Owen High School graduation commemorates the class of 2026

Swannanoa Valley seniors encouraged to keep building a brighter future

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
June 13, 2026

One hundred thirty-seven seniors entered Warhorse Stadium, June 13, outfitted in maroon caps and gowns. 

As the last seniors walked across the stage, Owen High School celebrated the class of 2026, encouraging graduates to continue building a better future.

The ceremony began at 8:45 a.m., with a processional, in which the class marched down the bleacher steps through a crowd of hundreds of supporters. Following the presentation of colors by the JROTC Color Guard and the pledge of allegiance, the Owen Chamber Ensemble performed the national anthem.

Student speakers Alathea “Laela” Griffin and Jordan Robertson addressed their fellow graduates in front of the audience.

“In the Griffin family we have a saying that, for the past four years, I have heard on repeat…” Griffin said. “My dad would always say, ‘make the mental adjustment.’ He got it from his dad, and it quickly became our family motto.”

The mantra, the student-athlete continued, is valuable in a variety of circumstances.

“If you are tired, make the mental adjustment. If something doesn’t go your way, make the mental adjustment. If you are overwhelmed, frustrated, lose your mind over homework, sports or life in general, you got the same answer,” Griffin said. “It was never what I wanted to hear, because usually I wanted sympathy, comfort or a nap.”

The phrase, which she resisted throughout much of her childhood, resonated with Griffin in her senior year.

“Life doesn’t get easier after high school,” she said. “College won’t be a walk in the park, and neither will adulthood. Nobody is going to follow us around, reminding us get our assignments done, wake up on time or stop procrastinating at 1 a.m.”

The senior reminded her peers they had demonstrated their ability to adapt simply by making it to the graduation ceremony.

“That proves something. It proves you are more capable than you think you are,” Griffin said. “Maybe the goal isn’t to have life figured out, maybe the goal is to become people who can adapt, stay disciplined and don’t run from challenges the second things get hard. Life is going to challenge every single one of you.”

Robertson, the recipient of the Morehead-Cain Scholarship, reflected on the lessons she learned during her time at Owen.

“One of the most meaningful lessons I’ve learned in these past four years, can be encompassed by the following quote: ‘a flame loses nothing by lighting another,’” she said. “Throughout high school we have lived the truth of this quote, sometimes without even realizing it.”

Success, she continued, is rarely achieved alone.

“Together, that shared light is what helped us get here today,” Robertson said.

The student speaker offered her fellow graduates advice for the next chapter of their lives.

“Be bold enough to try new things, brave enough to fail and wise enough to know that asking for help is one of the best choices you can make,” Robertson said.

Following a performance of “For Good” by the choral ensemble, retired Owen science teacher Kim Shankle delivered the keynote address.

“What makes her story especially meaningful is that Owen High School was her only teaching home for 24 years,” assistant principal Nathan Padgett said, as he introduced the guest. “She educated, encouraged and inspired generations of students. In a profession where many move from school to school, Ms. Shankle chose to dedicate her entire career to this community.”

The educator’s time in the classroom was bookended by two pivotal decisions, she told the graduates. With no aspirations to be a teacher, Shankle accepted a position at the school, four hours away from her home at the time. Had she followed her original plan, Shankle’s retirement from the role would have coincided with the graduating class that invited her to speak.

“It was my gut, and the universe led me down a different path, after 24 years here,” Shankle said. “Both of those decisions were gut-wrenching, but weirdly simple. Pivotal to both, was that I believed that not only did I have the courage to take that leap, but the grit perseverance to deal with the outcome, whatever that was.”

The former teacher’s wish for the class was to find its courage.

“The courage to accept a big job offer, move, go into a career that maybe you weren’t planning to do,” Shankle said. “But, the other kind of courage I want you to have, which I think is more important to have, is to walk away from something that you worked really hard to build, but is no longer serving you.”

The intended result, she added, is creating a “resilient human.”

“This courage helps you away from things and to own your mistakes,” Shankle said. “You will make mistakes, and I want you to apologize when you inevitably make those mistakes. Life will get crazy sometimes, and what will help you in those times is what got me up here on this stage—your community.”

As the class of 2026 prepared to move the tassels on their caps to the left side, Principal Dawn Rookey emphasized the importance of building relationships, careers, communities and things that "outlast us.”

“When people look back on a life well lived, they rarely remember every award won, every title earned or every possession acquired,” she said. “They remember the relationships that shaped them. They remember the people who invested in them. They remember the communities they helped create and the difference they made through their presence.”

It is a lesson that generation of Swannanoa Valley residents have long understood, Rookey continued.

“Generation after generation, they have built something worth inheriting…” she said. “Each generation inherits this place for a little while. We do not own it. We are its stewards for a season.”

Photos of the 2026 Owen High School graduation can be viewed in the gallery at the top of the page.