In her speech, ConVal High School valedictorian Lily Denehy said it was late into her high school years that she realized she should be pursuing her passions, not the next AP class.
Denehy was one of the 162 members of the class of 2018 to graduate in a commencement ceremony on the athletic field at the high school in Peterborough Saturday morning.
“I took so many classes just because they were APs or good classes, according to others. I learned a lot there and retained a lot of it, but I wasn’t fulfilled and they were not what I loved. I feel a truly wise person would take classes and create experiences to flow with their passions. I was not that person,” Denehy said. “I needed the constant support and persuasion of a few key people to even consider breaking out of the pre-set smart kid mold and figure out what I enjoyed.”
Denehy then shared a list of ten things she would tell her younger self at ConVal.
“I’m hoping I can do more of these things in the future,” she said.
She advised people to take as many classes in the subject areas they love and care about. Denehy admitted it is hard to do this at ConVal while also trying to meet graduation requirements. But said, “It must make deciding what path to take after high school so much easier.”
She also said she wished she had done an an internship to test out potential forms of work. She also said her list includes, build healthy relationships, ask peers and teachers for feedback, work to fix your mistakes and get back up after failing, try new things, be grateful and show you care, stand up for what you believe, do the work and be self-disciplined, and take advantage of the opportunities before you.
“Do the work involved with these ten things and eventually you will find the people and places that you love,” Denehy said.
Class salutatorian Bailey Kirkpatrick urged classmates in her speech to become active and vote in upcoming elections.
Student speaker Mya Poluchov said the future is bright for all the graduates who seek to serve others as they forge their own path in life.
“It is time to seize the moment and our futures head on,” she said. “It is time to spread love, continue to grow as individuals, continue to grow as a society.”
Poluchov told students to discern their path first, and then follow it.
“In my sophomore year I was faced with a choice as to what to prioritize, the arts or academics. Thinking a head I choose the arts over a traditional course load. My father gently, though frequently, pointed out that by doing so I was potentially sacrificing admission to top universities. He was right,” Poluchov said, adding she doesn’t regret her choice looking back. “I chose to pursue a discipline that brings happiness and growth to my life.”
As the teacher chosen by the students to address the class, Jason Lambert said he is lucky to have gotten to meet and know, a little bit over the years, the class of 2018.
“Class of 2018, on your graduation day, the best my brain, and heart, and body and bones can give you is about stories and plans,” Lambert said.
He talked about the power of story telling and making plans, especially at this time in their lives.
“It’s an understandable and curious phenomenon around graduation time. And many of us will hear and say and think. ‘What are you doing after graduation today? What are you doing this evening? For the summer, next year, for your life?’ Be sure that plans are a kind of story too,” Lambert said.“Plans are stories about the future. And in ways plans are great.”
And while most people try to follow their plans, both grand and small, he advised students not too become too occupied with following plans. And said the best advice he can give is that while they should tell their stores and make their plans, a full and rich life is often forged when one strays from the plan and takes a pause from telling and hearing stories. Enjoy silence and stillness, he said.
“And as much as you can, remember the richest things in life — love, and friendship and service and laughter and hard work and rest — are found, a good life is found, in dropping our stories,” Lambert said. “Plans and no plans, stories and no stories, make room for all of it. You have room for all of it.”
Class president Dominique Wheeler also gave a speech about what she loved about ConVal, but also about struggling with tardiness and how much she hated having to play pickle ball in her gym class.
Wheeler said the class of 2018 “is different in the most remarkable ways.”
“The the class of 2018 is a class everyone should remember. Not because we’re the most good looking class – but because my class has a gift. We have the gift of never giving up when times get rough. We have the gift of sticking together no matter the situation,” she said.
Wheeler ended by quoting Canadian rapper Drake, “Live without pretending. Love without depending. Listen without defending. Speak without offending.”
After the diplomas were bestowed, Emma Crowley gave the farewell speech reiterating so much of what the other speaker had said about the undaunted, never surrender attitude of the class of 2018 and told them to look forward to the future.
“Keep striving, this is the first of many times you get to choose your own path,” Crowley said.
The Faculty Award was split this year, going to both Riley Young and Daniel Curran.