Magnificent, richly green monstera leaves, torch ginger and orchids, spreading like fans, adorned the beautifully decorated stage. Promenading into the ceremony grounds to “Pomp and Circumstance,” women in the graduating class wore lovely long, white holoku gowns with haku lei atop their heads. The men dressed in dark blazers with green leaf lei draped around their shoulders.

Following the singing of the “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling,” The Rev. Daniel Leatherman’s invocation, and the ‘Iolani School Prayer, Steven James Si-Jun Yee ’12 addressed his classmates and hundreds of audience members for the final time as the senior class president. He was followed by valedictorians Stratford Dean Goto ’12, who spoke about ‘Iolani friendships, and Kirsten Mari Peterson ’12, who described how and why ‘Iolani shapes students into good people.

“Now, we are about to take new risks,” Goto said. “We are going to unfamiliar places with unfamiliar rules and customs, and for some of us, we are going to be making new friends for the first time in a long while. College is a time to reach for our goals; it’s a transition from being a child guided by parents at home and teachers at school to being a confident, responsible, and independent adult. Despite all these changes, however, there is one constant: no matter how far apart we are, we still are ‘Iolani One Team. Our friendships and our bond as a class transcend distance and time.”

For the final time, Dr. Val Iwashita ’67 delivered a graduation speech and then congratulated each member of the senior class after they each received their diplomas from Jenai S. Wall, chair of the ‘Iolani School Board of Governors.  The first diploma, however, was handed to “Val Tadashi Iwashita” who was named an honorary member of the Class of 2012 as he approached his retirement date of June 30, 2012.

As each graduate stepped off the stage and moved towards his or her seat, it was as though they walked through a magic veil that transformed them from ‘Iolani students into ‘Iolani alumni. These men and women of the Class of 2012 represent everything that the ‘Iolani community strives to produce: amazing, genuinely good, caring, intelligent and well-rounded individuals who will go out into the world to make a positive difference.

“Just as Pooh promises Christopher Robin that he’ll always be his friend as Christopher Robin is about to go to school,” Stratford Goto ’18 continued in his speech, “my father (Sanford Goto ’74) received this timeless piece of advice his senior year: ‘Always keep your door open for an alum.’ We are ready for what’s to come, ready to pursue our dreams, and we know that we have everyone’s support, because that’s what ‘Iolani is, a community, a family, One Team.”

Congratulations, Class of 2012.

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