By GWENDOLYN WEILER
Moapa Valley Progress
Amber Leavitt snaps a picture as her daughter, Brooklyn Leavitt, strikes a pose in her floral dress outside the LDS Stake Center in Moapa Valley on Sunday, May 20. The dress is nice, but it’s her hat that is the real clue to the event being held this evening. Inside, there is a hum of voices and a sea of hats, per tradition, as friends huddle in groups throughout the gymnasium, gathering for photos and chit chat, in preparation for the annual Moapa Valley High School (MVHS) Baccalaureate service about to begin.
The location of the service rotates each year between various local churches throughout the valley in order to promote unity among local faiths and the non-denominational spirit of the event.
Heidi Crawford Lewis, an LDS mother of seven MVHS graduates, including senior Jurnie Crawford who offered this year’s opening prayer at the service, said, “Anybody can come together in a crisis, which usually brings people of all kinds and all faiths together. But with this service, we get to see an entire community of all faiths come together in celebration of our youth.”
Senior Autumn Causey, the fourth and final MVHS graduate among her Catholic siblings, says she feels like it’s important for the location to rotate each year so that no one feels left out or out of place. “It gives us a chance to see that even though we’re all different, we’re all still on the same page,” Causey said.
However, she added that the service doesn’t create unity as much as it reflects the unity that already exists among the graduating class. “We’re all pretty close, and we’ve all known each other forever, basically,” she said.
This year’s speaker, Matthew Messer, is a great representation of that unity. He has been a teacher at the high school for the last 18 years and has taught a wide spectrum of classes and coached several different sports. In addition, he served as the LDS Logandale Stake President for 9 years before being released just two weeks ago. This man has touched the lives of the entire senior class—which includes his daughter, Aria Messer—at least academically, if not personally and spiritually as well.
Senior Class President Kessa Evans introduces Messer by saying, “If you were to cut him, he’d bleed blue and gold.”
Messer opened his remarks by relating his sentiments to the movie Fiddler on the Roof. He says, “I’m going to change one word” of the father’s caution to his daughters. “Remember—in Moapa Valley, we know who we are and who God expects us to become.’”
He went on to say, “Such knowledge, however, does not ensure our success in reaching our goals.” He emphasized the importance of intentional decision making, reminding the youth that, “Your decisions will determine your destiny.”
“If your goal is to return and live with your Father in Heaven,” said Messer, “such a goal is not achieved in one glorious attempt. It is the result of a lifetime of living the commandments and an accumulation of life’s choices.”
Messer suggested to the youth these three guidelines for shaping their future decisions:
1. Continue to choose friends with caution
2. Plan your future with a purpose
3. Frame your life with faith
“Go out there and do what you’re going to do,” Messer concludes. “But you’re going to do best with all of our faith and our love and our trust because remember—in Moapa Valley, we know who we are and what God expects us to become.”
Gustavo Moreno gives the closing prayer followed by the congregation standing again as the seniors file out of the chapel.
Graduation services will be held Thursday, May 24, at 7 p.m. at Moapa Valley High School.
