It started with a duck analogy and ended with the song from the “Pink Panther,” but that was only the beginning to the uniqueness of Prosser Creek Charter School’s graduation.

The ceremony, held June 7 at the school’s Truckee campus, had the largest turnout of any of the charter school’s graduations in the past four years, with more than 300 attendees supporting the 145-member graduating class.

Students from all of the school’s sites – including South Lake Tahoe, Yuba City, South Sacramento, Sacramento, Cottonwood, Tahoe City and Truckee – participated in the ceremony.

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In her welcome address, Prosser Creek Executive Director Jayna Gaskell compared the school’s resilience to that of a duck’s by discussing Prosser Creek’s main challenges for the year: the state budget cuts and Prosser Creek’s down-to-the-wire charter renewal.

Gaskell also acknowledged the school’s teachers, advisory council, administrators, parents, family, Rico Oller’s field representative Nancy Lundgren, school board representatives Mel Cone and Pat Gibbons-Johnson, and new school district superintendent Dennis Williams.

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Gaskell’s welcome was followed by some wisdom from guest speakers, who talked more about life fulfillment rather than the typical topic of graduation speeches: Success.

Next year’s senior class president Josh Toft offered the class of 2003 the best of luck, followed by a speech from Truckee Town councilwoman Beth Ingalls.

“You have been lucky you have been valued for who you are at Prosser Creek,” Ingalls said in her address to the class. “Do what you love, because ultimately our passions and loves are all we have.”

Local outdoorswoman Norma Jean Bowers, who in 1990 was the first woman to solo-climb Mount McKinley, presented a similar idea to the class in her speech, telling the students to do what they love in life, rather than what they feel they should do.

Jake Ridzon, senior class president, spoke to the class and attendees about enjoying life, which included the positive and negative things he learned during his time at Prosser Creek.

Ridzon completed his speech with a somewhat-suggestive monologue that his classmates and their parents will be unlikely to forget, talking about the “positive and negative” actions he has personally done to experience life.

Katie Ravey, a 16-year-old graduate and professional hula dancer, addressed the class in the form of a hula.

Graduate Cali Burnworth sang “Dreams” to her classmates, along with guitar accompaniment.

During the awards portion of the ceremony, Prosser Creek co-founder Keith Alpaugh presented his commitment to Excellence Award to Program Director Cindy Gaschler. Eric Esquivel accepted the Spirit of Citizenship Award, and class president Ridzon received the Spirit of Excellence Award.

Then, for the third year, ninth-grader Cooper Golding, performed a musical dedication to the graduating class on his violin.

Then the entire class experienced the moment they’d worked for the past 13 years: the receipt of their diplomas.

After Gaskell presented the class of 2003, the students, friends and family attended a reception, while The Boca Brass quintet played Kool and the Gang’s “Celebration,” followed by a postlude of “Pink Panther,” by Henry Mancini.

Upcoming graduations in Truckee

— Sierra Mountain Middle School eighth-grade graduation ceremony 6 p.m. June 12 at Surprise Stadium

— Tahoe Truckee High School, June 14 at 11 a.m. at Surprise Stadium

— Sierra High School, June 17 at 10:30 a.m. at the North Lake Tahoe Conference Center

Graduating class, Prosser Creek Charter School

June 7

Graduation includes students from: Truckee, South Lake Tahoe, Sacramento, South Sacramento, Yuba, Cottonwood

Diana Arreola Acosta

Eric Ray Esquivel

Michael Jones (England)

Irina S. Pukhkan

Heather Mila Allan

Lisa Niclole Estrada

Oleg Kabanov

David Quigley

Fabian Villareal Andrews

Rachel A. Maria Estrada

Zarina Kaminskaya

Ashley A. Rapelje

Anatoliy Androshchuk

Krystal Dawn Evans

Yuriy Karazhov

Katie Theresa Ravey

Viktor Andryshkin

Ella Fedun

Inna Karazhova

Renzo Reyes

Rosaleen Apple

Amber A. Felce

Anna I. Karpekin

Ashley Maria Reyna

Varduhi Arshakyan

Olga Filenko

Erin Sue Keyes

Jacob Alexander Ridzon

Stanislav Atamanyuk

Robby Fisher

Jennifer Marie Kiefer

Devin Riley

Maren Ayres

Cheryl Joan Forrester

Love M. Kluka

Richard J. Roznos

Salvador Carbajal Barajas

Lauren Ann Foster

Christopher A. Knoblock

Yekaterina Rozvodovskaya

Gianna Barlupi

Tristan Randall Fox

Aleksandr Konovalchuk

Robert Carl Russo

Lesya Basistyy

Evan Fullerton

Yevgeniy Kovalev

Kyle Rytter

Stephanie Beaver-Patton

Ramona M. Gallegos

Alexander Kuzmenko

Melissa Savin

Greg P. Benjamin

Raminder Sonia Gill

Tatyana Lazaresku

Anastasia Seraya

Roman Borovenskiy

Olga V. Goroshko

Daniel Lee

Steve Maximus Serin

Rachel A. Boyer

Sergey Gotsulyak

Meaghan Emily Linthicum

Danill Seryy

Ray Breton

Grant Kenneth Gray

Phillip Lloyd

Valentina Shtrigel

Amber Sinclair Brodie

Rebekah Gregory

Katherine Lomidyze

Nadezhda Shulishova

Artur Bunyatyan

Paul Nickolas Griffin

Jorge Mendoza

Vera Shulishova

Rebekah A. Burgess

Logan Dean Guettler

Juliee A. Mullen

Gene Michael Simmons

Jaret Eugene Burns

Matthew Jon Hall

Keith Ryan Mullenix

Theresa M. Singh

Cali Jade Burnworth

Thomas Harp

Peter L. Muraveyko

Ben Smith

Robyn Nicole Byrnes

Donald Hayes

Jamie Murphy

Olga N. Sorokina

Nicole Cassels

Vanessa Herbert

Melissa Neubauer

Aleksandr Sotnichenko

Andrew R. Cerveny

Reyna Hernandez

Jenna Noel

Owen Spears

Angelina Marie Chargualaf

Allison Elizabeth Higgins

Michelle Ocheltree

Kimberly Michelle Stalls

Christopher Chavez

Jennifer HorningMcAuliffe

Martin Olivarez, Jr.

Merry Stewart

Kevin Christensen

Andy Hume

Cheryl Lynn O’Neal

Igor I. Topalu

Michelle L. Conness

Jamie Michelle Ingram

Yelena Orlov

Eugene Van Heerdon

Matthew Cook

Vita Isayeva

Shawn Jose Osuna

Wilfredo Vargas

Sara Rose Cook

Keith L. Iverson, II

Starr Marie Parker

Linda Sarina Vela

Alice June Coons

Joseph Anthony Jackson

Vladimir Patsula

Natalya Verkhovetskaya

Brooke Demello

William Clyde James, Jr.

Kelly Renee Perry

Igor I. Vorozhko

Jessie Denham

Matthew James Johns

Kristopher S. Perryman

Kari Westerman

Anatoliy Didenko

Jason Allen Johnson

Vladislav Pokadko

Bree Leandra Whitman

Anna Didenko

Sylvia Pi-on Tapia Johnson

Anna Popova

Vladimir Yakovlev

Kylese Jean Zaiger

Promoted to 9th Grade

June 7, 2003

Truckee, South Lake Tahoe, Sacramento, South Sacramento, Yuba, Cottonwood

Ian Applegren

Alia S. Gayle

Adam Valentine Lopez

Sydney A. Scheeler

Ian Nathaniel Astesana

Liya Gergi

Shelby Kay Mackrill

Joshua Abbett Scheffelin

Armen Bagdasaryan

Mercedes Golden-Derrico

Christopher Michael McGee

Kevin Carl Scherer

Ryan Steven Baumann

Yevgenia Goronova

Nathan L. McKinney

Katelyn Shawver

Keilani D. Beede

Deanna Guinasso

Jessica J. Miller

Kyle Patrick Siler

Benjamin Bloomfield

Melissa Harvey

Dalia Morales

Janet Rene Spanton

Catherine Anne Boettner

Donald Joseph Herbert

Joe Morones

Calvin Pier Spyksma

Brett Nicholas Bond

Eric Ross Herman

Jovesha V. Morones

Garrett Ray Taber

Dean Michael Boon

Joseph Hession

Dane Matthew Mudgett

Scott Allen Teel

Amanda L. Brownstone

Vanessa Hopkins

Rebekah Anne Myers

Maksim Tkachuk

Langston Colin Burgette

Lindsey Michelle House

Leah Nash

Nataliya Tkachuk

Coltara James Cady

Michelle Howard

Stephen Royce Norris

Dora Lisa Urquidez

Jennifer Carr

Alisha Caitlin Jackson

Ryan Pack

Anna Volkova

Josh Olvin Combs

Vanessa Jones

Crystal Jean Perez

Morgan Walters

Michael Cromwell

Joshua Daniel Kramer

Don Pucciarello

Katie LeAnn Ward

Keith Dillon

Matthew R. Kulak

Adawna M. Purdie

Shea Breenan Wickland

Aaron Paul Dobrinski

James Robert Lane

Alysha Ray

Bobby Sherman Wilkey

Stephanie Domer

Tamera DeAnn Leath

Nicholas B. Rebol

Raeanne Wilson

Heather Nicole Fox

Kristina Lebedinskaya

Daniella Michelle Revers

January Barbara Wisniewski

Jessee Liberty Freeman

Bethany Marie Logue

Bailey Ann Samuels

Curtis Allan Zelder

Emily Anne Renee Gannam

Leslie London

Jeremy J. Scheeler