June 25, 2011

Thousands of parents, grandparents and friends attended the 104th annual commencement for the Class of 2011 at Proctor's Theater in Schenectady today.

The 200 graduates, wearing red and white, heard from Superintendent Susan Swartz, Principal Lynda Castronovo, Board of Education President Pam Carbone and seniors Anthony Auspelmyer and Kevin Peitrow. The audience was also treated to entertainment from the Choraliaires and High School Symphonic Band.

Here is the commencement program [MORE] PDF.

Superintendent Susan Swartz told the graduates about taking her God children on a visit to Washington, DC this past April and how one of them was filled with curiosity and excited about the visit, so much so that he began preparing for the next DC visit on the way home.

"As I look at all of you, filled with curiosity and hope, I wonder what your future holds," she said, noting that many are heading off to college while others will start a new job or join the military. "Whatever's next...start each day with hope and curiosity."

Anthony, in his speech entitled "The World is Yours," read a poem he had written that begins with the stanza, "The World is yours, so go and take it/By the horns, life's what you make it/It's been a ride; it's been a blast/In just a blink, 13 years passed."

"Remember that today is a benchmark, nobody can take today away from you," Anthony told his classmates. "Stand up for what you believe in - don't be something, be someone. Ten years from now, it's not going to matter who was most likely to become famous senior year. What's going to matter is who actually went out and did it."

In "Go for it!," Kevin said he has been inspired by his father's high school class salutatorian. Jerry Grau, who kept his graduation speech short and sweet: he simply said "Go for it!" and walked off the stage.

Kevin said those three words could be interpreted as encouragement to simply go out and do whatever one likes. Or to take the easiest and most attractive option.

"I think that if you actually want to take these words seriously, and use them to help you better your life...that they can act as a stimulus for you when you encounter a very tough decision in your life, a decision where you know what the right course of action to take is, but that course of action is much harder for whatever reason than the other, easier one."

"Do not just take the easy way out," Kevin urged his fellow classmates. "Push your limits and push yourself to become a better person as well in the process."

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Scholastic Honor Award recipients: Kiersten Beckford, Andrew Carlstedt, Stephen Denny, Dylan Elliott, Avery Francois, Danielle Giammatteo, Catherine Kennedy, Courtney Leistinger, Benjamin Kraines, Kevin Pietrow, Grant Slingerland

This award is given to the members of the graduating class who have completed their studies with the highest achievement by having cumulative averages in the top 5% of the class. This year's group all had cumulative grade point averages of 95.267 as of April 2011.

What are these students' plans after graduation? Check them out here [MORE] PDF

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Here are photos from today's graduation program. Click on the photo to enlarge it: