By lea Kahn, Staff Writer
The West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North senior could hardly contain himself, as he called out to a classmate in the parking lot at the Sun National Bank Center in Trenton on graduation day.
“It’s over, it’s over,” he said, clad — like his classmates — in a blue gown and matching mortarboard cap. Nearby, parents were helping their seniors put on the gown, while one senior helped a friend figure out how to put on the mortarboard.
Then the seniors walked across the street into the arena for the ceremony. Promptly at 11 a.m. June 17, school board members and administrators walked out onto the floor of the arena. They were followed by the seniors, some of whom decorated their mortarboard caps with the names of the colleges they will attend in the fall.
Once the seniors were seated in rows and rows of folding chairs, Class President Dillon Sumanthiran welcomed his classmates — all 370-plus of them — to the ceremony. Reminding them that they are about to embark on the next chapter of their lives, Dillon said the one constant has been the love and support from family and friends.
Ronald Wang, the class valedictorian, said it seemed “like yesterday” that he and his classmates were scrambling to find the right classroom in the sprawling West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North. They were, he conceded, “young and (inexperienced).”
Throughout their high school careers, each one of his classmates struggled to find their own identity, Ronald said. And quoting author J.R.R. Tolkien, he said that “all that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost.” Each of his classmates is a trailblazer and in charge of his or her own destiny, he said.
Each classmate made difficult decisions and sacrifices to reach graduation, Ronald said. He encouraged his classmates to live a life full of risk and to be bold and look forward. Uncertainty is unavoidable, but that is the beauty of life, he said.
Senior Class speaker Sriram Bapatla waxed nostalgic, noting that he and his classmates are together at graduation for what will likely be the last time. Their paths may not cross again, he said, and it is difficult not to become emotional “as you watch (people) you know go on their own paths.”
It is a “surreal feeling,” walking across the stage to pick up one’s diploma, Sriram said.
Jonathan Dauber, who was presiding over his first graduation ceremony as the principal at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North, told the seniors that “10 short months ago, you and I were strangers here.”
There was some uncertainty as to how to handle that transition, but “you let me be me, and I let you be you. That’s a good way to go,” Mr. Dauber said. Then, he stepped down off the podium and waded into the group of seniors, singling out the two students who served on the high school principal search committee.
“Thanks for having trust and faith in me to become your principal. It’s an important decision,” Mr. Dauber told the girls.
Before he conferred the diplomas on the seniors, school board president Anthony Fleres told them that once they have their diplomas in hand, the next thing they need to do is to decide what success looks like. The dictionary defines it as achieving a goal — which is what they have done, he said.
“Remember, it is your life and you have to live it. You have to do what is important to you. Don’t be afraid of failure. It just means it didn’t work out. It’s just a blip on the radar screen. Move on. Failure is only important to you,” Mr. Fleres said.
