Another Successful Graduation....

The school year is rapidly winding down and last week we had another great CHS graduation… lots of scholarships and awards, great student speeches, and an amazing senior slide show, all in just under one hour and forty-five minutes!!

Once again, in the hours and days that followed, I heard many positive comments about the graduation ceremony from parents, alumni, and students which I graciously accepted, knowing full-well that the event would not have been as successful, and in fact, might not have even occurred without a true team effort. So many people were involved in making sure that the ceremony was a success.

I would like to express my appreciation for and recognize the efforts of several individuals and a few groups who played an important role in the ceremony. First, class advisors Paula McMahon and Beth Howe deserve a tremendous amount of credit and quite possibly some sort of medal for shepherding this particular class through the minefield of four years of high school and getting them to last evening relatively intact. We know it has not been easy! Thank you for all you have done for the class and for all of the preparation for last night’ ceremony. Once again, Chris Roberts led the band in Pomp and Circumstance for the graduates’ processional (the band was great!) and handled the sound and a myriad of other small but important tasks during the ceremony. Media specialist Bob Bourke did another masterful job guiding Hannah Farris in the creation of a slightly long, but absolutely fantastic and moving senior slide show and managed the video and audio aspect of the ceremony very well. Joan Aucoin, in spite of being understandably preoccupied with a graduate of her own, did another wonderful job preparing food for the reception and was aided by junior class advisors Leslie Travis and Kerri Robinson along with their able assistants Kelly Terrenzi and Donna Bresnahan in laying out a beautiful presentation for parents, students and faculty after the ceremony. (I do not ever recall seeing as many chocolate covered strawberries in one place before!) Dee Tripp spent days working on getting all of the diplomas ready and organizing all of the Scholarship America and honor awards so that their distribution went flawlessly. Of course, she was ably assisted by the ever-present and ever-energetic Helen Duggan. (What would we do without Helen? ) Speaking of Helen, I wonder how many other schools can say that their graduation ceremonies are attended by substitute teachers who show up to support the students. Thanks again to Helen, Joe and Norma (and to any others I may have missed!) for being there last night. Kathy Curt, as always, did an excellent job keeping me from being distracted during the final days leading up to the ceremony and she also took care of a number of details (as she always does) both before and after the event, most especially, ensuring that the lobby was cleared of baggage prior to graduation! Always supportive, Pat Vreeland closely monitored my mental and emotional state, as well as my blood pressure this past week and frequently provided me with a reality check which was always helpful and very much appreciated. Rick Gifford and all of the folks who served on scholarship committees deserve a lot of credit. They did a great job and, judging from the crowd and recipient reaction I observed, they chose the recipients and distributed the available funds well. Thanks as well to all of those folks in the community who donated money to the scholarship program which helps so many of our students realize the opportunity of a college education. Again, as usual, Steve and the hard-working custodial crew took care of setting up the gym which looked fantastic with all of the new silver chairs that Steve has been able to acquire over the last two years. The crew from the town Park and Recreation department did another beautiful job of sprucing up the grounds and because the weather finally cooperated, everything looked spectacular in the early evening sunshine. To our superintendent Dr. Lanzo and my administrative colleagues, thank you for being part of the ceremony and for your support. Your presence gives credence to the belief that we really are all in this together in an effort to produce young men and women ready to move on to the next stage of their lives. And finally, over the past ten years I have always been particularly moved by the fact that at every graduation, while not a requirement, the whole faculty turns out to participate in the ceremony and support our students. I truly appreciate that but, more importantly, I know that the students certainly do.

Thanks again to everyone who helped make this year's graduation a truly memorable event!