Right, Graduate Grace Gordon, right, and sister, Faith Kaplan, a Fitch alum, greet English teacher Amy Frayne during the ceremony for the Robert E. Fitch High School Class of 2020 on Friday.
More than 230 students graduated
Groton — Car horns, cheering and music filled the air from Catherine Kolnaski STEAM Magnet School to Electric Boat’s M lot on Friday night, as a stream of decorated cars bearing the Fitch High School Class of 2020 settled in for a drive-in graduation.
The ceremony featured video on a large screen, with graduates getting personalized messages from faculty members, a slideshow of pictures from elementary school to present, and student speeches.
It was a different sort of event due to the coronavirus pandemic. As cars wound through the school grounds and down to the parking lot, staff checked to make sure they were following car rules, handed out gift bags and cheered.
More than 230 students graduated, and Principal Edward Keleher said they also signed up for times to get their diplomas Monday.
This was the first Fitch High School graduation for Keleher, who introduced a surprise for the Class of 2020: a video message from Joe Arcarese, who was principal for most of the students’ time at Fitch.
In her speech, Class President Graysen Scherer said while the past few months have been unfavorable, the Class of 2020 has persevered.
“We’ve kept our heads high through it all and weathered the storm that is COVID-19,” she said. “We lost some of the best days and memories of our lives, which we will never regain back. From this, we’ve learned to never take anything in life for granted and to always live in the moment.”
Scherer said she doesn’t want to just acknowledge the experiences lost but to instead “remember the times that made us smile and the memories we will never forget.”
Salutatorian William Miner urged everyone, in this “chaotic and unpredictable world,” to “find a reason to breathe in and smile.”
“Maybe today it’s learning a new instrument, working out, or going out on a hike with loved ones,” he said. “For tomorrow it may be creating a new invention, starting a company, or discovering a cure to the diseases that wreak havoc on our lives. Whatever you are passionate about for the future, I encourage you to dream on.”
Valedictorian Finn Koehler said that while the unknown aspects of the future are frightening, clinging to the past means we are only holding ourselves back.
“We must be willing to embrace the changes in our lives, for every change in life is a new opportunity to improve; a new opportunity to achieve your dreams,” he said. “If we resist the changes in our lives that we will face in the near future, we are resisting our chance to transform the world.”
He reflected on the “great wisdom” in one of his favorite quotes from Bruce Springsteen: “you can’t start a fire worrying about your little world falling apart.”
Student speech contest winner Ava Paprocki reflected on how the meaning of a “class” has evolved from third grade until now, from simply being the group of kids with whom you shared a teacher to being a group united “under the same societal issues, global dilemmas and universal uncertainties.”
She urged her classmates, “Don’t lose track of who you are today: it could be one of the most extraordinary, most beautiful forms of yourself that you’ll ever meet.”