There were 163 candidates for graduation.
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| Click here to see a photo slideshow from graduation. |
With the mercury hovering in the low-90s, Principal John Durkee welcomed the standing-room-only crowd to “temperature-controlled Groeling Auditorium.” Applause quickly followed.
Class President Kathleen Slade reminded her fellow graduates there “are only a handful of days like this one” and urged them to “enjoy the spaces between these big moments.”
Next, the crowd settled in for a photo slideshow, produced by students Holly Grosholz and Molly McGuane. The images illustrated the students’ 12-year arc from gap-toothed kindergartners to dashing young men and women in tuxedos and gowns. Running the length of four songs – “Home” by Phillip Phillips, “Send Me On My Way” by Rusted Root, “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds and “This is Our Town” by We The Kings – the show drew equal parts “awws” and guffaws.
Durkee recognized four graduates who are continuing Marcellus’ long and distinguished military history by enlisting. Samantha Daley and Christiana Puylara will report to U.S. Navy basic training this summer, and Justin Smith will report to U.S. Air Force training. Tim Wellenc, meanwhile, was scheduled to leave for the U.S. Marine Corps immediately following the ceremony.
Durkee also recognized the 53 members of the Class of 2013 named “honor graduates” for achieving a grade point average of 90 or better during the first three years of high school. They selected classmates Sean Koloski and Molly McGuane to jointly deliver the annual Honors Address.
The sharing of the task is “representative of the positive, cooperative and humble nature of our class,” Mr. Koloski said.
Ms. McGuane read a poem of encouragement she originally wrote four years ago, as an eighth-grader looking ahead to high school.
‘After today, we start right over at the bottom,” Ms. McGuane said. “The good news is we’ve been in this position before.”
The Class of 2013 selected Marcellus High School science teacher Dan Irby to deliver the keynote address. Speaking as both a parent and an educator, he urged the graduates to take advantage of the symbolic “reset button” this milestone grants them.
“This is perhaps the one and only tabula rasa moment in your life,” Mr. Irby said. “If you made mistakes in the past – fine. Try not to repeat them. You’ll make news mistakes that you’ll try and not repeat.”
Also attending the ceremony were Board of Education members Jeffrey Crysler, John Fuller, David Kelly, David Locastro, Ryan Riefler and Kathleen Welch; Assistant Superintendent Trish McCarron; Business Administrator Anthony Sonnacchio; Director of Secondary Instruction Deborah Glisson; and many members of the Marcellus faculty and staff.
The Marcellus High School Symphonic Band performed the processional, “Pomp and Circumstance,” “Courtly Arts and Dances,” and the recessional, “Fanfare and Recessional”; Marcellus High School’s TrueSound performed the alma mater; and the Marcellus High School Select Choir performed “Lullaby (Goodnight, My Angel)” by Billy Joel.
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