The Meyersdale Area High School Class of 2024 will be honored and celebrated by family and friends during Baccalaureate and Commencement ceremonies planned for this week.

As with tradition, the Class of 2024 will be the honored guests at a student-organized Baccalaureate service at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 30, followed by Commencement on Saturday, June 1.

Commencement is scheduled for Saturday, June 1 at 6 p.m.  Commencement will be held at the football stadium. In case of inclement weather, the service will be held indoors with limited capacity.

The guest speaker for commencement will be Christopher M. Kerns, CAPT, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Corps. Kerns is a MAHS alumni and went on to attend the United States Naval Academy. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 2001 and was designated as a Naval Aviator in 2003. Kerns was fortunate to fly multiple variants of the P-3 from squadrons in Spain, Hawaii and Texas. 

After a successful inter-service transfer to the NOAA Corps in 2010, he served as hurricane hunter for the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center until 2017 when he transferred north to serve as a deputy division chief for the National Geodetic Survey's Remote Sensing Division in Maryland. He then returned to AOC to serve as the Chief of Operations, followed by a tour as Commanding Officer for the relocated Aircraft Operations Center in Lakeland, FL. CAPT Kerns currently serves as the Executive Advisor for NOAA's Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere.

He is qualified as a WP-3D Hurricane Aircraft Commander and Twin Otter instructor pilot with over 20 years of flying experience and 5,000 hours of flight time. Over the course of a diverse career in both the Navy and NOAA Corps, he has extensive leadership and supervisory experience, having served at different times as the Chief of: Maintenance, Safety, Administration and Operations with multiple flying squadrons in the continental U.S. and overseas. He has helped train a generation of NOAA Corps aviators and his efforts with NOAA have helped to improve hurricane forecasts, disaster preparedness and emergency response for our nation’s citizens.

Captain Kerns earned a B.S. in Political Science from the United States Naval Academy, an M.S. in Engineering Management from Southern Methodist University, a certificate on Leadership And Management from Harvard Business School and is a graduate of NOAA's Leadership Competencies Development Program.  He is the recipient of four DoC Gold Medals, four DoC  Bronze Medals, four Air Medals, a Meritorious Service Medal, seven Commendation Medals and various other individual and unit awards.

Captain Kerns and his wife, Amy, have been married more than 20 years and changed households 11 times throughout a career in uniform. They are the proud parents of Emily (16), Trevor (14), and Benjamin (11). Amy has a degree in Interior Design and Chris is an accomplished handyman. Together, they thoroughly enjoy refurbishing the homes they've lived in and, as with any job, leaving the place better than when they found it.

The officers for the MAHS Class of 2024 include: Gracie Paulman, President; Ian Brenneman, Vice-President; Laurel Daniels, Secretary; and Kyle Smith, Treasurer.

The Commencement Ceremony will include music by the Red Raider Concert Band, as well as the annual presentations of awards and certificates.

Organizers are pleased to invite family, friends and the community to honor and celebrate the accomplishments of the members of the MAHS Class of 2024. 

The Baccalaureate and Commencement Ceremonies for the Class of 2024 will both be live-streamed and be viewed using the following links: Baccalaureate 2024 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnA9hbbRLs4 and MAHS Graduation 2024 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmkYjPzCo5c.