Congratulations, Graduates!
Next Friday, June 26, the Class of 2009 will be graduating from Onteora High School. Theirs is not an enviable time to be entering the wider world beyond Boiceville, be it to colleges and universities raising tuition to cover lowered endowment incomes and rising costs, or a job market where the competition is stiff, and bound to get tougher as our world economy goes through its current period of change.
And yet, for all the fears and trepidations we all nurture as we watch our ever-shortening news cycles, which sometimes appear to trying to make the here and now ever-more exciting than anything that came before or could possibly come later, we have unbridled confidence in our new graduates. Because we believe they will be pushing humanity into new areas of accomplishment, change, progress, creativity, and community that we simply can’t envision for now.
Who are we talking about? How about Thomas Alba, Justin Alles, Cory Alvarado, Belinda Baker, Whitney Barringer, Ellena Baum, James Beinhart, Nicole Bell, Amanda Benjamin, Tiffany Bloomer, Jordan-Paul Brayman, Kaitlyn Brown, Daniel Burchfield, Chloe Burklund, Alyssa Burns, Ernest Butler, Angela Calcagno, Paul Cardona, Robert Cattey, Garrett Chislett, Bradley Clark, Michael Cortina, Monica Countryman, Jennifer Crego, Joel Cservak, Emma Davis, Wiley Davis, Marianna Decaro, Jasmina Deleon-Gill, Michael Denise, Frederick Devan, Amy Dillon, Haley Dodge, Eliza Edge, Harrison Edwards, Joshua Eickhorn, Elias Fano, Sydney Fish, Viva Fraser, Ashley Garrison, Alexander Genna, Jaclyn Giuditta, Alec Goldwyn, Diana Gonzalez, Kelsey Grabowski, Selina Guendel, Alice Guillon, Jake Gustafson, Cody Haaland, Christopher Hall, Ryan Hastie, Jeffrey Heinitz, Dean Hottum, Sean Hurley, Kelsie Johnan, Timothy Johnson, Jessica Jones, Caitlin Kanuch, Dylan Kaplowitz, Katerina Kariolis, Sequoia Kristal-Cohen, Natasha Kromirs, Robyn Labarr, Stefanie Landman, Kaitlin Langdon, Stefan Lapinski, Kayla Lappino, Ralph Leiter, Bradford Leonard, George Loizou, Phillip Loizou, Donald Dante Mack, Suzanna Maltby-Duggan, George Maouris, Marlena Mason, Justin McLoughlin, Lindsay McTague, William Melvin, Joshua Merante, Alyxandra Mitchell, Emily Mooney, Rose Moore, Molly Mullarkey, Brittany Munson, Jacob Nelsen-Epstein, Lindsay Newkirk, Jessica Nikonchuk, Tara O’Connor, Michela Occhi, Elisabeth Patterson, Brendan Paulsen, James Perez-Rogers, Anton Posavec, Jeremy Pratten, Mamun-Al Quayum, Ethan Quednau, Jane Raffaldi, Eli Rechtschaffen, Caitlin Redman, Andrea Rega, Austin Reiss, Robin Richardson, Edward Rion, Stephanie Roberti, Halley Roosa, Enrica Rosato, Molly Rust, Terence Ryan, James Rysinski, Anna Samodulski, Kimberly Schiappa, Zachary Schiff, Nicole Schneider, Taylor Sears, Erick Selzo, Akira Shimizu, Deanndra Shultis, Kari Shultis, Tyler Shultis, Kaela Smith, Rowan Smith-Spanier, Alexandra Soldevila, Christopher Sopata, Michael Sorbellini, Maxwell Storms, Therese Surak, Victoria Swanson, Alexandria Tabatznik, Kaela Teilhaber, Jessica Timm, Adam Tirella, Devin Tobin, Michael Turck, Geneva Turner, Ian Ury, Philip Ury, Jeremiah Van Baren, Joseph Vanacore, Kevin Van Blarcum, Andrea VanGorden. Amelia Vroman, Janna Wade, Robert Wagner. Caylee Weber, William Weil, Daniel Wemp, Scott White, Claire Wilsey, Cheyanne Wright, Harrison Wright, Ashley Yarkin, Gonkeylah Yerry and David Zukor.
What a varied, truly diverse yet intrinsically modern American family they make!
They aren’t afraid so why should we be?
And so, despite all the various commencement wishes we’ve been reading of late, from admonishments about one’s need for generosity and empathy to calls for action towards more specific goals, we wish them all the best on this upcoming great day.
May they always be ready and willing to keep educating themselves, and all of us. And may we all stay, at least in spirit, forever young…
PS & BP