The Paton-Churdan Class of 2017 had their commencement ceremony Saturday.

This year’s valedictorian is Chase Juergensen and the salutatorian is Autumn Gannon. Juergensen also received the Iowa Governor’s Scholar Award. Each high school can select a senior who is their top academic achiever. Juergensen was honored at a ceremony last month.

The other surprise announcement on Saturday was the Excellence in Teaching Award recipient, which was Amanda Tasler. She is the middle school reading and Title I reading teacher. Principal Annie Smith says Tasler’s goal is to instill in students the love of reading.

“She wants to bring that back again and she has done a phenomenal job of that. Her goal is to make sure that kids have books in their hands and in turn we have seen that equal and improve test scores and that kids really have that love of learning.”

As for the graduates, Smith says this year’s senior class is a special one for her.

“A lot of these kids were in my first preschool class here at Paton-Churdan as three-year-olds. So it has been fun to see them through the years grow into the kiddos that they are. And I know that they are all going to be really positive contributors to society.”

The graduation ceremony took place in the school gymnasium in Churdan.