The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Trials and triumphs
‘Change is challenging,’ but rewarding, graduation speakers emphasize
“Change is challenging, but a part of life” was the theme of most speeches at the graduation of more than 100 students from Old Saybrook High School Wednesday evening.
There were both tears and laughter at the ceremony on the field behind the Shoreline school, where family and friends gathered under blue skies with sparse clouds and a slight breeze.
“Isn’t this a beautiful evening for a graduation ceremony?” said Principal Sheila A. Riffle, who described the students as talented, dedicated, kind and playful.
“You’ve come quite a long way,” she said, adding that they started school seven weeks after Associate Principal Joseph Anastasio started.
“Change is challenging,” said Anastasio, who spoke along with Riffle. But said, “Hey, the journey turned out OK .”
Riffle told parents and caregivers to
stand and said, “This moment is certainly yours to share.”
She said when most parents looked at their children today, they were “instantly catapulted to the (students’) first day of kindergarten.”
Anastasio said she was impressed with the senior prank this year, in which the students shrinkwrapped the first-floor chairs, paired with the slogan, “That’s a wrap.”
He joked that the Ecology Club was not happy with that nor the act of locking keys in cars and putting them on idle.
Joking aside, he said the future would be in great hands.
“You will most certainly be missed,” said Riffle, choking up a bit.
“We love you,” said Anastasio.
Salutatorian Nellie LaMay said, “Graduation from high school is a huge milestone we should all be proud of.”
“Our class is made up of astonishing people who will most certainly change the world,” and noted many of them had known each other since kindergarten.
She said they had the potential, knowledge and perspective to be successful.
Since entering as a freshman, she said, “Like a small fish in a big pond, my perspective has changed tremendously.”
“There are many things I’ve loved about this town,” which she said could also be considered a small fish in a big pond and encouraged everyone to remember the community from which they came.
She quoted F. Scott Fitzgerald: “It’s never too late to be whoever you want to be.”
Students Matthew Barnes and Sarah Anderson, who shared a locker since fourth grade, said that they had seen the school also change.
They saw the introduction of new teachers but also security cameras and several new police officers at every school entrance.
Introduced by her graduating daughter Grace Scherber, Amber Scherber was guest speaker after 14 years working for the school system, where she once was a student and is now a teacher.
Scherber recalled first seeing the hands of her children. She was “amazed at those tiny hands,” and wondered if she would be able to teach them everything that they would need to know.
She said the graduates had gathered the skills they would need to help them succeed.
She told the students they should be kind, brave, driven, patient and appreciative.
Look down at your hands, she said, for they will make your future. “Don’t make excuses, make plans,” she said.
“Today we will all clap our hands for you. We will celebrate you and only wish you the very best,” she said.
Valedictorian Sophia Alden read a letter she wrote as a freshman as part of a class assignment and that the seniors reread upon graduation. What resonated in her letter to herself, she said, was the line encouraging her not to change too much.
Still, she acknowledged she had.
“Change is coming,” she told her classmates. “Our lives will be very different.”
They have become comfortable with routines while at school, she said, but when the future seems scary and intimidating, “I like to think about all the things that lie ahead.”
As members of a student body small enough to know the names of every person, she looked forward to coming to school each day. “It truly has been an honor and a pleasure,” she said.
Superintendent of Schools Jan Perruccio gave the graduates a photograph as kindergartners in front of Town Hall. “How cute were you?”
And said, “This class is truly a gift.”
“You’ve changed a bit,” she said. “Actually you’ve changed a lot.
“It’s a beautiful night. Not too hot, not too sunny on the Connecticut shoreline,” she said. “You couldn’t be in a better place.”
“Graduation from high school is a huge milestone we should all be proud of. Our class is made up of astonishing people who will most certainly change the world.”
Salutatorian Nellie LaMay