THEY MADE IT. Wakefield Memorial High’s Class of 2015 graduated Saturday amid the annual pomp and circumstance this important milestone requires. Much more on the festivities appears inside Monday’s issue of the Daily Item. (Donna Larsson Photo)
WAKEFIELD — Living in the moment and giving all you have while you’re there was one of the many messages 264 members of the Wakefield Memorial High School Class of 2015 heard during Saturday’s annual commencement exercise in the Charbonneau Field House.
With family and friends jamming into the field house for the morning ceremony, Valedictorian Lauren Sallade said, “Although we like to remember the past and plan for the future, real happiness is found in the present. Class of 2015, look around you for a second. Notice your friends beside you, your family supporting you and your teachers congratulating you. Graduation is your day and your time. Take it all in and make this memory a lasting one.
“Thinking back, my most powerful memories from high school come from instances in which I was completely present. In these instances, I was not worried or distracted; instead, I was focused on the reality in front of me. On the recent school trip to Paris and Madrid, my eyes were truly open to the world. Everything was new to me: the language, the culture and especially the food. I remember saying to my friends, “This trip feels like a mystical dream,” because it was so different than anything I could have imagined. Not having a cell phone for a week added to my ability to live in the moment, connect to my surroundings and immerse myself in every experience. On the Paris/Madrid trip, being taken away from my familiar, comfortable environment urged me to live in the present.
SHANNON GRADY has her mortarboard tassel flipped to the left during graduation exercises Saturday. (Donna Larsson Photo)
“Some experiences are not as monumental as this but are equally as memorable. I will never forget the chills I felt during the performance of Les Mis or the rumble of the Red Sea’s cheers. A lot of times it’s the little things that turn into big memories. For many of you, this could be how a senior complimenting you in the hallway as a freshman made you smile, how hitting that tricky note gave you confidence as a singer or how performing a certain experiment inspired you to become a chemist. Appreciate the little moments. They’ll add up. Little things carry the potential of becoming great memories if you experience them with your whole heart.
“The key to living present is living with passion. Wherever you are — be all there. Whatever you’re doing — give it your all. As you move forward with whatever you do after graduation, just make sure you love what you’re doing. If you’re anything like me, you will probably have half a foot ahead of yourself in the future, planning, worrying and overthinking; don’t do that! Keep that foot right on the ground beneath you and live. Plan less and live more, even if you don’t know where life is going to lead you. Change is bound to happen so embrace it. Finally, don’t limit yourself to others’ expectations. Exceed them. Oftentimes, the most rewarding experiences come from one risk or one chance that you decided to take. Let your passions motivate you and as cliché as it sounds, follow your heart,” Sallade told her classmates.
In her speech, Class Essayist Julia Blois told her fellow graduates quite a bit about Robert Frost and his popular poem “The Road Not Taken.”
Blois concluded, “As our high school journeys come to an end, we reflect on every little bend in the roads we traveled. Here we are — the Wakefield Memorial High School Class of 2015. By choice and by chance, all of our roads led us to this place at this time. As you walk out these doors today and continue on your own paths, I hope that you’ll take some time to appreciate the moments that made up your four years here, because each and every one of them has, in the words of Frost, made all the difference. Good morning, Class of 2015, and congratulations. We made it.”
DURING SATURDAY’S graduation ceremony for the Class of 2015, we were treated to a sea of red … and white. (Donna Larsson Photo)
Salutatorian Carolyn Harney said, “The Class of 2015 is a unique class. We are collectively competitive in everything that we do, whether it be athletics, academics, the arts, music, kanjam, you name it — somebody in our class can do it well. I think that one of the most valuable things that we have learned in our four years here, a skill I’m sure the Common Core doesn’t address, is how to appreciate others’ talents and to become inspired by them. I believe that our class as a whole embodies this idea. There is a notable overlap of interests within the student body that promotes acceptance as well as encouragement. This year alone, we have seen some of our best athletes sing and dance on stage, some of our best artists out on the football field and an overall enthusiasm surrounding the involvement of our class. Our senior year especially brought a level of high school musical camaraderie to the student body, that I’m sure we all were all dreaming of almost a decade ago when that classic was released … .
“I believe that another thing that we have all come to learn, another lesson imparted without the use of pencil, paper or PowerPoint, is how to handle the true unpredictability of life. It’s a fact that we will stumble. Simply based on the law of averages, no matter how far we might rise and continue to push ourselves higher, at some point we are bound to fall. We’re only 17 and 18 years old right now — we have our whole lives ahead of us to make names for ourselves, to go see the world, to face all of the challenges put before us, to take the world by storm. I think now is a crucial time to remember that not everything may go the way we want, because it might just be better. Change is the only constant in our lives. The only thing that we can do for ourselves is stay true to who we are as people, students and friends.
“As we graduate today and continue on with our personal endeavors, I hope to find that we are ready for all of the changes that life will hold. We are faced with an opportunity once again to reinvent ourselves into the people that we have been longing to become. As we go forward, we need to remember everything that we have learned that has gotten us this far.
“So go live your lives, remember everything that you have learned so far, knowledge gained from lessons both inside and outside the classroom and take it with you to create a better world. Eat your vegetables, be the friend that you wish you always had, remember to wear sunscreen, read a good book, enjoy the outdoors, avoid run on sentences like this one and, most of all, remember to say thank you. You are all exceptional people and it’s been a true privilege to spend these past years with you,” Harney concluded.
