by Sara Hacking,
Staff Writer
The Wadena-Deer Creek High School class of 2007 donned their blue and gold caps and gowns Friday night in celebration of their graduation.
One hundred and sixteen Wolverines earned their diplomas this year.
It was a class Superintendent Jerome Enget described as "competitive and hardworking." Nearly half of the class of 2007 graduated with a grade point average of 3.25 or higher.
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In honor of the "007" in the class's 2007 graduation year, the senior high band played "James Bond Theme 007," arranged by Frank Erickson.
The ceremony's speakers included Kevin Trout, senior class president, Brian Silbernick, WDC High School assistant principal, Anders Meier, student council president, Enget and graduating seniors Emily Hunt and Zach Maas.
During his closing remarks Meier congratulated the "young and old" graduates in acknowledgement of the honorary diploma awarded to 101-year-old Marie Willan.
Willan graduated from the eighth grade in 1920 but could not attend high school, she said. She was the oldest of nine children and needed to help out on the farm.
Diane Anderson discovered that her Aunt Willan's biggest regret in life was that she never graduated from high school. Anderson shared her aunt's desire for a diploma with Tim Bjorge, high school principal. And Willan graduated with the class of 2007, 83 years after she would have graduated if she had attended high school.
"I never thought I would have it," Willan said about her diploma. "I'm just thankful. That's all I can say."
