Woodsville
“We were meant to live in the gray,” Salutatorian Danielle Martin said. “Not to be black or white, but to be both.”
The graduating class was like a spider web, Martin said. But to her, it would not have been possible if students had not been able to embrace their differences.
“Everyone knew everyone,” she said, “but it’s the opposites that make those connections.”
As the names of graduating seniors were called, and they walked to receive
their diplomas, small sections of the crowd, undeterred by overcast skies, erupted in shouts of joy and encouragement — the whistles and “Attaboys” coming from a different section with each name called.
Brenden Dube gave a peace sign and an “I love you” to his entourage after his name was called, and the accompanying shouts arose from the right of the stage.
Richard Guy, the chairman of the Haverhill Cooperative School Board, asked members of the graduating class who had enlisted in the military to rise before the presentation of diplomas.
They were given a standing ovation by the crowd.
“As a military man, we salute you,” Guy said.
As the chairs on the soccer field behind the high school filled to overflowing, some parents and onlookers stood among the American flags where the seniors had entered. Before the graduates would exit, the crowd would part.
In his valedictory speech, Christopher Sarkis said that the Class of 2016 would be receiving “arguably the most important pieces of paper we have ever received.”
“But we are not here to celebrate these pieces of paper,” Sarkis said. “We are here to celebrate the process that has brought us here.”
The process that brought Sarkis to this point, graduating as the valedictorian, is not inherently more valuable than the process of any other student, he said. Unique experiences, rather than results, will impact each student’s future most of all.
“They’re a very talented class,” Dean of Students Michael Strauch said. “And, they’re caring and compassionate. We have seniors who were role models to elementary school students. We have seniors who were role models to our disabled students.”
The seniors were seated in front of a stand of trees. When the ceremony concluded, they threw their caps into the air, and white and green squares fell through green leaves. The newly minted graduates walked off stage.
As the rain started to fall, one green cap, tassel attached, remained hanging on a branch above them.
Andrew Scott Avery, Noah Elias Beardsley, Jaret Timothy Bemis, Barbara Lee Brake, Ty Erick Brown, Philip Joseph Cadreact, Hope Mary Cataldo, Tristan Daniel Charles, Jordan Michael Clark, Jacob Leonard Clifford, Tori Lynn Clough, Kirsten Marie Coe, Riley Elizabeth Cowell, Andrew Matthew Daly, Michael Robert Dennis, Anthony Warren DeRosia, Brenden Victor Dube, Jessy Marie Dube, Nikita Lynne Duling, Geremy Alan Enboden, Jason Benjamin Englert, Samuel Joseph Fairfield, Jeremy Patrick Fitzsimmons, Noel Lennon Fraser, Noah Herbert Frost, Alyssa Gail Griffin, Kaitlyn Alexis Hamilton, Cassy Marie Hatch, Aaron Michael Hodgdon-Stokes, Lynnze Marie Hollis, Alexander Scott Horton, James C. Hurley, Amanda Shannon Kozuch, Benjamin Martin Patrick Laundry, Sherry Lin, Derek Charles Maccini, Maximilian Joseph Martel, Danielle N. Martin, Rainie Jane Suzan May, Tanner Roland McKeage, Jaeger A. Meisenheimer, Chase Christopher Blake Miller, Madyson Brooke O’Shana, Marshall Steven Orr, Christian Noel Page, Kassidy Rose-Anne Patoine, Connor Allan Robbins, Joseph Christopher Rodger, Patricia Joyce Sackett, Joseph Allen Sargent, Christopher P. Sarkis, Sasha Segal, Dilan James Stockton, Nicholas Russell Stokes, Jacob Matthew Tetley, Krystin Victoria Thibodeau, Cody Ryan Towle, Lucas Griggs Townsend, Lucas William Tripp, Bethani Rian Winchester.