As the seniors moved their tassels across their mortarboards – now as graduates – some parents in the crowd dabbed away tears while others snapped photos, trying to catch one last image of their child as a high school student.
The moment passed quickly as the graduates, with diplomas in hand, took a final look over the grounds of John Stark Regional High School from the ceremony tent atop the hill where the Generals’ football field stretches out.
But sadness was not the theme of this graduation. Moments of laughter, John Stark pride and celebrating academic achievement combined for a morning when the graduates were the focus as they look toward the future.
“We have learned to be conscious of ourselves and others,” said valedictorian Hazel Johnstone. “Surround yourself with new people in new places with new ideas.”
At its 29th commencement, John Stark added 166 graduates to the ranks of its alumni, including a foreign exchange student from Spain and another from Ukraine. As a memento, all the graduates received a plastic coin made from the school’s 3-D printer with “Class of 2016” on one side and the Generals’ logo on the other with the school’s motto: “Regard, Respect, Integrity.”
Principal Chris Corkery asked the students to consider well what they will do with that coin. Lock it away for safe keeping? Or pay it forward to someone that helped them reach their goals and drove them to chase their dreams.
“How do you want to pass it on?” he asked the graduates. “Take everything you got in the last four years and put it into this coin.”
Salutatorian Megan McNally related her exit from John Stark to Henry David Thoreau leaving Walden Pond.
“Our world is bigger and bolder than anything we can imagine,” she said. “John Stark has challenged me to be my best every single day.”
The graduates walked out from under the sprawling white tent as the Generals’ cannon was fired into the sky. A scrum of hugs and kisses, high-fives and pictures took shape on the grass as families connected with their graduates.
While some graduates feel the reality of life after high school setting in, others said they were ready for the next step before they finished senior year.
Mackenzie Hoover didn’t have the easiest path to graduation after being diagnosed with lupus during her junior year. Even before her diagnosis, she was dealing with unexplainable headaches and could be lethargic.
Since then, she has had to balance frequent visits to the doctor with school, cheerleading and coaching cheer to young girls in Manchester. But Hoover didn’t look for sympathy. Instead, she focused on keeping up with her responsibilities and graduating on Saturday.
“I keep busy despite my diagnosis,” she said. “I try to keep myself as busy as possible. If I don’t, I get bored and have no idea what to do.”
Hoover earned two scholarships last week at John Stark’s scholarship night and will attend Plymouth State University in fall to study biology. She wants to be a marine biologist and might add a photography minor.
“I started thinking about college during my sophomore year,” Hoover said. “I am beyond ready. . . . If it was tomorrow, I’d be ready to go.”
(Nick Stoico can be reached at 369-3309, nstoico@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @NickStoico.)