HUNTINGTON — Gateway Regional High School’s Class of 2015 held their graduation Friday evening under beautiful blue and white-streaked skies, despite the threat of rain earlier in the week. Eighty graduates proceeded into the playing field area that had been set up for the ceremonies in front of a packed crowd of well-wishers.
The band and choirs played the National Anthem, followed by brief opening remarks from High School Principal Jason S. Finnie.
“If I were to sum up my impression of this class, I would say that unlike many their age, they understand the purpose of a high school education,” he said. “They’ve rejected the notion that a high school education is merely a means to an end, and instead have embraced the opportunity to spread their wings; testing the `winds of change’ before deciding to go with the flow.”
Several of the speakers referred to the initiatives of the graduating class, including a new Red Cross club and Model United Nations, which according to Senior Class President Cory Bisbee, was “extraordinary – here, as well as at UMass, at UConn, at Boston College, at New York University, and at Yale.”
In his speech, Bisbee also shared some challenging words about the world the seniors were about to inherit.
“The environment, for example, is being devastated by human activities,” Bisbee said. “But we are not without hope. The stone age did not come to an end because we ran out of stones, rather, we came up with better alternatives,”
“It’s Friday, June 5th and today we graduate, entering a world where we will be judged not by the content of our character, but by the contents of our pockets and purses. We live in a nation founded on equality, in which, as in George Orwell’s book Animal Farm, some are more equal than others,” Bisbee said. “For many here, little has been handed to us, but that has made us stronger, because we have been driven to create our own opportunities and will continue to do so.”
Salutatorian Hannah Green spoke about all the choices facing graduates.
“Every moment before graduation was simply practice; after tonight, the real game starts,” Green said. “What should you do with the choices offered you in life. Once you hit an old age, and you find yourself rocking in a chair for the majority of the day, you’ll spend a lot of time narrating the story of your life in your mind. And in these moments, the first memories you will call back will be the ones in which you made your grandest choices – those are the memorable moments.”
“So I suppose that is my advice. Create change. Create good,” she said. “Know that someday, you’ll be reading the story of your life in flashbacks, and you’ll want to see happiness and purpose.”
Valedictorian Charlotte Lebarron began with a story about her first day of varsity soccer tryouts, when she hit the athletic director’s car with her dad’s pickup truck, noting that her “senior year started off with a bang, literally.”
“The point is, `bad’ things have happened throughout high school to everyone sitting here, but the fact is, we’re all still sitting here,” Lebarron said. “We’ve moved past the rougher times, and now we’re here on one of the most important days of our life. We’re young, but we’re also strong and resilient. We are the class of 2015,”
Superintendent David Hopson spoke next, bemoaning having to follow the students’ “fantastic speeches.” Both he and School Committee Chair Michele Crane, with whom Hopson shared his time, emphasized the important role that parents, family, friends, community members and staff had played in helping the seniors to achieve this milestone.
“My congratulations to the Class of 2015 on your past successes, my wishes to the Class of 2015 for a brighter future, and my belief that the Class of 2015 will change the world for the better,” he said.
“The small Hilltowns that make up Gateway should be proud of the school district they support,” Crane said. “They should be proud they are able to educate their children close to home and that they can afford to give them a good education. If you extend this thought… It’s really part of the way we strive to keep a community together. It’s something to be proud of.”
Intermixed with the speeches were the final performances of the seniors with both the high school band, led by Beth Guerin, and the show choir, led by Jerrilyn Beauregard. Fifteen seniors who will be graduating out of show choir this year sang, “It’s Time.” The seniors also joined with the rest of the show choir and the jr. high choir for a moving rendition of, “I’ll Stand by You.”
The guest speaker chosen by the students for the commencement was Mary Ann Shipman, who previously taught for 21 years in the district before returning part-time last year. Shipman began by putting the attention on the seniors.
“Look at you: scholars, artists, singers, musicians, dancers, welders, wood workers, athletes, diplomatic activists, community service volunteers, world travelers and even Eagle scouts,” she said. “Your collective list of talents is awe inspiring to me.”
Shipman then encouraged the students to work hard, set short-and long-term goals, become self-reliant, and to be grateful for all the good in their life which, she said, will help get them through the hard times.
“Unfortunately, we all have hard times,” she said.
This comment was meaningful to the students, because they remember when Mary Ann Shipman’s husband, recently retired teacher and current tech crew head Rob Shipman passed away suddenly in March 2012. The Rob Shipman Memorial Fund continues to raise money for the Gateway Performing Arts Center.
Shipman ended by reminding the students of the love and support they have received from their families, teachers, friends and neighbors, saying, “We’re only a phone call away” (and reminding them that she doesn’t “text”).
It was then Finnie’s job to close the program, and call the students forward to receive their diplomas. Participating in the conferring of diplomas were Hopson and Crane.
After cheering at Finnie’s announcement that they were graduated, and throwing their caps in the air, the students left the field to applause from families and friends, and to the song, “How Far We’ve Come,” by Matchbox Twenty.
