South Royalton
The graduates in the back row weren’t called alphabetically — they were called in the order in which they sat, and they had been seated according to height.
This meant there was a slow buildup from below-average height, to above-average height. Most of the girls near the front had gamed the system with an inch-adding set of thick chunky wedges, or high heels.
But by the time Stearns was ready to hand out the last diploma, there was just one girl standing — Maeve Naumann, who, even in flats, was the tallest student in the graduating class.
Before the ceremony began, Naumann, of Sharon, said she’s had time to acclimate to the air up there. By the time she was 7 years old, she was 5 feet tall. Her late father was 6-foot-6, and her mother was 6-foot-1.
Being the tallest person in the room has become a part of Naumann’s identity. It draws comments when she’s putting in an after-school shift at a local gas station. When a classmate brought a contraband cellphone into the classroom, she jokingly took it away and put it on the highest shelf, safely out of reach. During a recent school play, her delivery of a humorous line — “I’m just a poor, defenseless woman” — had extra comic effect. And a couple of weeks ago, during a class field trip to see Annie in a Boston theater, she couldn’t help but overhear the loud voice of a stranger in the crowd.
“Damn,” he said. “If I had a basketball team, I want her on it.”
And even when Naumann (who, in addition to being tall, earned top academic honors as the class salutatorian) was called to the podium to receive a scholarship, Stearns jokingly lifted himself onto tiptoes as he handed it over. Naumann gave it right back, bending her knees to close the height gap between them.
She likes being tall. At 6-foot-3, she stands out without trying, she said. And because blending in with the crowd isn’t an option, she’s learned to speak up and be an independent thinker.
“It puts me in a position to help people more,” said Naumann. “It makes it easy for me to call attention to stuff.”
Instead of worrying about making an impact, she said, she worries about being too much of a show off.
“You don’t flaunt it,” she said. “You have to walk a fine line. My mom calls it having class.”
Before the formal event began, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who had accepted an invitation to speak at the ceremony, crossed the street to shake hands and stand for pictures with the graduates who were gathered there in anticipation of the processional.
A few other well-wishers were there, too. Gail Stapleton, who retired two years ago as the school’s French teacher, embraced Naumann in a full-bodied hug.
“She is ‘bien dans sa peau,’ ” said Stapleton a few minutes later. “Literally, it means to be well in one’s skin.”
Naumann plans to go to the University of Vermont, where she hopes to take the foreign service officer test and become a diplomat. It’s an appealing career, in part because she wants to travel.
“My dream is, I want to be a crazy old lady who lives on a hill and has 50 musical instruments that I got from 50 different foreign countries,” she said.
But Naumann knows that, at UVM, she won’t always be the tallest person in the room anymore. Many of her classmates will be facing the same dynamic. It’s likely that valedictorian Emily Ballou, who wrote the letter inviting Sanders to the ceremony, won’t always be the smartest person in her classes at Middlebury College. And when class President Cameron Kimball goes on to Champlain College, he won’t always be the biggest politics enthusiast there.
Many of the comments during the graduation hinted at the sharp contrast between the comforting high school environment the students had always known, and the future that awaited them.
Ballou talked about the school as a Neverland, a fragile illusion of manifest dreams in a dark and oppressive world.
“Today is the day we give up our Neverland,” she said.
And Sanders apologized for what he described as the failings of his generation on issues like climate change and distribution of wealth.
“The world you are going to be entering is not such a great place,” he said.
Coming up against those harsh realities is part of moving on, said Stearns. Many of the students who were the best, or the most, or the tallest within their class of 34, will find themselves in larger groups of people who share those interests and proficiencies.
He said that part of the education philosophy at South Royalton has been preparing them for that day.
“They may be the best here, but we make them get better,” he said. “We continue to challenge them, and they know how to strive.”
Using only slightly different words, Stapleton said the students know that it’s not about being the best — it’s about achieving potential by taking advantage of the opportunity to learn and grow.
But, when delivering her salutatorian address to the crowd, Naumann didn’t talk about accepting limitations — she talked about pushing them.
“Just as we have changed the school, we will change the world,” she said. “Remember to vote, stand up for what you believe in, and enjoy the miracle that is life.”
Emily Ballou, Middlebury College; Tyler Benson; Ethan Britch, Vermont Technical College; Justin Brock, Castleton University; Katya Brown, flight attendant school; Maegan Carbino, New England School of Hair Design; Mariah Davis; Kyle Duddie, Johnson State College; Sarah Dunkle, BYU-Idaho; Maria Duprey, Lyndon State College; Michael Hemond, University of Vermont; Nicholas Howe; Emma Hudson, Castleton University; Hannah Kilburn, Vermont Tech; Cameron Kimball, Champlain College; Courtney Kondi, Castleton University; Morgan Leonard, gap year/work; Cameron Magoon; Laura Martin, UVM; Jackson McClain, Norwich University; Dalton McDougall, gap year/work; Anna Meeks, UVM; Andrew Moore; Maeve Naumann, UVM; Stephen Paige, UVM; Jonathan Parker; Forrest Pellerin; Jayson Perron, Lyndon State; Amanda Pray; Phoenix Russell; Joshua Scoskie, Castleton University; Mara Southworth, River Valley Community College; Dario Spinella; Autumn Wing, Community College of Vermont.