Caps, gowns and goodbyes at PHS

Construction is a big theme at Wednesday ceremony

By: Nick Norlen
   For Princeton High School’s class of 2007, the last four years have been a period of perpetual construction.
   And while the building project started years ago is yet to be completed, their time at the construction site came to a close on the front lawn Wednesday as the school held its 78th graduation ceremony.
   Student Rachel Snyderman delivered the welcome address.
   "We are now part of the thread of something historic, something larger," she said. "We are graduating today from not just any high school, but from proud, historic Princeton High School, nationally recognized for its challenging academics, strong faculty, community involvement and high-achieving student body."
   After Rachel praised her classmates for having the highest average SAT scores of a public school in the state, she lauded those she called "the architects of our successes" — parents, friends, and the school administration and faculty.
   But the construction analogy didn’t stop there.
   "Our lives — just like our soon-to-be former school — will be under perpetual construction," she said.
   Thankfully, the class has experience, she added.
   "When you’re lost in an impossible maze of hallways, or maybe just a little off track, it’s the greatest thing when you run into a familiar face — a smiling familiar face — that points you in the right direction," she said. "I don’t think it’s too unrealistic to hope that we will all be there for each other in at least some way in the years ahead. Let’s not let anyone in our class wander a hallway lost without help or direction."
   Later, student Rachel Wenitsky delivered a speech on "the future."
   She said she was an odd choice for the subject.
   "As some of you know, next year I’ll be majoring in acting. So, unlike most of you, who have chosen serious, practical fields of study, in my future, I’ll either be famous, or a waitress, or homeless," she said. "Hopefully at least a famous waitress."
   She said there are three types of people when it comes to the future: "Those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder, ‘What happened?’
   "I think we will make it happen," she said.
   Before the diplomas were given, PHS Principal Gary Snyder recalled that he arrived at the school in the same year as the 305 students graduating Wednesday.
   "When we arrived from our various places — you from JW, Cranbury, Charter, me from Massachusetts — we knew there would be a construction project ahead of us. What we didn’t know is that it would be a perpetual construction," he said. "Nevertheless, at the time, I said we would keep our eyes on the ball."
   The class achieved despite the distractions, Mr. Snyder said.
   "I studied blueprints while you studied calculus. Through it all, you succeeded in every way," he said. "The construction project known as the class of 2007 is complete."