‘We are all Uxbridge’
UHS Class of 2017 savors graduation
UXBRIDGE — On a warm, breezy Sunday afternoon, 118 Uxbridge High School Spartans completed 13 years of formal schooling, and they did it with class and style.
Dressed in robes with the traditional school colors of black and orange, the graduates marched to their seats inside the sultry high school gymnasium as parents jockeyed for position to snap cameras and the Uxbridge High School Band played a spotless rendition of “Pomp and Circumstance.”
"It took a lot of dedication to get here," Class President Daniel Page told the graduates. "In times like these love is more important than ever and it takes a team effort. One of the lessons we learned over the past four years is that if we work together we can accomplish anything."
"We are passionate. We fight for what is right. And we care for each other," Page added. "Work hard, stay the course and always remember to laugh, smile, then laugh some more."
In her speech, Class of 2017 Valedictorian Samantha Morton told fellow graduates that no longer are they to lead structured lives, but instead, lives of "infinite possibilities."
"Today is the first day of our lives. But so was yesterday and so is tomorrow and each day after that," she said. “However, for each day of our lives, it is our decisions that mold us into who we will become and what we will achieve. Everyone here today defines success differently. However, for all of us success should mean that we strive each day to move forward. Success will not come easily to us all. Though, a lack of success does not mean that we have failed. We only fail when we allow our lack of success to defeat us."
"If you did not reach your goal, you did not fail," she added. "You only have failed if you gave up without trying. Sometimes success requires an undying effort. Other times it takes a little bit of luck, factors beyond our control, or even a mere coincidence. It is natural to not achieve your goals immediately and that our dreams shift and change with time. Despite the changing molds and dreams, we continue to grow and become better for attempting to pursue them.
Morton said the definition of success is to live with no regrets.
“Do not live your life with what could have been," she said. "Live your life to the fullest potential. And when you do make a mistake or when you face adversity, do not dwell on it. We cannot live every day worrying about our own faults. Instead look at how much we have grown. From the first day of kindergarten when your parents watched you board that giant yellow bus. The accumulation of the past four years along with every individual mentioned brings us to today. When each of us walked in here with our heads held high and dressed in our caps and gowns. We have grown."
During her address, Morton asked her fellow graduates to face each other.
"All of us here know one another whether we have spoken or perhaps you haven’t," she said. "Now look at the journey that we have accumulated over the past few years. Now look at your own journey. Think of the things you have learned, the people you have met, how you have personally grown, how distant that first day of kindergarten is, or even the anxiety you feel right now along with the eagerness to receive your diplomas. This moment is right now. Just as fast as this day came, it will soon be gone into memory. So, cherish this moment."
"My fellow classmates look around you," she said. "We are all wearing the same caps and gowns. We are all Uxbridge. We are all Spartans. And, we all have hope. Though our paths may differ, whether we move forward to further our education, to join the armed forces, to immediately enter the workforce, or to see were life takes us, we all share one thing in common. There is infinite amount of possibilities that lay before us. And this will remain the same as long as we decide to keep an open mind. The long road ahead of us may not be easy, but that is what makes the rewards worth it. Today is not about what we still have to come, it is about this moment now."
"Today we mark an important milestone in our lives,' Morton concluded. "Ahead of us is the people for us to meet and the places that we will go. Ahead of us is our future, the families we may make, the career we may pursue, and the dreams that we might catch. Ahead of us stands life. But to go ahead means to live today and every day with no regrets. So, let’s live it. Live in this moment. The moment we all graduate high school and say our final goodbyes. Congratulations class of 2017 and thank you for sharing this moment with me."
In her commencement address, Salutatorian Krysten Boyer said all of the graduates should be proud of their accomplishments and unique skills and talents.
"Thinking back to how I got here, I spent a lot of stressful nights writing papers and finishing homework for my AP classes. I can say I worked hard but I know many classmates that worked just as hard or harder than me – people who didn't wait until last minute to finish a paper and who studied for each and every test and people that on top of homework juggled sports and many after school activities," she said. "I looked up to many of you around me, although many of you might have thought I was better than you because of my scores. But I'm not standing here today because I'm smarter or better than you, I'm standing up here today because of a number."
"I think each and every one of you have qualities about you that is better than just test scores," Boyer said. "Some of you have great public speaking skills. Some of you have great dedication and never give up. Some of you are great at sports, acting, playing instruments, or singing. Some of you are great at hands on things like building and fixing stuff. There are so many skills out there, like I, myself, have skill in the arts. All these skills will bring you somewhere in life and in the end some number doesn't matter and I hope you will use these skills to do something you enjoy in life."
Boyer singled out several people who have helped her along the way.
"I'd like to thank my family and friends for always being there. Especially my friends, Abbie, Sophie, Matt, Nick and Jake, and my sisters Zoe and Clarah. Thanks for putting up with me and keeping me happy," she said. "I'd also like to thank the teachers and other faculty that worked hard to teach all of us every day. I will miss all of you, even the teachers that gave way too much homework. I'd especially like to thank Ms. Charpentier, who I always felt comfortable talking to. She advised anime club and book club and put up with all of our weirdness and was there for stressful times with a coloring book ready.
"And to the class of 2017, although I might not know all of you, I wish you all the best in whatever you do, whether it be college, a gap year, the military, or straight into the workforce. Congratulations on getting through high school, this is only the beginning."
Prinicpal Michael Rubin lauded the graduates, saying the Class of 2017 set the bar for a senior class and exceeded all expectations.
"I started to think of your days here, and what it means to define them as great. It has been a pleasure to be part of many of your great moments," he said. "You signed letters of intent, you picked up your teammates, you battled against internal and external opponents, and you chest bumped me on day one of my time here as the Spartan, long before I knew you as Superfans. You rolled with the punches of schedule changes. You aced tests, wrote essays that made your teachers proud and criticized great works, and you asked questions in class that made everyone around you smarter. You built and constructed and cooked and designed and painted and sculpted and drew and sang and played. You met new guidance counselors, teachers, and even a new principal and helped us all understand what it means to be a Spartan. You volunteered thousands of hours to make this community a better place."
"Even when things weren’t going your way, you often treated me and those around you with the same dignity you would expect others would grant you," he added. "These are all hallmarks of both a great class, and great class, neither of which will be soon forgotten.
Rubin urged the graduates to close their eyes and think back to that first day in the gym back in the fall of 2013, when they first walked into the high school – the first Grade 8 class out of McCloskey Middle School.
"I hope you smile when you think of all those moments, both great and otherwise, knowing that they both taught you something, about your spirit and who you are," Rubin said.” For many of you, getting here was not the question, nor was it a fate your could not have known, but reflecting on the path taken over four years, and our two years together, we all acknowledge that the path taken was unknown – but you all, each and every one of you, made it, and the people you looked at at helped you achieve this fated moment, the receipt of that diploma."
"The world that awaits you is yet super and unknown – superunknown, indeed, and a place in which right now, you are very much alive and very much a source of pride, for me, your teachers, your parents," Rubin said.
“As you head to that vast unknown, as you think of your great times at UHS. Think of the great, superunknown times ahead, and feel and remember, like everyone clad in black orange today, this one, final moment of greatness at UHS. We remember the same greatness you brought us, and we anticipate your future greatness with a sense of, well, the superunknown. Embrace the much bigger, vaster, and scarier super-unknown, just as you did four years ago, sitting in this gym, and make it collectively great, which you have done individually and collectively, during your times and experiences at Uxbridge High School." Uxbirdge High Class of 2017
Stephen D. Ackerman, Calvin M. Aia, Kyle J. Alger, Amanda Rose Ante, Helena M. Arnold, Franchesca Azize, Trent Banderet-Murphy, Trevor S. Benoit, Audrey L. Bergeron, Nicholas Brian Bernier, Brooke Audra Blackburn, Angelia Kayly Bonollo, Breanna Kayly Bonollo, Cassandra Lynn Boucher, Hayley Boudreau, Krysten J. Boyer, Russell F. Bromann, Tayla Brown, Madison Kate Bruneau, Aaron H. Burke, Cameron J. Butler, Vito Joseph Caccavelli, Joseph Anthony Cafarella, Jessica Anne Caffarelli, Madison Cahill, Joshua Callinan, Lucais R. Cannalonga, Domenic Cariglia, Anthony Casavant, Olivia Antonia Cassidy, Abagail Marie Chartier, Theodore D. Cole, Allison E. Colella, Cameron P. Cyr, Isaiah D. Davila, Alex Desjardin, Elizabeth Desmarais, Matthew C. Desrosiers, Shannon Kelly Devine, Savannah Mae Dionne, William J. Donovan;
Brianna E. Droddy, Kristen E. Earle, Emily Ekberg, Vanessa C. Fonseca, Celeste Yvonne Fredrickson, Morgan K. French, Jaycee Lynn Garrigan, Tristan H. Goddard, Emily Lynn Guertin, Jillian Margaret Hamel, Danielle Elizabeth Harvey, Nicole Devlin Hewett, Ian R. Hogan, Lucas Paul Horan, Martin George Horwath, Ethan W. Howe, Jennifer Skye Hunter, Meghan Frances Jones, Alec J. Kaye, Matthew Kelly, Jennifer Kindl, Abigail Lynn King, Jayce Carlin Knapik, Andrew Justin Kuros, David Paul Lamontagne, Jr., SadeeRain Landini, Tanner A. Landini, Jacob A. Landry, Emily Ann Lavallee, Michael Lavallee, Tristin Lehtola, Ryan Paul Loach, Jeremy Lorenzo, Caitlyn Rose MacNeill, Taylor Ann Manning, Nathan A. Manz, Nicholas Maracle, Alexander R. Martellio, Alexander McCall, Timothy Patrick McCrohan;
Sarah Nicole McGee, David Benjamin McLaurin, Regina Elizabeth Merritt, Mia Lynne Metcalf, Joseph Monahan, Ryan D. Morais, Samantha Kelly Morton, Corey Jackson Moss, Taylor Dawn Nestor, Cody Normandin, Samantha Osper, Daniel Frank Page, Christopher Charles Palmieri, Neve Elizabeth Palmieri, Taylor Paris Perry, Davone Angela Phianesin, James Prosser, Luciano B. Pugleasa, Haley Catharine Reese, Jacob Joseph Robbins, Amethyst Robinson, Michael J. Rosa, Alexis Rae Schadler, Sophie Taylor Scrimgeour, Callie Mya Selvidge, Lauren Jean Silbor, Ian J. Simmons, Leah Morgan Sweet, Madison Nicole Tashjian, Faren Mae Tekut, Maxwell Steven Trottier, Carson G. Turcotte, David Eric Vario, Jr., Ethan J. Vickery, Michael Walsh, Maxwell White-Cohen and Sophie Elizabeth Wiersma.