The moment has arrived: Graduation day in the Sunland

Editor’s note: This is the last in a two-part series highlighting Gage County high school graduations.

It’s a moment they’ve been building toward, and now it’s finally here: graduation day for seniors at Diller-Odell and Adams Freeman public schools.

“We’ve been waiting for this all of our lives. It’s going to be a great day,” Freeman Senior Erin Dorn said.

Diller-Odell senior Ethan Thorp said graduation brings up both excitement and nervousness.

“I think it will be a little sad to leave high school, it’s something I’ve been part of all my life,” Diller-Odell senior Teri Ann Koch said.

Freeman senior Nick Krieger said while graduation is an event he’s looking forward to, there’s a little anxiety mixed with the excitement.

“It means the end of something good and the beginning of something new,” Freeman senior Jasmine Hagemeier said.

The seniors at both Diller-Odell and Adams Freeman said they are leaving a tight-knit environment at their schools.

“I’ll miss Freeman because of all the success we’ve had in athletics. I’ll still have a lot of friends here. Our school is really close,” Dorn said.

Hagemeier expressed sentiment that all of her fellow seniors echoed, “I’ll miss being with my classmates and the teachers here.”

The students also appreciated the opportunities to be involved at their schools.

“At a bigger school, I could not have nearly as much involvement in athletics and activities,” Thorp said.

He said all that involvement has helped improve social skills.

“It shapes your character more, with so many different organizations you can be involved in,” Koch said.

She said it also requires the development of time-management skills to juggle all the different activities.

College is the next adventure for many of the seniors.

“I’ll miss my friends and classmates and some of the teachers, but I look forward to going to college,” Krieger said.

He said he plans to attend the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to major in actuarial science.

“I have always been good at math,” Krieger said of why he chose that field.

He said the thought of heading off to a college much bigger than the school he’s used to isn’t a concern.

“It doesn’t concern me a whole lot,” Krieger said.

Koch said she will attend Nebraska Wesleyan to major in business administration, a decision that was influenced by her experiences at Diller-Odell.

“I liked my business classes here,” she said.

Koch said she likes the fact that she won’t be too far away from home, but Lincoln does provide lots of things to do.

“I can always come back here, it’s not too far away,” she said.

Thorp is heading to UNL to major in business administration.

“I want to go into banking, so my hope is going with business administration gives me a wide area of choice for a career,” he said.

Thorp said in choosing a college he wanted to stay reasonably close to home.

“I’ll help out on the family farm on weekends,” he said. “I hope to come back to southeast Nebraska after I graduate.”

Hagemeier said Northeast Community College is where she is headed, to study physical therapy.

“I want to work with people and this is a way of giving back to the community,” she said of the career choice.

Dorn plans to attend Nebraska Wesleyan with a major in pre-medicine and biology, on the path to possibly becoming a radiologist.

She said her plans are partially because her mother works at a hospital.

“I love helping people,” Dorn said.

As for her feelings looking ahead to college, she felt much the same as her fellow seniors.

“I’m somewhat nervous, but I feel prepared for it,” Dorn said. “I think I’ll adapt.”

Freeman will hold its graduation ceremony at 4 p.m. Saturday in the high school gymnasium.

Diller-Odell’s graduation ceremony will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at the high school in Odell.