SAUGUS — 179 graduation caps flew through the air in the high-school gymnasium Friday evening at the High School’s 152nd commencement ceremony for the class of 2023.
The graduates first marched to the center of the Middle-High School’s football field, taking their seats as the High School Band played a rendition of “Pomp and Circumstance.”
After graduates Grace Antonelli, Yago Aires, and Ivy McLaughlin sang the national anthem, Principal Brendon Sullivan announced that the presentation of diplomas would precede the addresses of the salutatorian, valedictorian, and class president to ensure all graduates received their diplomas in the event of rain.
“Graduation ceremonies are a lot of work to put together. Throw in the uncertainty of weather, and they get a lot more complicated,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan went on to commend the class of 2023 for its work in overcoming the challenges that came with changing schools and converting to remote learning during the pandemic. He said the students used their hardships as opportunities to adapt to online learning and thrive in a new environment.
“I don’t want to dwell on those matters. Rather, I want to focus on something that I believe is more respective of your class: opportunity,” he said. “Many of the things you loved were taken away from you, such as athletics and the arts, but when they returned, you embraced them.”
The presentation of diplomas began as Joseph and Pamela Silipigni walked on to the field to receive an honorary diploma on behalf of their late son, Alan Silipigni, who died during his freshman year in 2019.
The crowd cheered from the bleachers for the graduating students, with some members of the audience blowing air horns when their graduates’ names were called. Halfway through Student Council President Sophia Jabir’s address, the sound of thunder echoed through the field, prompting those in the bleachers to walk toward the school.
A heavy downpour began almost immediately after Sullivan instructed the graduates and audience members to regroup in the gymnasium. The graduates, laughing and screaming, held on to their caps as the crowd, soaking, rushed inside.
“It seems fit for a class that had to move buildings and leave and return for the pandemic would also have a graduation that is both inside and outside,” Sullivan joked as the ceremony resumed in the gymnasium.
In his address, Valedictorian Jay Patel advised his peers to forge their own paths in life after he told stories of him and his friends finding creative ways to play Xbox games between classes at school. He advised underclassmen to focus on their studies, but to find ways to have “a little bit of fun here and there” while they work.
“In a world where social media and societal expectations reign supreme in everyone’s lives, it influences people to generalize their happiness or success through popular obsessions. Instead of creating, we tend to follow others’ paths in order to achieve so-called generalized success and happiness and become something you weren’t meant to be,” Patel said. “Sometimes you have to give up who you want to be in order to become who you’re meant to be.”
Before the graduates moved their tassels and threw their caps, Class President Joshua Farmer concluded the ceremony by congratulating the class for overcoming the move to a new school and the pandemic.
“The diploma you already received is a testament to the resilience and adaptability you’ve demonstrated over your high-school journey,” Farmer said. “Despite the odds, we are here, we are with each other face-to-face, and we are graduating high school.”
“Our experience of constant change has allowed us to flourish in ways not many other classes will,” he added. “This is viable proof that we will succeed, no matter what paths we take in life and what obstacles arise.”
