PEABODY — 19 young men and women proudly accepted their diplomas during the Simon Youth Peabody Learning Academy’s (PLA) annual graduation at the Northshore Mall Friday morning.
“Today is something you can be proud of for the rest of your lives,” PLA Executive Director Dr. Chris Lord said. “Your resilience is inspiring. You have already conquered many obstacles many adults would find formidable, if not impossible to overcome. Your resilience and the ability to persist and pursue your dreams will serve you well in the years ahead.”
According to its website, PLA offers an alternative-learning setting to students who are struggling in traditional settings, and have fallen behind or dropped out. PLA provides individually-designed approaches to help put students on track to graduate.
The celebration was far from ordinary, as many of the graduates shared stories about their struggles and the challenges they faced on their journey to graduation day. Nearly all of the speakers fought through tears. Graduates shared heartfelt hugs with special guests and administrators as they received their diplomas.
Ellasandra O’Neill, the recipient of a $3,500 Simon Youth Foundation scholarship, said she had been skipping classes at Peabody Veterans Memorial High School and had lost total interest in school. She eventually decided that PLA was her best option to finish high school.
“I was an anxious kid so I didn’t really go to school, especially during COVID, and I had so much going on with home stuff my junior year, so eventually I listened to people who were pushing me to come to this place,” O’Neill said. “It’s the best decision I’ve ever made.”
O’Neill plans to attend North Shore Community College and study early-childhood education.
Student of the Year honoree Layara Mariano said she plans to attend a state university next spring to study nursing. She, too, felt lost at the high school.
“I wasn’t really having a good time at Peabody High, so I came here this year and it’s been amazing,” she said. “All the teachers and administrators are really good. They make a perfect effort to make sure that everyone comes to school with morning phone calls.”
School Committee member Beverley Griffin Dunne said it “broke her heart” to hear students speak about their struggles.
“That’s the beautiful thing about hearing the student speeches. They are so heartfelt and there is so much in those speeches that informs me of why this program is important,” she said. “Thankfully, those students came to this program and were rescued before we lost them.”
State Sen. Joan B. Lovely (D-Salem) echoed Dunne’s sentiments.
“But for this academy, for these students who grace the academy, these students would be lost,” said Lovely. “They get the individual attention that they need whatever their family or academic situation is; they get that one-on-one attention and the love they need.”
Keynote speaker and former PLA Executive Director Seith Bedard, an assistant principal at the high school, said that for many PLA students, “this is their last-ditch effort to get through high school.”
“This is always the best day of the year and it’s super emotional. I’m going to try my hardest not to show my tears,” Bedard said.
“As you enter the real world and you get to meet people outside your bubble in Peabody, you’ll start to notice that they are just like you,” he told the graduates. “They all have a story… They are either defined by their story or their story defines them. People that define their story are a lot like you. They overcame their adversity.”
State Rep. Thomas Walsh (D-Peabody) said the academy is all about investment.
“It’s an investment that all of you made in yourselves,” he said. “Everyone has come together to make sure that you succeed. This is a phenomenal program. The lives they have changed with this program is quite something.”
Lord recalled a speech that Bedard made at a previous graduation in which he quoted Herb Brooks, who coached an underdog 1980 U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team to a gold medal.
“Mr. Bedard began with a favorite quote: ‘Great moments are born from great opportunity.’ Today’s ceremony is a shining example of that,” said Lord. “Our students have taken advantage of a chance to pave the way for their future at the Peabody Learning Academy. I think I speak for all of us saying how proud we are that they have taken advantage of that opportunity.”
Simon Youth Foundation CEO and President Andrea Neely said there are 40 Simon Youth Academies in 16 states that will graduate 1,600 students this year.
“Your spring class of 2023 becomes part of a remarkable 25-year history of over 26,000 students who have graduated from Simon Youth Academies since 1998,” Neely said. “You are amazing leaders who have had great challenges to overcome… Some thought perhaps you would not make it to this day. Maybe you thought you would not be able to meet all the graduation requirements, but you did.”
Northshore Mall General Manager Mark Whiting concluded the ceremony with a reading of Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken.” He said the graduates will face similar choices and that the decisions they make will outline their futures.
Following the ceremony, Whiting, who announced he will retire in August, summed up the emotional day.
“I’m a tough bird, and every year I completely break down and get a good cry in because I’m so proud of what is accomplished here,” Whiting said. “It’s my absolute best accomplishment in my 27 years of being here.”
