By Mandy McFarland Editor
NAPPANEE — Despite the economic uncertainty surrounding them, more than 220 NorthWood High School graduates held their heads high as one by one they filed across the platform to receive their diplomas.

The class of 2009 may have to face some tough times ahead, but NorthWood High School Principal David Maugel encouraged them to look back at what they have already come through, including both a literal tornado and an economic tornado, and survived.
“One hundred percent of the class of 2009 has been successful,” he said.
Commencement speakers were Kinsey Streib and Jordan Weyenberg. Streib challenged her classmates to consider the word “excellence” and that it does not necessarily mean “perfection.”
Weyenberg encouraged his classmates to think about their legacy, and the fact that, even if history does not remember each of them by face or name, it would remember in some way the legacy they leave behind.
The NorthWood Combined Choirs performed “For Good” by Schwartz, while the NorthWood Combined Bands performed “Abram’s Pursuit” by Holsinger.
Michael Letherman was the class valedictorian. Salutatorians were Tabitha Bellman, Alli Heeter, Shawn Kronk, Trenton Stutzman and Brandon Williams.