By Angel Perkins Correspondent
During the 2009 Triton commencement ceremony, the graduating class of 84 seniors showed several emotional sides. In somber recognition, Taryn Cooper led a memorial which began with her lighting a small candle from a larger candle set up at a memorial altar at the front of the stage, below the speaker’s podium, in the gymnasium.

At her lead, each senior lit their own candle to show their respects for two classmates, Nicole Elaine Thornton and Sara Beth King who would have graduated with them this year had they not met tragic ends in 2008.
Cooper then led the opening of ceremonies followed by 2009 salutatorian Joey Teeple who gave a speech titled, “Reflecting Upon the Past.” Highlighted by numbers from Triton’s symphonic band and concert choir, the ceremonies included valedictorian Peggy Nifong’s speech, “Looking Toward the Future.”
On a less serious note, as the graduates were called onstage to accept their diplomas, they wanted to do a little giving back so offered Triton Schools Superintendent Carl Hilling small tokens (this his first graduation at Triton) such as fish food, puzzle pieces, toothpaste, an air freshener, a parking permit—and among other miscellaneous items—a hamster in a plastic ball.
He said with a smile: “There’s always some sort of prank but this is the first time I’ve gotten anything alive!”
In another expression of whimsy and perhaps relief, some graduates let out warhoops while others let loose even more at the conclusion of their ceremony—a little prematurely as they hadn’t yet been instructed to turn their tassles or been announced as graduates—by tossing their caps or pockets full of confetti and a light saber fight worthy of any Star Wars fan broke out in the middle of the gym.
Cooper waited patiently at the podium for the moment of bedlam and the giggles to die down so she could announce the tassel ceremony and conclude the ceremony, and she did, during which some of her peers displayed red faces or sheepish grins.