Graduation

By Rachel Klebanov and Margaret Mattes, Princeton High School
Graduation. The word alone conjures images of caps and gowns, camera flashes, official diplomas, and, of course, tearful family members. It is about ending one era of life and entering a completely new one. But, for many of the Princeton High School class of 2011, the true meaning of graduation did not really hit them until the balmy evening of June 21, when they accepted their diplomas under a surprisingly blue sky.
Just before the procession onto the high school’s front lawn, where the ceremony took place, the three-hundred and forty graduating seniors mingled in the gymnasium, where there was a nervous, yet celebratory, atmosphere. Graduate Leah Reiss admitted that she was “really excited. It’s pretty intense thinking about how there are some people that you might never get the chance to see again. But it’s also happy because we are moving on to different things. At the same time, it’s hard to move beyond something that we have been doing for so many years.”
Although some students, like Reiss, found the evening filled with mixed emotions, for others, the ceremony felt like much less of a milestone. “I have felt ready to graduate for a while. It’s just moving on and I think people make it out to be a bigger deal than it actually is, because everyone moves on and you will be fine in the end,” commented senior Henry Liu.
From most parents’ perspectives, however, the event was a momentous occasion. “It was so overwhelming to me,” said Lauralee Leonard, parents of a graduate. “I really started paying attention when superintendent Judith Wilson said, ‘for parents who are experiencing the swoosh of time between kindergarten and this moment…’ That line really got to me,” reflected Leonard. “Everything got into focus for me after she said that, because I knew that someone else could accurately describe the incredible quickness of it all, from a parent’s perspective. The fact that my kid started in PRS and ended here, hit me hard. Then, I really felt like I had to write a thank you note to Princeton Regional Schools.”
And finally, after the long wait in the evening heat, the annual processional began and the the Class of 2011 was well on its’ way to becoming PHS alumni.
In addition to the class president, Dan Taub, three senior students, elected by their peers, delivered commencement addresses on the topics of spirit, future, and achievement. All shared their own thoughts on graduation and the world beyond PHS, with the common themes of looking towards what is to come, and contributing to and learning from the larger world.
“Remember,” advised senior Andrew Sondern, who spoke on spirit, “in the end, we have nothing to lose. And I think that as the class of 2011, we have done just that. We have overcome tremendous losses to have a stronger spirit than ever, we have befriended people who we thought were too different to interact with, and we have had an incredible time doing that…We genuinely follow our dreams until they catapult themselves into reality.”
And these losses, upon which Sondern commented, and the responses they have drawn, seem to be that which makes this class unlike those which came before it.
“We’ve gone through a lot together,” said Clara Hartmanshenn, referring to the deaths of two classmates, Helene Cody and Emma Brunskill, for whom the graduating seniors wore two gold stars on their robes.
Because of these deaths, Reiss believes that “we, as a class, are more bonded than other classes. I think we are strong, above all else, because we have had deal with a lot of stuff and that makes you strong and shows you what is really important and I think are class has realized this, and, as a result, has more character, more strength, and more maturity.”
Yet perhaps these very losses have also played a contributing role in driving this group of individuals to succeed in so many ways, truly making it unique from all the rest that have passed through the halls of Princeton High School and who have known, “the tower against the sky,” of which the alma mater so poetically speaks. While refusing to list the tremendous artistic, musical, scientific, academic, charitable, and athletic accolades of the Class of 2011, Emefa Agawu, who spoke on achievement, did conede that “we are surrouned by the wisdom of the ages in the form of our peers” and encouraged all of the students to “tune [their] ears to the wisdom all around us. We are destined for greatness and that’s a fact,” stated Agawu.
According to senior Ross Mazur, this years’ graduating class also challenges the stereotypical high school social scene, in which individuals can only belong to one group of friends. The experiences of high school has made this class “more cohesive” than those of previous years. “There have been a lot of get-togethers within the grade,” comments Mazur, for while the class is not necessarily tightly-knit, it contains many close friendship circles, which have slowly intertwined over the past four years.
“We are definitely an interesting group,” adds Rose Lapp, and while the students have had to learn to cope with individual differences and quirks since the very beginning, “I think we all spent a lot of time together this year, accepting our differences.
“A lot of us were friends with people who graduated last year,” Lapp explains. “Thus, we were split up into very distinct groups, and never really had to interact, but this year, we really had no choice. And that was good for us- though we really are different, and we didn’t necessarily like each other better in the end, we accepted each other.”
With the celebrated motto “learn to live, live to learn” inscribed on the front doors directly behind the stage, senior Amanda Phelan, who spoke on the future, declared that “We have spent the past four years learning to live; now it’s time that we start living to learn.”
Principal Gary Snyder seemed to agree with such an estimation as he affirmed, just before declaring the Class of 2011 graduates, that “the world awaits your spirits, your talents, and your leadership.”