This year’s class was able to hold graduation inside the school with families in the audience.

The class verse was Proverbs 16:9: “In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”

One of the two class speakers, Mikayla Bendix, reminded her classmates of their history as a team. In eighth grade, many of the MVL grads were in different schools and only knew each other as opponents on teams. In August 2017 they joined the same team, becoming lifelong friends.

Bendix said her class was one of many classes to attend MVL, but if it was a class with its own unique teammates. Her class was told to brace themselves for junior year, as it was the hardest year of high school. This turned out to be true. Bendix acknowledged their junior year was cut short by the pandemic. It became a year of distance learning and making face masks.

“We didn’t know what senior year would look like, and trust me, that was a bit scary,” she said. “Given these circumstances, some teenagers would give up, but well-prepared and well-coached teams do not. And that is what we are.”

Their senior year began in person, but with a mask regulation in place. Bendix said despite things changing, “our team made the best out of every situation.”

Bendix said the Class of 2021 is truly a team, and everyone has been vital to that team in reaching their goals. She credited the parents and teachers as well, saying “like the best teams out there, we wouldn’t have had the success and accomplished what we did without the great coaches and staff.”

Now that they have reached graduation, Bendix said it was time for the students to join new teams, whether it was joining the military, workforce, or going to college. No matter the team, the class will be prepared for what will come next.

The second speaker, Anna Van Riesen, asked her fellow students to plan for what will come next. She said planning and preparation was a strength of her classmates. She said it was practically the class motto.

“We plan and we strive so we can accomplish and thrive,” Van Riesen said. The amount of planning and preparation needed over the last 15 months of the pandemic was evidence of this. However, she acknowledged the class verse and said “God’s plan was different than the one we plan for ourselves.”

Standing before her class, Van Riesen challenged her classmates to get ready to go beyond the walls of the school and live like a Christian, trusting MVL has prepared them for what is to come.

Martin Luther College Prof. Keith Wessel, a parent of a senior, gave the commencement address. Wessel praised the class verse that acknowledged God had the final say in a person’s plan. Everyone has different plans, including himself. Wessel said not everyone has a plan laid out and he feels for these students. He believes there is greater pressure on students of this generation to have a plan.

“It seems like good isn’t good enough anymore,” he said. “You have to be excellent at everything you do.”

The cost of college has to increase significantly and the need to have a detailed plan to have future success is great. That raised the question of “what is success in the Christian life.”

Wessel said there was no better prayer or advice than to say, commit your plans to the Lord. Wessel explained the title of his speech, “Dear Graduates, Commit Your PlanZ to the Lord” did not include a typo. The letter “Z” symbolized the path for students. It is made of three lines. The first line is a straight path started by family at baptism. The second line veers off in a different direction. Wessel said this is the students’ path. This is not a bad thing, it is the point of life to follow their path. However, Wessel warned that if the student continues to veer off they will get further away from the God who loves them.

“That’s why we need the third line of the letter ‘Z'” Wessel said. This brings us back into harmony with God’s plan.

Wessel said God does have a plan for students and asked the graduates commit their planZ to the Lord.