Eschewing caps and robes in favor of suits, white dresses, and corsages, 49 seniors at the began the next stage of their lives with a graduation ceremony on Wednesday afternoon.
The main speaker was Bill Furgueson, a history teacher at the private high school. Fugueson said he considered several possible angles for his speech, such as respect for parents and adults and his own boarding school experience. He said that one possibility, given his love for history and fishing, was the tale of how Calvin Coolidge spent three months of his presidency fishing in South Dakota. Furgueson joked that he didn’t want to impart the lesson that hard work would allow the students to “shirk your duty and spend three months on vacation.”
Furgueson said Coolidge did have a role in dedicating the Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, and said that in speaking with another faculty member he heard about the idea of creating one’s own version of the monument: a slate of personal heroes. He said the graduates should embrace these people and learn from them.
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Class speaker Howard John Haronian said he was nervous about going to college, but confident that his experience had prepared him for it. He said he wanted to start with a simple message to ensure it wouldn’t get lost during his speech: “I love this group to the left of me. Each and every one of them.”
Mark Fader, head of school, recognized alumni who have given back to the school by returning as staff members of volunteers. He said the graduating class had proven its ability to help the school and community through actions such as helping to prevent the math department from flooding during a storm and acting as tutors. Fader said he was honored to be “a small part of this incredibly important phase in your life, and I’ll never forget you.”
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List of Graduates:
Emily Jessica Benson
Hilary Michelle Bokoff
Sarah Hotchkiss Bradford
Alice K. Bradley
Jeffrey Bachelder Brodie (class president)
Ryan William Cairns
Lee Austin Cattanach
Adam Anthony Cibarich
Michael Alexander Ciulla
Daniel A. Coffey
Catherine H. Cook
John Trowbridge Cottrell
William G. Davidge
Isacc A. Davis
Michelle Cyr Devoe
Benjamin Warner Dorr
Hadley Warm Eichengreen
Spencer Thomas Esty
Katharine Redmond Evans
David Benjamin Gibson
Alicia Rose Goncalves
Duncan Finley McNaughton Grimm
Anton Gudz
Jackson Andrew Hallberg
Howard John Haronian
John Peter Harsh
Connor D. Hilton
Heather Holmes
Paul Leon Isaiah Hunter
Adam Iglehart
Trevor D. Klee
Emily Marie Malcynsky
Emily Garretson Maroni
George Carey Matthiessen II
Matthew Lee Mooers
Claire Juliet Nelson (co vice-president)
Grace Rae Elen E. Nepomuceno
Daniel Putnam Nickerson
Ana Mariah Schavoir
William N. Simon
Zakiya Ameen Thomas-Keyton (co-vice president)
Katelyn Tyler
Olivia-Jane Mather Ureles
Rachel Elizabeth vanDyke
Frederick Adriaan Austin Haven, Prins van Eck
Veronica Lynn Vesnaver
Brooke Catherine Watson
Spencer Lucas Whitelaw
Cody Max Moffett Williams
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