Put a Hill City graduation on your bucket list
Greetings! How is the drought going for you all? Up in my neck of the woods, it rains, drizzles, gets foggy and then repeats the cycle. Marcia and I just came back from East River this past Thursday and had rain and pouring rain the entire way. There is nothing that works better at getting those east river bugs off your windshield than rain water hitting your windshield at 80 mph on the Eisenhower Highway.
Did I say Eisenhower Highway? Yep sure did! In my opinion, Ike was the most productive president of my lifetime. Building the interstate system is a tad more productive than say trickledown Reaganomics or Obamacare, and don’t forget the Green New Deal. By the way, Pres. Eisenhower was Gen. Eisenhower and should get the credit for winning WWII.
Even more of a gaffe is we Republicans have annual county Lincoln Day Dinners. These are used as a way to more unite the party, but using Abraham Lincoln? Heck! South Dakota wasn’t even a state when he was president. At least the Democrats have McGovern Days after our late Sen. George McGovern, who was also a WWII war hero and strong advocate for ending the Vietnam Conflict.
Yes, I said it right. Conflict, not war, as we didn’t declare war on North Vietnam or North Korea for that matter.
This morning I had the privilege of attending the Hill City Rangers graduation at ___ ____. Yep! You guessed it! Mount Rushmore! In 1939 a group of 25 boys assisted the U.S. Forest Rangers in putting out a massive fire which started 10 miles northwest of Hill City. By the next morning it had burned six miles and was within three to four miles from Hill City’s outskirts. With the Godsend of wind changing direction, and the help of those 25 young men assisting the forest rangers, they were able to put out this raging forest fire.
Because of that valiant effort, the U.S. Forest Service authorized Smokey Bear as the high school official mascot. They also gave permission to use its colors of green and gold, representing the forest rangers. Lastly, the Forest Service authorized the use of Mount Rushmore for its high school graduation each year. If you’ve never attended, you should add it to your bucket list of things to do.
This year the weather cooperated, having the rain stop and sun come out during the ceremony! Hill City High School had 38 graduates with Lexi Brandt giving the valedictorian address.
I had the privilege of being on the interview board for the U.S. Military Service academies and Lexi was one of the candidates. I remember her answer to the question of why she should be selected to the Air Force Academy. She professionally answered that she already had her pilot’s license, a 4.0 GPA, and one of the highest ACT or SAT scores I’ve ever seen.
Anyway, her address was a real treat followed by Rep. Dusty Johnson giving the graduation address which was, as usual, superb. Go Rangers!
Congratulations to all our District 30 graduates and graduates across South Dakota!