‘Joy and tears’ for North Smithfield grads
NORTH SMITHFIELD – As they embark on roads that may lead them far and away, members of North Smithfield High School’s Class of 2018 were urged to continue honoring the friendships they made in school for as long as they live.
“Hold on to each other,” said Deacon Rob- ert Lafond, delivering the keynote address in the school’s 50th commencement exercises at Paul F. Joyce Memorial Field off Providence Pike Friday. “Lift one another up and hold each other up in times of laughter, joy and tears.”
As 94 NSHS graduates picked up diplomas on the occasion of the school’s golden anniversary, officials paid homage to its inaugural class of seniors from 1968 – which was how Lafond got to be the commencement speaker: He was the president of the Class of 1968.
As the deacon of the combined St. Aidan’s and St. Patrick’s parishes in Cumberland looked out on the expanse of green and gold caps and gowns, just behind them were several rows of his former classmates, clad in black caps and gowns – about a quarter of the Class of 1968’s original 105 members.
Lafond said he’s heard a lot of dubious la- bels attached to millennials – “free-thinking,” “radical,” and “unrealistic,” for example.
“Parents sometimes don’t know what to do with you,” he said.
But the more things change the more they stay the same, apparently. His generation – the baby-boomers – also grew up in time of great social upheaval, when the issues of the day –
women’s rights and civil rights – were similar to those that matter to young people now.
His peers didn’t like what was happening in society and they pushed back, too.
“There are so many similarities between our two classes,” he said. “There will be challenges but you will get through those challenges and be a better person for it.”
There was no dearth of praise or encouragement for the Class of 2018 as some 300 spectators observed the ceremonies. NSHS Principal Tim McGee said the class more than made up for its comparatively compact size with an overabundance of academic talent, noting that U.S. News and World Report ranked the school fourth best in Rhode Island this year. But this year’s crop of graduates isn’t just smart, McGee said – they’ve got heart, exceptionally good manners and set a high bar for moral conduct.
“Your good manners and friendly demeanor does not go unnoticed,” said McGee. “You do what is right.”
In her time at the lectern, Salutatorian Elizabeth Votta expressed gratitude for the safe, stable learning environment of NHSH, invoking the wrath inflicted upon Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria last year – or worse – a rash of high-casualty school shootings that have left scores of young people dead across America.
“Here we get to learn well, we are safe, and we know that we have a future – a future that many students elsewhere will never see,” said Votta. “We’ve all made it through...and now we’re here graduating. We’re about to enter the next chapter of our lives, whether it’s college, the military, trade school, or the workforce.
“No matter what happens,” Votta continued, “I’m sure we can all agree that we’ve been changed by these years we’ve spent together – I can’t say if it’s been for the better, but I know that we all have been changed, for good.”
In a parting moment of symbolism, Valedictorian Lauren Cenedella ended her speech by raising aloft her school-issued Chromebook as a farewell gift to an incoming freshman.
“My Chromebook, given to me by the school all wrapped in a protective coating, must now be returned,” she said. “This Chromebook is symbolic of education, of an opportunity to learn in a flexible environment at any time. The plastic film, which I presently peel off, is us – our responsibility and respect to this gift – and so, the cycle starts again. Another young mind will receive this Chromebook and be charged with taking care of it as well as I did.”
Other speakers at the commencement included Schools Supt. Michael St. Jean; Town Administrator Gary Ezovski and School Committee Chairman James J. Lombardi III. NSHS Asst. Principal Steven J. Boss served as the moderator.
Quoting a former commencement speaker who served on the Supreme Court, Ezovski said, “It takes a lifetime to learn how to live one.”
“You’re off to a fantastic start, both academically and as people,” he said. “We who are 50 years out know – a lifetime doesn’t take long.”