PEABODY – The Peabody Personalized Remote Education Program (P.R.E.P.) handed out eight diplomas to its first-ever graduating class Tuesday night at Peabody’s Black Box Theater.
While families of the graduates sat down in the small, dark theater, a projector shined a slide of each graduating student onto the screen. While some slides had standard yearbook-style captions, others were unique to an online high school. The photo of graduate Mustafa Sewid, for example, was captioned “In Egypt most of the year.”
When Executive Director Dr. Chris Lord approached the podium to welcome people, he invited the crowd to repeat P.R.E.P. ‘s motto. “Excellent Attendance, Excellent Engagement, Excellent Achievement. This is a motto for life,” Lord said. “If you are present, and you are engaged, you are going to be successful.
“Present not only physically, but mentally,” Lord said. “Whether you have a job, whether you go to school, or in a relationship, if you are present, and engaged in what you’re doing at that time, you’ll be successful.”
After Lord’s introduction, School Superintendent Josh Vadala took the microphone and told the story of Steve Jobs. Vadala said that what made Jobs an outlier was his ability to think differently than everyone else, and he equated that quality to the graduates.
“Dr. Lord and I were trying to think differently, about how we could do school, about how we could reimagine education, how we could provide you with an opportunity that works for you. And so many (times) we were sitting together and I just have to say that Dr. Lord and his teachers have done an amazing job, and they’ve given you the opportunity to be who you are.”
Valedictorian Karla Galdamez will be pursuing a degree in biology at Suffolk University next fall. When she approached the podium, she spoke about refusing to give up hope.
“I was born prematurely, at five months to be exact. I had three seizures the day I was born and had to get liquid removed from my brain. No one but the doctors and my mother had hope.
“Now,” she said, “here I am, 18 years later, speaking at my graduation. The administration and the teachers were hopeful for a remote school. Now here we are one successful year later. Both scenarios have one thing in common, they never gave up hope.”
Lord concluded the ceremony by presenting the Student of the Year Award to Christopher Noseworthy, who has dedicated himself to computer science, and will continue to take classes after graduation. Lord presented Noseworthy with a box of rare 2004 quarters from Lord’s coin collection.
Galdamez also thanked the school for giving her the opportunity to study remotely, and get one step closer to her dream of becoming a cardiac surgeon.
“I want to thank the administration and the teachers for never giving up hope on the remote school and us, you gave us an opportunity that we never imagined was possible. I want to thank my classmates because you never gave up hope on yourself and on each other, because of you this remote learning is possible. I also want to thank all the parents and families for always having to hope for us and never giving up on us,” Galdamez said.
Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at [email protected].
