Soldotna High School
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Ashley Wood helps Kristina Hart with her mortar board while waiting to enter the Soldotna Sports Center for Soldotna High School's commencement ceremony.
Photos by M. Scott Moon
High school was about to become a memory for Soldotna High School’s class of 2006 on Friday night, and the memories accompanying the students’ four years as Stars were up for discussion before the event took place.
One memory that stood out from their senior year came up repeatedly when students were asked about memorable occasions. The event, involving a truck, a video camera and about four feet of snow, was about to become a memory for attendees of the graduation ceremony, too.
“Jake’s truck, senior memory,” Eric Fischer said as he and friends Anton Weissenberg, Michael Zufelt and Samuel Peter were asked about the number one memory of the year.
“During the winter, they built a huge snow ramp and they jumped it. This thing flew,” Zufelt said.
The Jake in question was fellow senior Jacob Howarth, who said the idea hatched with the help of a friend or two in math class.
“We jumped it about 58 feet. It was pretty sweet,” Howarth said.
Trucks tracked memories across the entire year for some of the assembled grads, actually.
Sean McMullen, 6, watches for his oldest sister to enter the Soldotna Sports Center's auditorium with other Soldotna High School graduates Friday.
Photos by M. Scott Moon
“The senior memory for me would be running over a mailbox during prom,” Weissenberg said. “Backed over it, took it out of the person’s yard.”
“It would also be the time somebody’s car got run over by a Suburban,” Peter added.
That burst brought on another memory for Weissenberg.
“Best SoHi memory would be when somebody drove a truck through Mrs. Severson’s window,” he said.
Fischer filmed Howarth’s truck jump, which was screened as part of a multimedia presentation during the graduation ceremony. Fischer said he plans to edit the clip and send it to the extreme sports television show “Maximum Exposure” in hopes of making the memory a worldwide phenomenon.
Budding filmmakers apparently abound in the class of 2006. One high school memory for Marlana McCown, Hannah Anderson and Ashley Brandon — who contributed a Spice Girls lip-synching skit for the multimedia presentation — involved filming McCown stuffing Anderson in a trash can during their freshman year at SoHi.
“I put Hannah in a trash can and pushed her down the stairs, because we tried to make a ‘Jackass’ movie,” McCown said.
“And it didn’t work,” Anderson chimed in.
The filmmaking, unlike the lip-synching contest that had the trio mugging like the Spice Girls, was not school-sanctioned.
“We would just do stupid things, and that was the stupidest thing we did,” McCown said.
Joshua Northcutt’s senior memory was fresher than the freshman memory McCown and company recalled.
“Today works for senior year — it was skinny dipping in a lake,” Northcutt said. “That was about four hours ago.”
Melissa Downs couldn’t recall any particularly memorable moments from the 2005-06 school year. Downs was thinking about the future, which for her involves a move to Dallas to study marriage and family counseling at the University of Texas.
“I went down in December to stay with my cousin for six days, decided I liked Texas and got an apartment,” Downs said.
James O'Guinn and Mike Barber joke with Jake Howarth as Howarth holds a cutout of fellow SoHi graduate Steve Mabeus, who missed the commencement ceremony so that he could watch his brother make his Major League Baseball debut.
Photos by M. Scott Moon
Dallas was warm during Down’s December stay, which was a selling point.
“It was pretty warm, sunny at least,” she said.
Alaska’s winters aren’t winners for McCown, either. She had decorated her mortarboard with stickers from surfboard-making companies in anticipation of a habit she plans to pick up upon arriving in Hawaii this fall.
“I hate the winter,” McCown said.
Soldotna High School class of 2006
Dakotah Ellsworth Aldridge
Ariel Marie Anderson
Hannah Ruth Anderson
Jared Alun Aseltine
Alejandra Atala Andrade
Brooke Ashley Bailey
Michael David Barber
Ashley Loree Bell (Giusti)
Quinn Alan Bennett
Alex Simion Bias
Keegan O’Neal Birchfield
Brian Douglas Blossom
Ashley Alyse Brandon
Kelcy Alexandra Burford
Lacy Nicoel Bush
Kevnea Suzanne Cain
Hilary Chantel Cameron
Caleb Chase
Isaac W. Chatham
Zachary S. Cowan
Elizabeth Ann Denna
Kacia Nicole Dimick
Ernestine Roxanne Donaldson
Melissa Suzanne Downs
Stephen Michael Druce
Ashley Marie Earll
Sarah Grace Endries
Eric B. Fischer
Alyssa Marie Giles
Deana Katherine Glick
Eve Elaine Green
Eric David Hart
Kristina Hart
Jacob Levi Hartman
Kayli Patrice Helvie
Daniel H. Hepner
Brian Paul Herring
Lorena Marie
Hollon-Whitaker
Jacob Howarth
Brennen Scott Jackson
Sara Kay Jensen
Courtney Danielle Julien
Trevor Wade Kauffman
Kelly Eileen King
Andrew Stephen Kircher
Olivia Susanne Landeis
Kevin J. Laurion
Michelle Lynn Lawrence
Joshua Bryan Lee
Young-Shin Lim
Sandra Reneé Lloyd
Patrick Spencer Lybrand
Steven LaVerle Mabeus
Matthew E. Madsen
Stephanie E. Magee
Darryl K. Magen
Adrienne S. Marey
Amirah S. Marey
Mabel Marinkovski
Kyle David Martin
Lance Willis Milton McCaughey
Marlana Jean McCown
Katherine Ann McKenna
Samantha McMullen
Gilles Michel
Mariya Dawn Miller
Michelle Marina Miller
Katherine Marie Mills
Stefanie Renae Moiles
Matthew Ross Myers
Benyapha Namwong
AdriAnna Faye Newberry
Reuben Joshua Wayne Norman
Joshua Michael Northcutt
Sheila Marie Oelrich
James Alex O’Guinn
Noah James Oostman
Lisa Michelle Orth
Brittany Ellen Osland
Seth Thomas Payfer
Samuel Peter Jr.
Shane Evan Peterson
Constanza Piérola
Aina-Leena Pihlajamki
Anthony Allen Pollreisz
Sasha Alyce Porter
Liana Kanani Kealoha
Purugganan
Allyssa Susanne Roach
Tyler Derby Roesch
Michael Ruhland
Whitney P. Rysdyk
Marisela R. Sanchez
Andrew James Schaafsma
Travis W. Schoendaller
Allie M. Schoessler
Alicia Eileen Sherman
Yoko Shiotani
Josh D. Simons
Kendra Heather Sinclair
Moah Son
Jalissa Morgan Stonecipher
Michael Sutton
Chance Tallman
Kyoko Tamaru
Sean Twohy
Rebecca Lee Utrup
Louis R. Velasco
Darrin A. Virgilio
Heather A. Wallington-Elder
Anton Weissenberg
Jennifer Marian Werth
Kory W. Wilbanks
Jacob R. Wilkinson
Jessica A. Willis
Ashley Kay Wood
Michael T. Zufelt
Valedictorian
Trevor Kauffman
Trevor Kauffman
Trevor Kauffman is the son of Jim and Lois, and has lived on the Kenai Peninsula since 1998. He is the second-oldest of six children, and enjoys the outdoors. Some of Trevor’s favorite pastimes are riding motorcycles, camping and working on his 1964 Volkswagen Beetle with the guys. He works for the Alaska Forestry Division and will head to Philadelphia in the fall to study engineering and liberal arts at the University of Pennsylvania.