LHS graduates celebrate

Last class to feature Washington students

By: Lea Kahn
   Guests at Lawrence High School’s graduation ceremony Tuesday night may have thought they were attending a beach party and not an annual rite of passage, based on the half-dozen beach balls the seniors were tossing among themselves.
   But the 350-plus members of Lawrence High School’s Class of 2007 were merely feeling their oats, amusing themselves as they listened to several speakers and waited to pick up the diploma that marks childhood’s end.
   The Lawrence Township Board of Education, school district administrators, faculty and staff were escorted onto the main floor at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton by the Trenton AOH Pipe Band. The bag pipers and drummers played traditional tunes.
   As family members and friends cheered and whistled, the soon-to-be graduates strode onto the main floor in pairs, while the Lawrence High School Concert Band played composer Edward Elgar’s "Pomp and Circumstance."
   Justin Freedman, senior class president, welcomed the seniors and their guests. He reminded the seniors that high school is often considered to be the best four years of their lives. But why is that, he asked.
   It’s a combination of things, but the "deepest" answer is that it marks their growth as individuals, Justin said. There is no institution that can mature a teenager such as high school, he said, adding that one of high school’s lasting lessons is teaching students how to deal with other people.
   "There is something we can learn from everybody," Justin said. "It’s a simple concept."
   School board President Laura Waters noted that this graduation ceremony marks the end of a 17-year relationship between the Lawrence Township and Washington Township school districts, as the last batch of Washington Township’s high school seniors picked up their diplomas from LHS.
   Since 1990, Washington Township had sent its high school students to LHS — but Washington now has its own high school. The approximately 80 seniors from Washington Township are the last ones to receive a diploma from LHS.
   "To the graduates, you should know how proud we are of you and to the parents, for surviving the high school years," Ms. Waters said. "The world beckons to you. There is no limit to what each of you can do."
   Superintendent of Schools Philip Meara said the seniors, most of whom were born in 1990, have grown up with laptop computers, cell phones, voice mail and the Energizer bunny who keeps going and going and going.
   The Class of 2007 should be proud of itself, as its members include athletes who captured four Mercer County championships in football, ice hockey, swimming and cheerleading, Mr. Meara said.
   The class includes Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts who have earned Scouting’s highest awards — Eagle Scout and Gold Scout, respectively, the superintendent said. He pointed out that 93 percent of the seniors plan to attend a two-year or four-year college.
   "Sometimes, we even applaud you for throwing beach balls in the air," Mr. Meara joked, as the seniors tossed the beach balls during the comments delivered by Ms. Waters, LHS Principal David Roman and himself.
   Mr. Roman, the high school principal, urged the seniors to make their lives worth living by searching for a purpose in life, regardless of how difficult it may be to find that purpose.
   "Here is the secret to life," Mr. Roman said. "Be at peace with yourself. Go into this journey with an open heart. And one last thing — live every day as if it is your last day."
   LHS senior Emily Goodell, the class’s valedictorian, told her classmates that for the past four years, their lives have revolved around LHS. Most of their friends are at school, and many students are involved in sports and clubs, she said. But to an outsider, the things that mattered to herself and her classmates are in the background, she added.
   After graduation is over, Emily said, she and her classmates will be leaving to go to college or work or careers — but ultimately to a life that is different from Lawrence High School.
   "We are going out into a world where it won’t matter who knew who in high school, or whether you were able to cut class without getting caught," she said. "What clubs you were in, whether or not you made varsity, or what your scores were on the SAT. "
   "What will matter is how our classes, activities and friends shaped and defined us, and the memories we still have," Emily said. "We just spent the last four years of our lives adjusting to high school, and now we go out into a world that is completely different."
   Richard Li, the class salutatorian, said students should take pride in what each one has accomplished and not judge what others have done. The students owe their teachers a debt of gratitude for all they have done for the teenagers, he said.
   Then, it was time for each of the graduating seniors to wait for his or her name to be called, and to walk across the stage to pick up a diploma after shaking hands with Ms. Waters, Mr. Meara and Mr. Roman.
   Air horns were sounded for some graduates by audience members, and cheers rang throughout the arena for others students. One student jumped in the air, and another one pumped his hand in the air. Throughout it all, beach balls bounced through the air.
   The last senior stood at the bottom of the steps leading to the stage, looked at his classmates and shrugged his shoulders, before ascending the steps to get his diploma — and the Class of 2007 was history.