LYNN — As Alondra Velazquez Berrios walked across the graduation stage at Manning Field, she thought her father was in Puerto Rico.
“I was sad, because I thought he couldn’t make it,” Velazquez Berrios said.
But after she moved the tassel on her cap to the left side, signifying the end of her time as a Fecteau-Leary Junior/Senior High School student, she found out that her dad had flown from Puerto Rico to surprise her.
The surprise had been planned for a month, she was told. As an official Fecteau-Leary graduate, she said it was “amazing” that her father was able to see her walk across the stage.
“I actually did it, finally,” Velazquez Berrios said. “Next, I want to go to college and become a forensic scientist with an undergrad in criminology.”
Velazquez Berrios graduated with 31 other students from Fecteau-Leary Thursday afternoon.
“We are all so proud of each and every one of you for reaching this milestone, as we acknowledge it has been an even greater challenge than usual, yet here you are,” Fecteau-Leary Principal Maura Durgin-Scully said in her remarks to the students.
Graduation day has always been her favorite day of the year, she said.
“But it seems especially fantastic and gives me so much optimism today because you, the class of 2023, despite all the trials and tribulations of the past four years, you managed to get here to the finish line,” Durgin-Scully said.
This group of students experienced the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in their freshman year, she said. What they thought would only be a few weeks off turned into remote learning for their entire sophomore year.
When they returned to school in person for their junior year, everyone was wearing masks.
“It turns out that the only normal year for you is your senior year, for a group of students already dealing with so much adversity. Wow, you did it, you made it,” Durgin-Scully said. “You are all heroes to me, and I applaud your strength and determination.”
Acting Superintendent of Schools Debra Ruggiero told the students that graduation day represents all the hard work they did along the way.
“The work does not stop here. Whatever path taken, there will be hills and valleys, life is like that for everyone. Even as an adult, there are times when life throws a curveball and you have to make an adjustment or take a sharp right turn,” Ruggiero said. “These are the times that make us the strongest.”
Mayor Jared Nicholson said he is “confident” that the students who graduated Thursday are all leaders.
“You will now be Fecteau-Leary graduates and leaders. Democracy, the kind of democracy we have here, only works when individual citizens embrace their role as leaders and vote, participate, govern [themselves],” Nicholson said. “I know that you will thrive in these roles, and I hope that you know the entire City of Lynn is proud of you in these roles, wherever you take them.”
