Kennedy took the opportunity to make the graduation ceremony her own.
She chose the colour scheme of the venue and matched it with her dress. Kennedy made a speech as class valedictorian and displayed photos.
Chelsea Kennedy enters her graduation with her parents.
Photo: Chelsea Kennedy/CBC
About 70 people attended the graduation ceremony, which is far more guests than anyone is usually allowed to bring to such an event.
“Previous years, you’d only have a limited amount of invites to the banquet but, since it was just me, I got to invite all of my family,” she told CBC Radio’s The Morning Edition. “Good thing I have a big family.”
And the ceremony went off without a hitch, according to those in attendance.
“…hats off to the great community of Hodgeville for allowing Chelsea to carry on with a traditional graduation,” Carol Kennedy Culp, who identified herself as Kennedy’s aunt, wrote on Facebook. “The event was outstanding.”
Since there wasn’t competition, Kennedy received some of the awards for graduating students.
Kennedy will attend the University of Saskatoon in the fall.
Anthony Drake, the creator of Saskatchewan’s provincial flag, is also from Hodgeville.