"Flex is my favorite one, with the most tears and the most laughter," Downing said.

Photo by Michael Armstrong Zachary Krum holds up his University of Alaska Scholars award at the Homer Flex High School graduation.

Eight Flex graduates attended the ceremony, with ten times as many family and friends. Graduates Daniel Kuzmin and Neal Reutov were off fishing, and graduate Jenny Brackett finished Flex last December. Connections graduate Megan Reeves, who attended Flex previously, walked with the Flex students.

Wednesday's ceremony mixed tears of joy with giggles and guffaws of laughter. An intimate ceremony, it had no valedictorian speech or no formal commencement address. It began with Principal Karen Wessel thanking each student for their hard work.

"It's all of us here to remind them how great they are," Wessel said. "These students are one of the finest classes I've ever had. They're abundantly talented and gifted."

"The spotlight is up here where it belongs," said Assistant Superintendent Dave Jones. "We're proud of you."

Teachers Jeff Szarzi and Nancy Vait gave out informal awards and told anecdotes about the students.

Szarzi could have spoken about any of the students when he said to Zachary Krom, "In the beginning, you moved by inches and then you jumped by miles."

Krom returned the praise by saying, "I want to thank you guys for pushing me."

Each student made a few comments of what Flex meant to her or him. Parents, brothers or sisters -- anyone who wanted to speak -- praised the students. The words came from the heart, and often had the same message: you have overcome great obstacles to succeed.

"This is an incredible bunch of children," Flex secretary Laura Norton said. "Not children anymore -- adults. They have taught me so much about how to just keep on going. ... If you can continue to do that, you will all be incredibly successful, no matter what happens."

An alternative program for students who need a different structure to finish high school, Flex students often have jobs or families, Wessel noted.

"I see the Flex students and staff debunking the myth of normalcy," said Mary Clare Foecke, a youth advocate with Kachemak Bay Family Planning. Foecke quoted advice from "The Art of Possibility" by Benjamin Zander and Rosamund Stone Zander: "Everything is invented and everything is possible."

Flex is about choices, Wessel said -- a burden they might not want to accept.

"It's hard being responsible when it's your choice to be responsible," said graduate Deva Farmer in her comments.

Students choose to come to Flex, and sometimes they choose other programs to finish, like Reeves, who started at Flex and graduated through Connections, the school district's homeschool program.

"You were the ones who allowed us to do it at home," Reeves said. "Keep going: that's what made it possible."

Reeves also thanked her family for their encouragement.

"I hope you guys know you're as good at kicking my butt to finish life as these teachers," she said.

Reeves' little sister, Brynne, paid her the ultimate compliment.

"I'm so proud of her for doing what she's done and climbing up the cliff she fell off of," she said. "A few years ago, I didn't want to be compared to her, but now I want to be just like her."

In the official graduation part of the ceremony, Wessel awarded the students their diplomas, they flipped their tassels and along with handshakes, they made their way down a receiving line of teachers and staff and gave each other hugs.

Downing asked the graduates to do her a favor -- to do the school district a favor.

"Would each of you find one freshman or sophomore who's not sure they're going to make it and bring them along?" she said.

Jones asked the students to continue their success.

"Your teachers -- they've invested in you. They didn't invest in you to end today," he said. "Go forward and have great successes."

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michaelarmstrong.@homernews.com.