved to the U.S. from China when she was eight, titled her talk, “Our Stories Deserve To Be Heard.”

Duan added some humor into her speech about how she felt being new to the community, including how as her fellow students were learning long division she was trying to figure out why pizza came with ranch dressing. She talked about choosing the name Crystal, so people could easily pronounce her first name. She said she thought this was the cost of fitting in; trimming the parts that don’t fit the perfect picture.

But she said in time she learned that fitting in and belong aren’t the same thing. She said fitting in is changing yourself for the world while belonging is being yourself and finding that the world will meet you where you are. She said anyone who has felt different has been there, but in that they found ways to be themselves; noting it’s not always easy and sometimes they needed help.

Duan thanked the teachers and families. She said her mom was supportive in her growth in that she taught her that one of the most powerful things that she could be, is being fully herself.

“So Class of 2025, don’t lose your voice, don’t take it for granted. Use it,” she said. “Not just to make noise, but to spread change, challenge injustice and leave a lasting impact. Speak for yourselves and for those who can’t. Tell stories that deserve to be heard. Ask the hard questions, and remember you don’t have to fit in to make a difference; you just have to be unapologetically you. We are here, we matter, so speak up, work hard, lean into discomfort, stand for what’s right, fight for what matters, because your story, our stories deserve to be heard.”     

Violet Hobbs spoke about “Endings & Beginnings.”

She said as seniors they’ve been having a lot of nostalgia about “lasts,” such as the last first day of school, last school dance, or last concert or game. She said it’s a bit surreal that some of the things they’ve taken for granted over the past four years are coming to an end.

“Now here we are… graduation,” Hobbs said. “The last time that the entire Class of 2025 will be together, at the same time, in the same place.”

She said with many things there are quiet endings and there was no last time marked on the calendar. This was part of growing up. Quoting Greek Philosopher Heraclitus about change being the only constant in life, Hobbs said there is more change to come with new beginnings, such as some moving on to college, into the workforce or military, or meeting new people and seeing new places.

She said they will see changes that might seem scary at times, but they can also be exciting.

“There are so many amazing things ahead of us, so I hope we will all be able to embrace the changes that come our way in the next few months,” she said. “Cherish the times that we had together here at Dexter High School, but not to cling to it, and to realize that with the end of our childhoods, is the beginning of our lives.”

Photos by Lonnie Huhman