Conant High School’s Class of 2021 finished their pandemic year on the school’s track Friday night, with 52 seniors receiving their diplomas.
Principal David Dustin congratulated the class on making it through a difficult year, and told the seniors to apply lessons learned from COVID-19 to life after high school.
“If COVID has taught us anything, it’s that we can push ourselves further than we think possible and still come out stronger,” Dustin said.
“This class will probably be remembered as the class that graduated during a pandemic, but there’s so many other things that we did during our time at high school that deserve to be remembered,” said class salutatorian Alyssia Maki. “As a class, we may be small, but we have made an incredible impact on the school.”
Maki’s speech, like much of the ceremony, emphasized the importance of looking forward to the future instead of back at the past as Conant’s seniors stepped forward in their lives.
“There will be things in life that are harder for us than high school – after all, outside the walls of this school there are a lot of unknowns,” Maki said. “But I also sincerely hope that none of us peak in high school. Honestly, that’s just depressing.”
The ceremony’s guest speaker, English teacher Anne-Marie Osheyack, recounted examples of the class’s leadership and compassion for community, and told the graduates that their resilience throughout a difficult high school experience would benefit them long-term.
“You can do difficult things when you are called upon to do them, and when life demands that you do them,” said Osheyack. “Every single one of you is stronger and smarter and more incredible than you might realize.”
Valedictorian Megan Graff touched upon this theme as well in her speech, as she made a call for the class to step outside of their comfort zones in order to grow.
“Each time I actually decide to take a risk, or do something I’m not completely comfortable with, I come out the other side better off,” Graff said, using her own discomfort with public speaking as an example.
“None of us are all-knowing or familiar with everything, but that is not a free pass to be inactive,” Graff added, pointing out the importance of not becoming complacent within comfort and security. “Complacency has allowed so many of us to avoid protecting or standing up for those around us.”
“To my fellow graduates, let’s take advantage of this opportunity learn and grow as we step out of the familiarity of the school system we’ve been in for thirteen years and out into the world with real issues that cannot be ignored,” Graff said. “This is the perfect time, as we step out of one stage of our lives and into the next, to make some changes and not only expand our comfort zones, but exceed them.”
The ceremony concluded with the seniors tossing their hats skyward from their spots on the bleachers as a fireworks display launched behind the graduates, and the class walked off to the tune of “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” by Green Day, played from Dustin’s phone directly into the microphone due to a speaker malfunction.
A full list of graduates follows:
Bailey, Evan
Bedard, Kobe
Brown, Violet
Connor, Hunter
Cooke, Evan
Crowe-O’Neil, Versigh
Cutchin, Benjamin
Davis, Alden
Deaton, Summer
Dowland, Quinn
Ek, Vitha
Feyrer, Victoria
Friend, Abigail
Goddard, Kevin
Gonyea, Elizabeth
Graff, Megan
Gregory-Dowd, Eamon
Griffitt, Chase
Hampson, Benjamin
Hill, Alyza
Kalloch, Samuel
Ketola, Hayden
Kohlmorgen, Brian
LaBonte, Griffin
LeBlanc, Jared
Luhtjarv, Lauren
Maki, Alyssia
Marrotte, Tiffany
McKenna, Dylan
Merenda, Christopher
Michaud, Sarrah
Miller, Jasmynn
O’Neill, Cailees
Olivo, Isaiah
Paquin, Makayla
Robbins, Shamus
Sarcione, Gabrielle
Schuyler, Erica
Seppala, Colson
Shirey, Eva
Smith, Dreagon
Smith, Sarah
Soles, Jonathan
Taylor, Jaymon
Tremblay, Jacob
Vaillancourt, Chloe
Weidner, Erin
Weinhold, Ethan
Wheeler, Abigail
White, Joshua
Wilkins-Fleck, Shea
Wilson, Christopher