REVERE — The 447 seniors of Revere High and Seacoast Alternative School didn’t let a little rain stop them from celebrating their achievements Tuesday night at the school’s graduation ceremony at Della Russo Stadium.
Though the heavens never actually let loose, a soft rain fell on the football field for the first part of the ceremony, also cooling the scorching-hot weather enough to be fairly comfortable. Still, it didn’t stop Principal John Perella from making note of the wet weather.
“Some people talk about walking in the rain,” he said to the overflow crowd sitting in the bleachers. “Some people talk about dancing in the rain. Tonight, we’re going to celebrate in the rain.”
Perella also complimented the graduating class.
“Your class has taught us so many lessons,” he said. “Together, there has never been a class like yours.”
Tuesday represented the first time both the high school and the alternative school participated in the same graduation ceremony. To mark the occasion, one of the speakers, Avalee Jemery, shared her feelings. Seacoast, she said, changed her life.
“Whether you go to the traditional high school or the alternative school, nothing is beyond your reach,” she said, overcome with emotion. “The best advice I can give is to set your goal high — not just in academics but in life.”
Salutatorian Viktoriya Kalinina, who is headed for Brandeis in the fall, kept to that theme in her address.
“Grades shouldn’t define you,” she said, noting the irony of saying that while she spent most of her four years at school focusing on grades. “You should expand your knowledge about things that concern you. It’s not about who’s first and last.”
She went on to urge her fellow graduates to focus on doing whatever they could do — and do it well.
“If you can write code, do it,” she said. “If you can throw a ball, do it. We have already ignited the passion in all of us. That passion allows us to turn failure into success.”
Valedictorian Sydney Ciano, bound for the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and who is also the class poet, chose not to speak at the ceremony. Instead, her classmate Nina Cassinello read one of her poems, urging her fellow seniors to “move with the wind” to find themselves, and to find their rhythm with which to dance.
“Do now deprive yourself from the higher you,” the poem concluded.
Assistant Principal Lena Marie Rockwood, who was the class adviser, said that the Class of 2021, called the “Green House,” could have been considered Oscar for grouchiness, or Kermit the Frog for its carefree ways.
“There were some grouchy moments,” she said, “But you showed the greatness of being green.”
It fell to Class President Elijah Nater to address how much the seniors had been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the past year.
“COVID was to us what the New York Giants were to the undefeated New England Patriots,” said the Boston University-bound Nater. “We missed out on a lot. But for every delay, every protocol, every ‘no,’ we were stronger.
“The Revere High seniors still made an impact,” he said. “We learned it’s not how many times you struggled, but how many times we got up.”
He also said that despite the long time away from school, the seniors still could get it together enough to pull off one audacious senior prank.
“We hired a mariachi band to play ‘La Bamba’ in the corridors,” he said
“This class fought injustice,” Nater said. “This class made sure we told everyone that racism and bigotry were unacceptable.
“You guys,” he said, “were awesome. You are the greatest class ever.”
