BETHEL – It was a good omen Friday evening when the clouds parted and the sun shone just before Telstar Regional High School’s class of 2005 commencement ceremonies began on the lower athletic fields.
If they were nervous, it was hard to tell. The 71 graduates presented themselves as confident, ready for this rite of passage and what would come after.
Salutatorian Matthew Mills, who will attend Northeastern University in Boston this fall, gave his classmates a piece of cosmically humbling, yet joyful, wisdom.
“We are insignificant in comparison to the vastness of the universe,” he said. But, Mills added, because of that fact “we should be happy to be alive.”
In his valedictory address, soon-to-be Cornell University student Frank Emerson advised his fellow graduates to not sit idly by in life, but rather to seize the day.
“What you get from high school and from life in general is up to you,” he said.
Successful people take chances, Emerson said. “If you try you may fail, but if you do not try you are guaranteed to fail”
After the ceremonies, Dean of Students Charles Raymond, whose son Andrew was among the graduates, admitted he was a little “misty eyed.” He said he would miss the lovable unpredictability of the Class of 2005.
“Once you think you’ve figured them out,” he said, “No, you haven’t figured them out.” One thing about this class was for certain, Raymond cooed. “They’re like a family. They take care of each other.”
Principal Shawn L. Lambert called the Class of 2005 “high-functioning.” Its defining characteristic, he said, was its strong sense of collective confidence.
“They seem to know what they want to do,” Lambert said.
Graduate Jessica James said she was “ecstatic” about receiving her diploma and the prospect of starting school at the University of Maine at Orono this fall. But her classmates had made a strong and positive and lasting impression on her, she said.
“It’s such a small school and we’re all really, really close. It’s going to be hard not being around the same people every day.”
Kevin Zinchuk, who will attend the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, shared James’ sentiment. “I never felt anything like it before,” he said of the experience of graduating and facing the future beyond high school.
At the same time, Zinchuk said, striking a note of tender camaraderie, “I love my class, they’re irreplaceable. I’m sure I’ll make other friends, but I’ll always remember them.”
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