AFTER GRADUATION CEREMONIES on Sunday, 2020 WMHS graduates gathered on the Common for the traditional cap toss.
Published in the June 15, 2020 edition.
WAKEFIELD — From Joseph John Alden to Trevor Lee Zupan, 264 seniors bid farewell to Wakefield Memorial High during graduation ceremonies at Landrigan Field Saturday and Sunday.
The weather could not have been better for the Class of 2020, a group of individuals who have certainly seen their fair share of unsettled conditions, particularly over the last three months living in a pandemic.
The Class of 2020 graduated by homeroom because of the need to physically distance and due to state restrictions on gatherings.
Each student was allowed to bring to the ceremony immediate family members with whom they have been in direct contact throughout the “stay at home” order.
An outdoor stage was set up on the cement track at Landrigan (near the bleachers). Arriving students and families were directed to get out of their cars, one family at a time, head up the ramp, and walk onto the Landrigan Field to stand in an assigned spot with their family on the field.
All participants were required to wear masks while outside of their cars on school grounds, except while crossing the stage and at the photo station when families could remove masks to take a photograph. Graduates were provided with masks designed specifically for the Class of 2020 (purchased by an anonymous donor).
Students were welcomed to the ceremony by one of the four senior class officers.
Treasurer Winnie Mylan offered the Saturday morning welcome, and Vice President Katie Pearl welcomed graduates at the Saturday afternoon ceremonies. Secretary Retta Carroll welcomed graduating seniors on Sunday morning and class President Olivia Lucey offered the welcome at the Sunday afternoon sessions.
After the welcome, each students’ name was announced by the senior class officer. The student crossed the stage and picked up their diploma from a table.
The student’s family met the student at a photography station (located next to the stage on the field) and then returned back to their original spot on the field.
Students and families on the field were encouraged to cheer and support the graduates all the way through the ceremony (instead of holding applause to the end).
Each student was filmed as they were walking the stage and getting diplomas. This portion of the event was live-streamed by WCAT (and also recorded).
WCAT will put together a video of the entire ceremony – including pre-recorded speeches and all students walking the stage to receive diplomas – to be shared with students and the community.
In her graduation speech, class Valedictorian Basia Holowenczak used the metaphor of trying to fix a broken patio umbrella to show how to be creative when faced with obstacles.
“I thought once I figured out the answers to the umbrella’s pulley system, everything else would fall into place and I could sit back and relax, not unlike how I thought senior year was supposed to be the reward for 12 years of hard work and the culmination of finally having some of the answers to who you were and who you wanted to be. Senior year, like that patio umbrella, was quick to humble me. During senior year, new obstacles, much like flat tires and college rejections, kept popping up at every turn, but I was motivated by the thought of finally celebrating at the end.
“But the celebration never came. No matter how hard I tried, the patio umbrella couldn’t be fixed so I couldn’t celebrate success at the end of a hard road, because in this case there was no success. What feels worse is that our celebration at the end of high school didn’t happen not because we didn’t succeed, but because the celebration was unfairly taken from us. We did everything right for 12 years, powering through the tough times when giving up seemed easier than continuing, and yet we don’t get to celebrate in the manner we envisioned for so long.
“The lack of that anticipated, traditional celebration hurts, but it’s a bittersweet reminder that this is only the end of high school. There will be plenty of opportunities to celebrate along the way as we all accomplish our ultimate goals. When we graduate from college or when we get our first ‘real’ jobs or when we travel to make up for the senior trips that were cancelled this year or when we make so many new memories that the feeling of sadness in regards to not being able to perhaps properly celebrate our graduation will be small compared to the great feeling of constantly celebrating each new chapter of our lives.
“I figured out a way to make the best of a bad situation that was a broken and unfixable patio umbrella using a bit of creativity and a lawn chair. Everyone who has worked to ensure we have some type of graduation ceremony, even if it is not the traditional one that we deserve, has applied that same type of creativity to this bad situation. As we all get ready to begin different chapters of our life that will take us in every direction, I ask that you remember, graduating from high school is just the beginning. Begin your life’s journey by taking inspiration from how others have managed to find solutions to seemingly impossible problems, whether it be fixing a patio umbrella or having some form of a graduation ceremony, to finding solutions to some of society’s seemingly impossible problems.”
