Burrillville Class of ‘ 18 starts new chapter
BURRILLVILLE – The 143 Burrillville High School seniors who earned diplomas at Friday’s 117th Commencement, celebrated achievements, overcame obstacles and adapted to change on their four-year high school journey.
“Today is a day to be proud as we start a new chapter,” Senior Class President Christopher M. Charron told the graduating Class of 2018. “After today we will change the future and accomplish great things.”
There was loud applause as family members and friends filled the June Rockwell Levy Rink to watch the graduates, wearing robes in the tradititional Broncos colors of blue and white, file into the rink to the Burrillville High School Band’s
rendition of “Pomp and Circumstance.”
“Be wise in your decision making and make balanced choices,”said retiring School Superintendent Frank Pallotta, who gave his final graduation speech.
Quoting J.K. Rowling, Pallotta said, “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.”
“Failure should empower you to achieve your vision,” he said. “Know your self worth and know yourself. Confront challenges with prudence and judiciousness, not emotion. As you carve your path to success, remain calm, courageous and respectful.”
“This night represents a community’s greatest event,” School Committee Chairman Mark Brizard told the graduates. “Each and every one of you has shown that you know how to achieve. Learn to see yourself as a leader. Don’t let fear of criticism stop you from achieving your goals and dreams. You are our future and we believe in you.”
In her speech, Class of 2018 Salutatorian Nicole A. Ethier said while consistencies in life are important, change should be appreciated, “for they have made us who we are today.”
“Today is not the day my life begins,” she said. “My life - our lives - began around 18 years ago. That is when everything started to change. As we began to enter school, some of us met by chance in preschool and elementary school. Some of us started playing sports, or learning how to play instruments, or how to dance. If any of you are like me, you tried 100 different activities. I danced, and then hated the tutus; I did gymnastics, but it was too uncomfortable; and eventually I tried soccer. Like me, all of you have changed the sports or activities you’ve done until you found the one that you loved.”
By the time high school arrived, the changes were even greater, Ethier said.
“Perhaps the biggest change came when some of us realized that we were growing up, that this was high school, and that some of our friends were not here with us,” she said. “Some of them had moved away or gone to different schools, and new students took their place. It was a glimpse into the four years ahead, when we would all be going to new schools and new people would enter our lives, but we would forever cherish those who had been there before.”
She described high school as a “huge four-year maze” and students like “mice chasing a piece of cheese that was graduation.”
“But we couldn’t think about the goal at the end yet,” she said. “Reid Hoffman once said, ‘what you have to actually learn... is how to navigate,” and we had to do exactly that. When we were finally able to find our own classes without asking for help, we tried out for sports teams, plays, and activities, and eventually we all found our way. While we were all wishing and pleading for the time to go by faster, begging for the late nights, tryouts, and stress to end, somehow it all went by too quickly.”
Ethier quoted writer Robert Brault, saying “appreciate the little things in life, for one day you will look back and find that they were actually the big things.”
“I have realized that I - that we - have reached that point,” she said. “We can appreciate the friends that we have had since we were little who, despite all changing and growing on their own, have grown together and become closer for it.”
In her speech, Class of 2018 Valedictorian Elizabeth C. Ethier - Nicole’s twin sister - touched on her sister’s speech about change, saying while change is important and should appreciated, so should stability.
“As Benjamin Franklin once said, ‘Energy and persistence conquer all things,” she said. “Resistance to change must be acknowledged, and some of the most valuable things in life obtain their value because they persist. Many of us take things that do not change for granted as they become expected or routine. Instead we seek the changes in life, but in this process we may lose sight of what is really important.”
She used the Class of 2018 to further her point.
“Consider, for example, our class, because for the most part, we have been stable,” Ethier said. “We have grown up surrounded by the same people for our entire lives, learning who we are and where we fit in together. Through all of the changes, from combining school districts to learning multiple class schedules to mid-career switches in science curriculum, we have been together. The sense of comfort that I feel walking through the hallways and knowing more about the majority of people in my class than I know about my own family members is special to me. We may never find that again. It is not the changes we have had within the class that make us who we are, but the stability.”
Ethier told her fellow classmates reflect upon and appreciate their school experiences as well as their teachers.
“We should appreciate the teachers whom we can rely on every day to be there and support us and better us in the best way they know how,” she said. “Each year, the first day of school we could count on seeing them line up in the hallway and clap and smile as we walk by. While this is only one small example, their persistence and unwavering support helped us grow in more ways than we may realize or appreciate now.”
In concluding her speech, Ethier said the constant presence of friends, family, love and support are what constitute a happy life.
“I, for example, have had the same group of six best friends for practically my entire life,” she said. “I will always cherish the memories I have made with them, and they are so special to me because my friends have stayed with me through every step of the way.
“If nothing else is learned from this speech, let it be this: appreciate the people who are constant in your life, because they are irreplaceable.”