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CLASS OF 2025 — - Saturday, June 28, 2025

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BELMONT HIGH SCHOOL

Celebrating shared joys

By REBECA PEREIRA Monitor staff

T

REBECA PEREIRA / Monitor staff photos

tatorian, plans to pursue psychology at St. Lawrence University. Four students from the class of 2025 will join the military.

Madelyn Besegai and Adeline Takantjas have both chosen to enroll in nursing programs at Emmanuel College and Wheaton College, respectively. The two friends already plan to drive the 40-minute distance between their new schools for regular visits.

At graduation, Besegai and Takantjas reminisced over silly skits they

filmed together with whatever downtime they had in elementary school. They remembered drifting apart for some time before reuniting in high school over dissections in their anatomy and physiology class and during a formative two-week French exchange trip.

“We both had different experiences, but when we were apart and we would finally meet up again, we would both be like, ‘Oh my gosh, I haven’t seen you in so long!’ And we would just debrief about everything we’ve done,” Besegai recalled.

Guarding her front-row seat, Takantjas prepared two dozen flowers to distribute to loved ones during the evening’s flower ceremony. She saved a special recognition for her mom, Edith Takantjas, who has taught French at Belmont High since 2008 and served as the senior class advisor.

Edith confessed as she organized seats near the stage: “There’s been a lot of crying.”

Ahead of the ceremony, Durand’s family, too, felt the emotion spreading across the field.

His grandfather, Bob Cormier,

boasted of Durand not only as the first in his graduating class but as the first of his grandchildren to graduate high school at all. His youngest grandchildren darted in circles around his legs while their cousin tried to articulate the intensity of his emotions.

Standing at Durand’s side in her crisp white robe, Smith, the salutatorian, made a list: “I’m feeling scared but happy, excited, anxious and nervous.”

He nodded in agreement. “I’m feeling every emotion,” he said.

Rebeca Pereira can be reached at rpereira@cmonitor.com.

2025 Graduates!

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CLASS OF 2025 —- Saturday, June 28, 2025

Above and below: Seniors at Belmont High School celebrate their graduation on June 13. The Shaker Regional School District includes students from Belmont and Canterbury.

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yler Durand squinted at the shifting image on his aunt Michelle Linguli’s phone until it spoke.

“You’ve worked so hard,” Kate Flannery, the actress known for portraying Meredith Palmer on NBC’s “The Office,” chirped from inside the small screen.

Durand, a die-hard fan, wore a reference to Flannery’s show on his bedazzled graduation cap as he watched her message congratulating him for an achievement shared by no one else in his graduating class: that of valedictorian.

Delivering a speech before a sea of his peers, Durand recalled the other caps he’d worn during his academic life: one blue, the other green and emblazoned with a Celtics logo.

Both were shields for him, an anxious teenager, to hide behind. He was a “quiet, go-with-the-flow type of kid” who feared questioning harsh grades he felt he didn’t deserve.

The young man standing at the podium, draped in sashes, braided cords and medals, couldn’t be more different from the person he described.

“We will encounter countless opportunities to grow, explore and change. My advice is to take every one,” he said, recalling a trip to France that altered his perception of himself and emboldened him to live differently.

Linguli, his proud aunt, jolted forward in her lawn chair and clanged a cowbell in support.

“Every opportunity you decline, every opportunity you miss is a transformational moment you’re neglecting,” he added Durand, who’s chosen to study biochemistry at the University of New Hampshire in the fall, was one of 84 students who filed onto the baseball field at Belmont High School.

They arrived as students and left, misty-eyed and euphoric, as the school’s newest alumni.

Each one now charts a new path.

Following in his mother’s footsteps, Durand hopes to become a pharmacist. Madison Smith, the class salu-

BISHOP BRADY HIGH SCHOOL

‘You have something to give’

CHARLOTTE MATHERLY / Monitor staff

Valedictorian Avery Sahr shakes hands with school leaders after her speech at Bishop Brady High School’s graduation in Concord on June 6.

By CHARLOTTE MATHERLY

Hampshire Mountain Kings ice hockey program, it hasn’t quite hit tudents fluttered about the li- yet.

“It’s a little bittersweet, just bebrary at Bishop Brady High School affixing their caps and cause … it’s the end, you know?”

Wax said. “A new chapter has gowns, taking selfies and hugging begun, but like, also one’s closing, their friends. and that’s a little sad.”

And, of course, the ever-pertiNick Pagauisan, the senior class nent question popped around the room in rapid fire: Which way does president, said the work he put into creating a “functional and sucthe tassel go? cessful” student council will stick “Left to right?” students asked. with him, as will his school’s Principal Andrea Elliot and longtime graduation photographer Greg Habitat for Humanity mission trip Fortier explained to several seniors to West Virginia and his time leading the Sycamore Garden who sought their advice that no, you’ll want to move it from right to Growers, a club that cultivates plants for the community garden on left.

Less than two hours later, 75 stu- NHTI’s campus (a service for which the Monitor featured Pagauisan as a dents hailing from four different Hometown Hero when he was a countries picked up their tassels sophomore). and momentously crossed them “Those kind of connections and over the bridge of their caps to the left side, signifying their graduation shared experiences are the things that make saying ‘goodbye’ here from Bishop Brady High School.

For Nate Wax, who came to Con- pretty tough,” Pagauisan said.

Pagauisan is off to Croatia for a cord’s private Catholic school from graduation trip, then starts at Florida to participate in the New Monitor staff

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CLASS OF 2025 — - Saturday, June 28, 2025

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Boston College in the fall, where he intends to study economics. Wax will play juniors hockey next year, then plans to head to Michigan State University.

Other students spoke of the sense of belonging they found at Bishop Brady, like Kimble Rose, a Franklin resident who encountered more like-minded people there than she had growing up in public school.

“I was able to feel like I’m surrounded by other people who wanted to learn,” said Rose. “It was a really big change for me, and a really welcomed one.”

After four years playing varsity field hockey and softball, participating in service trips and squeezing myriad other activities into her high-school career, Rose departs later this month for Brigham Young University in Utah, where she’ll study elementary education.

Valedictorian Avery Sahr and salutatorian Camdyn Despres, who addressed the crowd Friday

evening, thanked their classmates for the acceptance, kindness and friendships they found in high school.

But, Sahr said, it’s on brand. It’s just “Brady being Brady.”

Calling on her fellow graduates to reflect on all they’ve learned and how far they’ve come of the past four years, Sahr left them with some parting words of advice.

“I hope you walk into every room knowing that you have something to give. And when you forget, I hope you remember what it felt like to be loved here,” she said. “Choose joy when it’s hard, give kindness when it’s not earned and let your life be a radical act of love.”

Charlotte Matherly is the statehouse reporter for the Concord Monitor and Monadnock Ledger-Transcript in partnership with Report for America. Follow her on X at @charmatherly, subscribe to her Capital Beat newsletter and send her an email at cmatherly@cmonitor.com.

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BOW HIGH SCHOOL

Starting a new chapter

By JEREMY MARGOLIS Monitor staff

JEREMY MARGOLIS / Monitor staff

Class president Adam Valpey gives principal Matt Fisk a high five. Bow High School graduates gathered at Saint Anselm College on June 13 to celebrate their accomplishments and mark a new chapter.

said those accomplishments, as great as they were, will not define the Bow High School Class of 2025.

“We are a class that cannot be summed up by a few stories or accolades, because our impact runs far deeper,” Valpey said. “We are a class with a personality that has built relationships and established roots all across the community.”

Other student speakers imparted advice: “When something is wrong, even if everyone else is doing it, we

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CLASS OF 2025 — - Saturday, June 28, 2025

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ne final corny joke stood between the Bow High School seniors and their high school diplomas.

“Hey Cole,” said first-year principal Matt Fisk, addressing a blond student in the front row. “I only know 25 letters of the alphabet. I don’t know why.”

Cole Cochrane and his 146 classmates burst into knowing laughter, not at the quality of the pun – sorry, Mr. Fisk – but rather at the tribute to what had become a Bow High morning ritual.

Weeks into senior year, Cochrane, a choir singer and improv enthusiast, began adding a joke to his 9:50 a.m. delivery of the school’s morning announcements.

The tradition stuck.

“That’s definitely where people are trying to wake up a little bit – like the first class you’re always really tired for,” he said. “So if you can get a little pumped up for the rest of the day, that’s my goal.”

Inside a packed Sullivan Arena at Saint Anselm College on June 13, the Bow High graduates had plenty to feel pumped up about. They burst into applause following class secretary Emily Fauteux’s booming rendition of the national anthem and wiped away tears as the concert choir harmonized through “I Am Still Your Dreamer.”

And they reminisced about the singular moments that stick with them: bringing couches to football games, an intense game of musical chairs, a run to the girls’ soccer state championship and qualifying for the world championship in robotics.

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should change course to avoid it,” Colin Fitzpatrick said. “Don’t say things that you don’t mean or act like someone you despise. Decide to be better than them.”

Many graduates alluded to the influence of their parents on both their life outlook and the path they will now pursue.

“My mom would tell me, ‘You can’t live your life for Friday because the best day of your life could happen on a Tuesday,’ ” said class vice president Claire Ulrich. “Now, when she first said this to me, I thought, ‘No way – the best day of my life is not happening on a Tuesday,’ but I began to listen to her words and try to live by them.”

Princeton University-bound Preesha Chatterjee, a euphoniumplaying member of the school band, hopes to follow in her father’s footsteps and become an economist in the public sector.

Chelsea DeVincenzo, who has worked as a dietary aide at a nursing

home, is considering becoming a school psychologist or social worker, motivated by the work that people she grew up with do. She will study social work and psychology at Gordon College.

Gabriella Tarsa plans to become a pilot.

“My parents are flight attendants and they have a really cool lifestyle, and I just always admired that,” said Tarsa, who is off to Purdue.

Some graduates – perhaps taking to heart Fitzpatrick’s advice to buck societal trends – acknowledged they are still figuring out which paths to tread.

For his senior project, James Menezes authored a book called “The Heart’s Candle,” a novella focusing on “a journey about discovering purpose and what to live your life for.”

It is a journey he himself is on.

His plan for next year: “Go to college and figure out what I want to do with life.”

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CONCORD CHRISTIAN ACADEMY

Graduates mark accomplishments, faith

By ALEXANDER RAPP

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CLASS OF 2025 — - Saturday, June 28, 2025

Monitor staff

Jamison Banks addressed his class of 32 fellow Concord Christian Academy graduates at One Church in Bedford with a simple phrase his father taught him: “Sometimes a fallen world falls on us.”

His charge to the senior class was not a complaint about the world but rather a plea to his classmates not to allow the world to shake their faith.

He continued with a quote by C.S. Lewis and said, “A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of straight in mind.”

His mother, Bree, has fought stage four terminal breast cancer for over two years, and he often thinks about why tragedy is everywhere and in abundance. His faith and the plan in store for him comforted him as he spoke decisively to his class.

“I think it means, to graduate, I’m onto the next thing. The way that my faith played a part is just having this confidence, wherever I’m going to end up, it’s going to be what God has planned for me, so I don’t need to fear,” Banks said after the ceremony.

“It’s such a gift to have a child grow, a grown-up child grow, to maturity and love the Lord in the way he does. We couldn’t ask for more,” said Bree, who was in attendance at the ceremony.

Many other students echoed similar sentiments during their time on stage.

Mackenzie Robertson, who also led a charge to the senior class, salutatorian Brianna Slavik and valedictorian Kristina Baglio all referred to some of their favorite Bible verses that conveyed messages of hope, determination and confidence in their friends.

Thomas Charbono receives his diploma and shakes the hand of Rob Logan Duffy, who will play basketball for NHTI in the fall, embraced his father, Starner, Head of School at Concord Christian Academy.

Bill, during CCA’s graduation parent appreciation segment.

ALEXANDER RAPP / Monitor staff photos

Baglio had a class-leading 4.3 grade-point average and received a Presidential Academic Scholarship to attend Cedarville University, a private Baptist University in Ohio, to study molecular biology.

The students went through a whirlwind of emotions as the ceremony included a video presentation on their senior trip to the Outer Banks in North Carolina, a passing of the baton by class president Lylah Shumway to junior Raelyn Taylor and a parent appreciation tribute by Sadie Thompson before her father, Tyler, gave the commencement speech.

Pastor Tyler Thompson urged patience, compassion, faith and understanding from graduates as they go forth into the world. He was

proud to say that they were all brought up with the strong mission of spiritual, intellectual, emotional, physical and creative growth that Concord Christian strives to instill within students.

After the ceremony, graduates met with their families and friends and gathered to take photos. One group gathered around Thompson and fellow graduate Lilli Carlile, a member of the CCA girls’ basketball team that went on an unprecedented gauntlet of three state championships in three divisions over three years.

Carlile will attend Lee University

to study occupational therapy and has received a full scholarship to continue her basketball career. Her mother, Rebecca, the girls’ basketball coach, said that it’s not always easy to be coached by a parent and is very excited to see her play at the next level.

“It feels so surreal. It’s a mix of emotions. It’s super happy and sad at the same time knowing that I’m leaving and moving away but I’m super excited for the next chapter of my life,” Lilli said.

Alexander Rapp can be reached at arapp@cmonitor.com.

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CONCORD HIGH SCHOOL

Elza Jacobs-Zambian takes a moment to celebrate after crossing the graduation stage Saturday.

CATHERINE MCLAUGHLIN / Monitor staff photos

A RISING TIDE

By CATHERINE McLAUGHLIN

even then that she wanted to follow in the footsteps of “Ms. Jeri” and the other teachers in her family. veryone has heard about the That goal is part of what got her kids who fell behind during through night classes and make-up the pandemic, the ones who credits. And on Saturday, wearing a struggled in hybrid classes or to connect with others coming out of cap she’d decorated to assert that, a lockdown. Tabitha Nedeau was one la “Wicked,” she is unlimited, Nedeau took a major step toward of them. achieving it. This fall, she’s headed Nedeau and the rest of the Class to the early childhood education of 2025 came into Concord High program at Southern New HampSchool as restrictions began to shire University. relax, yet it didn’t mean their “I didn’t think I’d get here. I didn’t worlds, or their selves, were back to think that I would graduate high normal. She fell behind. school,” she said. “So graduating But before Nedeau was a junior with my class, not a year behind, it worried about whether she’d be able to graduate on time, she was a feels great.”

The graduating seniors of the kindergartner in her grandmother A delay to the ceremony meant the outdoor ceremony at Memorial Field Crimson Tide celebrated with flair escaped the weekend rain.

Jerilynn’s class. A determined SEE CHS PAGE 11 teacher’s assistant, Nedeau knew

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CLASS OF 2025 — - Saturday, June 28, 2025

Monitor staff

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Saturday, taking selfies or sticking their tongues out as they crossed the stage while also reminding each other to use what they’d learned to pay it forward.

“The question is how will you take what you know and make something of it?” salutatorian Phoebe DaterRoberts said to the sea of crimson before her. “After learning from others for so long, how will you teach someone else?”

Claire Brown followed with a lesson for her peers.

After two years at private boarding school left her lost, lonely and profoundly unhappy, she came home to Concord High.

“You can chase every expectation, check every box and follow the path that looks perfect on the outside,” Brown said. “But if it doesn’t feel right, if it doesn’t bring you peace, then it’s OK to change the course.”

Taking her mental health seriously, she had learned, would always be worth it.

When principal Tim Herbert told GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor staff photos the graduates that they were entering Concord High School graduate Evianna Raimo talks with fellow Master of Ceremony graduate Samuel Pfitzenmayer as the world not with all the answers but they get ready to start the program at Memorial Field on June 14. knowing how to ask for help, how to support others and how to push past setbacks, he just as easily could have been referring to Nedeau as to Brown or to valedictorian Madeline Muller.

Muller implored her classmates to stay present and in touch with their joy. It was something she also had learned the hard way.

“I wasn’t pushing myself because I wanted to become a better student but because of the label I could receive,” Muller said. And, in the end, it’s just a title.”

After crossing the stage, shaking hands with school leaders and receiving the leather case with their name on it, each graduate turned the corner and headed for their seats.

Most couldn’t wait until they got there As Tabitha crossed the to open the case — was their diploma stage, the Nedeau actually in there, in their hands? Was family erupted in this really it? Was their name spelled cheers. right?

While many in the class were Left: Nadia Hanna dabs wistful, even sad, Samy Marcelin away tears as she and wasn’t one of them. the other graduates With caps tossed, the graduates prepare to take their leapt to their feet as their families seats. roared with pride from the bleachers at Memorial Field.

Sereva Cela and Marcelin, who bonded as members of the school’s Be the Change club, flung into each others arms.

“I’m just so happy to be done,” Marcelin said.

CLASS OF 2025 —- Saturday, June 28, 2025

CHS FROM PAGE 10

COE-BROWN NORTHWOOD ACADEMY

‘YOU HAVE TIME’

By CATHERINE McLAUGHLIN

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CLASS OF 2025 — - Saturday, June 28, 2025

Monitor staff

He may have been a year behind her in school, but Kayleigh Hollis looks up to her younger brother, Kaiden.

“When he sets his mind on something, he accomplishes it,” she said.

“He knows exactly what he wants to do.”

After pursuing career and technical education classes throughout high school and gaining job experience at the Atlantic Bridge, a construction and engineering company, Kaiden graduated from Coe-Brown Northwood Academy on Wednesday evening.

He’s ready to start his career, with his sights set on becoming an electrician and a welder. Kayleigh, a year since tossing her cap, is still figuring out what she wants for her future.

As Kaiden and the other 2025 graduates of Coe-Brown assembled in their scarlet robes, preparing to accept their diplomas, Kayleigh said she hoped her brother would never lose that drive, that he’d always keep his mind working.

For younger sister Gabi Groetzinger, too, Kaiden’s passion and focus are a model.

“I take inspiration from that,” she said. “I don’t know what I want to do yet.”

In just a year, Groetzinger, a current junior, will be in his place.

From a few camp chairs down the line of family who came to cheer Kaiden on, his aunt Vicki Kolenda leaned over. “You have time,” she said. “You have time.”

By most accounts, this year’s graduates from Coe-Brown have their sights set on their futures.

They’re going to study business administration, video game art and design, wildlife biology and nursing.

They’re going to work at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard or join the Air Force. They’re going to obtain a dog grooming license and work toward becoming a veterinary technician. They’re going to begin employment at the 110 Grille later this week, expecting big tips.

But class leaders encouraged the group to savor their past and prepare for challenges ahead.

CATHERINE MCLAUGHLIN / Monitor staff

Coe-Brown Northwood Academy graduate Colby Heald, center, flashes a grin as the ceremony begins.

It’s safe to say studying is something Seth Brown, the class valedictorian, is pretty good at – he prepared for his speech by doing just that, watching all the great graduation speeches he heard of online. Their throughline was a focus on the beginning of a new chapter, on getting a “fresh start” after school. He saw things differently.

“There’s no such thing as a fresh start,” Brown said.

He and his classmates will carry with them the friends they'd made, the teachers who pushed them and the memory of the mac and cheese they burned in the cafeteria microwave. And they’ll be better for it.

“These moments will guide us long after we’ve forgotten them,” Brown said. “We may not be starting over, but we’re moving forward with more knowledge, empathy and experience than we had four years ago.”

Salutatorian Lili Cook reminded her classmates of just how far

they’ve come since ninth grade.

With all the strength they’ll bring out of high school, she encouraged her peers to embrace the mistakes that inevitably lay ahead.

“Name one person who achieved something amazing and got it on the first try?” Cook said. “You can’t.

Good things take time and work...your hopes will be worth every bit the amount of effort you put into them.”

As the graduates filed onto the field and lined up in front of their white folding chairs, they did something teacher Matt Lobdell said he’d never seen before. They turned around, watching the rest of their classmates come to join them, as if they were among the proud parents with their phones held up to capture the moment.

To him, this was a testament to their uncommon sense of community. This class, he said, was uncommonly giving and generous with one another.

He saw it in Kaiden Hollis, espe-

cially.

Lobdell, a woodworking and construction teacher, watched Hollis complete his work early so he could help others. When another student had to miss classes for Advanced Placement testing, Hollis worked on her project for her so she didn’t fall behind.

Not only because of Hollis’ hard work but because of this willingness to put in work for others, Lobdell said, “He’s going to go far in life.”

One of Lobdell’s classroom assignments entails turning a ballpoint pen out of wood on a lathe.

Hollis was the first student to try to accomplish that process in epoxy. It took a lot longer to carve down than anticipated, and he didn’t get to finish it before graduation. Lobdell couldn’t let that happen. So he put the finishing touches on Hollis’ pen. After the diplomas were handed out and the caps were tossed, he found him in the crowd and pressed it into his hand.

HOPKINTON HIGH SCHOOL

Feeling a sense of support

By SRUTHI GOPALAKRISHNAN Monitor staff

A

GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor staff

Hopkinton High classmate and friend Teddy Ehrmanntraut holds an umbrella for Constantine Salce as they make their way through the pouring rain to the “barn” at the Hopkinton High School graduation June 6.

I want to be part of the class. ...

People with disabilities just want to feel included.”

Jake Barrett

Andess Kosowicz Hopkinton Middle High School

Hopkinton High School Jake, you pushed through and accomplished your goals. Wasn’t always easy but you stayed true to your self. Continue that on your next chapter as you pursue a career in welding technology. Always stride to do your best. Be kind to others and always try and lend help when needed. Look forward to seeing you navigate through your next chapter.

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CLASS OF 2025 —- Saturday, June 28, 2025

CONSTANTINE SALCE, Hopkinton High graduate

SEE HOPKINTON PAGE 14

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t the tail end of Hopkinton’s graduating class filing into the Durgin Pulling Arena, Constantine Salce rolled in with a bright smile, his electric wheelchair carrying him into a well-earned moment of celebration.

Diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), a progressive genetic condition that weakens muscles and limits mobility, Salce has lived with the disease since he was just eight months old.

Salce said the way he approached high school wasn’t much different from his peers.

“For the most part, I’m pretty included in school,” said Salce. “I’m basically like any other teenage boy that plays video games and watches Star Wars.”

That sense of belonging was unmistakable as the crowd in the arena erupted in cheers and applause when Salce crossed the stage in his wheelchair, wearing dark green robes, to receive his diploma on Friday evening.

Salce will attend New England College in the fall to study comic art.

The sense of support from both staff and classmates was something that other students, like Michael Pantoma, the valedictorian, also experienced.

Pantoma moved from Pennsylvania in the sixth grade and was placed in a regular math class while all his friends were in advanced math.

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CLASS OF 2025 — - Saturday, June 28, 2025

HOPKINTON FROM PAGE 13

When he told his classmates he would try to join the advanced class, he was met with encouragement instead of teasing.

Although it was a small gesture, it made a huge difference to him, said Pantoma.

“It was just enough to make me believe I could do it and with that support, I made it,” Pantoma said. “I started to believe I could excel academically.”

While many students could fully engage in academics and extracurricular activities, Salce faced limitations due to his medical condition. He could not participate in sports, a major part of the school district’s culture.

But he found other meaningful ways to contribute.

“With this disability, though, I’ve been able to improve other parts of me,” said Salce. “Mentally and emotionally, I like helping people around like bringing people up.”

To get to the rustic barn where the ceremony was held, a friend sheltered Salce from the pouring rain with an umbrella, carefully guiding him along the packed gravel path.

Throughout high school, Salce said he had been an advocate for accessible spaces and facilities — a mission he plans to continue as he heads to college.

It’s especially important to Salce because he said he missed out on many school trips when accommodations weren’t arranged in advance, preventing him from participating.

“I want to be part of the class,” said Salce. “People with disabilities just want to feel included.”

GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor staff

Hopkinton graduate Flo Dapice talks with her friend Evie Hopper during the class picture before the graduation ceremony on June 6.

JOHN STARK REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

Among 126 grads, one starting own company

By DAVID BROOKS

by Owens, he entered the statewide welding contest sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction, coming in hen the list of places third as a junior and first place this where John Stark High School seniors are headed year. That helped his decision to go was read out at Saturday’s gradua- into business on his own.

The appeal of welding, he said, is tion, one uncommon item came up both practical and emotional. at the end: “starting their own “When I’m in my hood and it’s company.” myself and the weld pool, it brings That would be Braydon me peace,” Laflamme said, referLaflamme, who has turned a ring to the protective headgear that youthful interest spurred by John welders use and the working porStark’s unusual welding courses into B. LaFlamme Welding & Fab- tion of a weld where metal reaches rication, an independent firm that melting point. “And not many people are going into it, so I saw already has customers. the opportunity to do something I Laflamme, 17, said he was first intrigued by the idea of welding in love and make a lot of money.”

Laflamme was among 126 semiddle school. niors who got their diplomas on “I was pressuring my parents: I the football field at John Stark in think I should have a welder,” he said. “I messed around at my house Weare on a cool, wet Saturday.

Among the ceremony speeches for a while, started doing some was one given by Sadie McCallum, stuff on my own.” chosen by staff to represent the seThen he came to John Stark, nior class. She urged her fellow gradwhere technology education uates to concentrate on doing the teacher Joab Owens offers two small deeds that can change the levels of welding classes. Helped Monitor staff

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world.

“Revolutions aren’t built from huge battles or proclamations.

They’re built from consistent, unwavering acts of personal principles, where people thinking for themselves refuse to give up. We won’t change the world just doing one thing,” she said.

Being consistent, McCallum said, means “that every day you can leave your little corner of the world just a bit better than it was when you woke up, the same as you have here at Stark. By the end of your life, you’ll find your small changes have spread out far beyond your border and you did, in fact, change the world.”

McCallum noted that her life experience wasn’t entirely “relatable” to everybody. She has cerebral palsy and uses either a walker or a self-balancing mobility wheelchair invented by Manchester-based company DEKA, founded by inventor Dean Kamen.

McCallum will attend Villanova University in Pennsylvania, where

she’ll major in electrical engineering and creative writing.

Also speaking was valedictorian Elizabeth Ackerly, who said she “crowd-sourced” her talk by asking for topic suggestions from other students. Aside from the range of suggestions, from the heartfelt to the humorous, she said the effort reflected something more important.

“Competition is not how we achieve greatness; collaboration is. … All of our voices are equally valuable and are stronger together than they are alone,” she said. “Life is not a solitary task; far from it.

We stand not on the shoulders of giants but on generations of people just like us.”

Saturday’s ceremony marked a change for the school as well as the students. Nine staff members are retiring, said principal Gary Dempsey, with a combined 217 years of experience. That includes four teachers and administrators who have been on the job for at least 30 years.

Congratulations graduates!

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CLASS OF 2025 —- Saturday, June 28, 2025

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FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOL

Grads prep for the unknown

By KIERA McLAUGHLIN Monitor staff

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CLASS OF 2025 — - Saturday, June 28, 2025

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any high school seniors are anxious about graduating and stepping into uncharted territory, but Julia Swett has always welcomed new possibilities.

During her freshman and sophomore years, she enjoyed being part of the drama club. As a senior, she joined the field hockey team.

“I wish I would have joined before, but they were very welcoming because I’d never played before,” she said.

Throughout high school, she participated in student council, the National Honor Society and Girl Scouts, all while volunteering at her local church.

On Friday evening, family, friends and faculty gathered at Franklin High School to celebrate the Class of 2025. Dozens of graduates sat in rows on the field while wearing blue caps and gowns and large smiles on their faces.

During the ceremony, valedictorian Savaughna Slocum gave a speech thanking the broader community and individuals who pushed her to succeed.

“High school has been a roller coaster, filled with triumphs and setbacks, but through it all, there have been people who made the journey worthwhile,” she said.

She also had a message for the underclassmen that the graduates are leaving behind.

“My biggest piece of advice – be present. Make the memories, take the risks and invest in the friendships that make the long days worth it. And most importantly, don’t let anyone define your limits – you are capable of more than you know,” she said.

Graduates received awards for their scholarships, commitment to athletics and growth both academic and personal.

Swett received the Loyalty Award, voted on by students and staff, for dedicating herself to the class and to the school and for always being there to “do a job well done.”

Ready to explore the unknown, Swett is eager to step into summer

KIERA MCLAUGHLIN / Monitor staff photos

Graduates throw their caps in the air to celebrate their official status as Franklin High alumni.

– and the rest of her life. In the coming months, she looks forward traveling to Italy with one of her friends to visit an exchange student she met the year before during school. Not speaking a lick of Italian, she said she is ready for the exposure to a new language and culture.

When she returns to the United States, she will study hospitality management at Lasell University.

“I’m really looking at event planning right now. I’ll be exploring food and beverage, meeting with people, tourism,” she said.

Based on her own positive experiences and the relationships she built at Franklin High, Swett cannot wait for the opportunities that college has to offer. Always looking for something new to try, she finds herself most excited about the idea of meeting new people.

“I am going kind of far away, but not too far away, so I’ll get a new Julia Swett after receiving her high school diploma and The Loyalty Award, environment, a new community,” chosen by students and faculty based on scholarship and dependability. she said.

KEARSARGE HIGH SCHOOL

Tribute marks celebration

By JEREMY MARGOLIS Monitor staff

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GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor staff

Kearsarge High graduates make their way up to the stage on the football field at the school on June 14.

Continue to question ... Keep questioning things so that they improve.

That’s how you make the world better.” doesn’t always roar.”

“Sometimes it whispers,” Wooten said. “It shows up in the quiet, choosing to speak when it’s easier to stay quiet.”

Student council president Soeren Baughman described the little moments, like when someone “walked back on the bus with an entire Market Basket sheet cake and managed to eat the whole entire thing.”

“These are the moments that matter most, the little things that shaped our days and strengthened our friendships,” B au g h m a n s aid.

The moments of Saturday’s graduation ran the gamut from the lighthearted to the deeply moving. In a ceremony permeated with centuryold tradition, Langille unveiled a new one – just a year old – toward the end, handing each graduate a yellow rose.

“Take this rose and deliver it to that person in the audience who has meant a lot to you in getting you here today,” Langille directed.

Ethan Brand found a woman standing under an umbrella toward the side of the crowd.

The woman, Jessica Bray, was Brand’s mother’s best friend – and starting a day before Brand’s sophomore year, also his legal guardian.

Both of Brand’s parents – Melissa Shields and Jeremy Brand – have passed away.

“We’ve known Ethan since he was born, and so that’s why we’re here today,” Bray said, fighting back tears. “Ethan’s a solid human – he’s thoughtful, strong-willed, and at this point in time, I believe he can do anything he sets his mind to.”

The yellow flower happened to have another meaning for the family, too.

“His mother loved sunflowers,” Bray said, pointing to a pin. “That’s why we’re all wearing them today.”

CLASS OF 2025 —- Saturday, June 28, 2025

CHARLES LANGILLE JR., Kearsarge principal

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hen Ngan “Su” Tran arrived in New Hampshire from Vietnam last November, she had nine days before her first choral concert to learn six pieces.

The senior, who hails from Ho Chi Minh City, had never sung in a chorus before — neither in English nor Vietnamese.

By Saturday, seven months after walking into Kearsarge Regional High School for the first time, Tran delivered the solo in the choir’s graduation performance of Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.”

“I needed to join another community in high school, and it’s so rare to find everybody here,” Tran said after graduating. “And it’s a really good opportunity for me to meet other people. I love them.”

While Tran’s journey through the Kearsarge schools started halfway around the world last fall, for many of her 111 classmates, Saturday’s ceremony marked the culmination of a different sort of journey – one that started some 13 years ago in a kindergarten classroom just miles away.

Student speaker Jacob MacNutt recalled one of the inflection points of those years: the arrival of the pandemic partway through seventh grade.

“It’s crazy to think that we are about to graduate and so much can change in four years, especially with all the procedures and regulations that had existed specifically in the early high school years,” MacNutt said.

Principal Charles Langille Jr. focused on some more joyful moments: the state championships won, the sunrise breakfasts consumed and the many questions the Class of 2025 asked.

“Continue to question,” he encouraged. “Keep questioning things so that they improve. That’s how you make the world better.”

Class president Tori Wooten focused her remarks on courage, particularly the quiet courage “that

PEMBROKE ACADEMY

‘We are equally deserving of this’

Salutatorian Cameron Carter addresses his fellow graduates in the Fisher Cat’s stadium on June 12.

By KIERA McLAUGHLIN

Thursday evening at the Fisher Cats stadium in Manchester.

Coming in, the Class of 2025 For Rosie Cummings, her time at seemed to be quite a handful, but over time, they grew as a group and Pembroke Academy was defined as individuals, leaving a positive by the semesters she spent impression on the school staff. working with the unified sports Class president Owen Stewart program. addressed this transformation in Starting at Pembroke as a his speech and applied it to their freshman, Cummings described herself as shy, befriending teachers future endeavors.

“You can have all the talent, all over other students. But during her the potential in the world, but it senior year, when she joined the unified program that promotes so- doesn’t matter if you never make that move,” he said. “We are always cial inclusion through sports, she waiting for what seems to be the came out of her shell. right time. If the past four years “Over the four years, I learned have taught us anything, it is that that everyone’s so in their own we shouldn’t spend our time head, that you just need to be auwaiting for life to change, for the thentic and be kind and be confinext big thing to come.” dent and you’re fine,” she said.

Throughout the ceremony, a This sentiment was echoed by strong sense of community filled the graduates and teachers the baseball field and the stands speaking at the ceremony on

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CLASS OF 2025 — - Saturday, June 28, 2025

Monitor staff

where family and friends sat.

Valedictorian Lily Reeves spoke of how far the graduates had come, and despite all the challenges, they found family.

“This uniformity: the identical caps, gowns and diplomas, is not about sameness. It’s about unity. It’s a reminder that no matter how different our journeys were, we are equally deserving of this,” she said.

While their high school experiences vary, so do the graduates’ plans after they walked off the field. They planned to enroll in trade school, go into military service, attend college and enter the workforce. Others said they were still exploring their possibilities.

Cummings plans to take a gap year and return to the school to volunteer with the unified program.

“This actually gives me something to do in my gap year, and I get

KIERA MCLAUGHLIN / Monitor staff

to continue spending time with the people that I love here,” she said.

Cummings wants to pursue fashion and business with the hope of joining the fashion marketing industry.

“I’ve always loved expressing myself,” she said, pointing to some of her tattoos. “I just love customizing myself to exactly how I want to be perceived. I’ve always been really into thrifting. I grew up with my Nana teaching me how to sew.”

Despite her love for the unified program and the friendly staff, Cummings is ready to graduate, just like the rest of her class.

“It’s a weird feeling. I’m excited and nervous for the same exact reasons,” she said. “I’m excited because I get to do my own thing and find my own path, but also nervous because I have to do my own thing and find my own path.”

Big Jim’s and the Steenbeke family would like to congratulate the entire

MERRIMACK VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2025

Go Pride!

And Special Congratulations to

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CLASS OF 2025 —- Saturday, June 28, 2025

Walker Steenbeke

MERRIMACK VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL

Merrimack Valley graduates throw their caps at the conclusion of the ceremony on June 7.

GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor staff

Shining their light

By YAA BAME

there are really similar colors in the album. And so I was like, ‘You know what? We’re going to make acqueline Pearl is in love with this work.’” her future and can’t wait to Pearl plans to pursue a career in meet her. barbering and esthetics and hopes The senior graduated on Saturday from Merrimack Valley High to open her own men’s salon one day. Her twin sister Chloe also decSchool, where she decorated her orated her cap – but as a cake – cap with those lyrics in rainbow holographic letters, surrounded by since she will attend Johnson and orange and yellow butterflies and Wales University to become a pastry maker. white and blue flower petals.

About 180 students dressed in “I’ve always been obsessed with navy blue caps and gowns sat in Billie Eilish, so I used the quote white plastic chairs in the center of from ‘My Future’,” said Pearl, rethe football field. Family members ferring to a part of the chorus of the 2020 song. “I just thought, our and friends occupied the bleachers, the tents and the grass to celebrate school is blue, gold, white, and

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CLASS OF 2025 — - Saturday, June 28, 2025

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their graduating seniors.

“From start to finish, the spirit of dedication helped us build a year that the Class of 2026 will certainly have a hard time beating,” senior class president Addyson Kimball said in her speech. “Congratulations, and thank you all for making this year special.”

Kimball gave her classmates a summary of the experiences they had gone through together – from freshman year, when students had to wear masks, to senior sunrise at Hampton Beach and a class-wide sleepover in the teacher parking lot.

U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan gave the commencement address, where

she focused on the importance of caring, not just for one’s own life but also for the community, country and democracy as a whole.

“All progress in our country has been made by people who cared, even when it was tough, even when caring seemed cringy – because they believed in a better future and were willing to work hard to make it happen,” said Hassan.

“The same way you all believed you could reach this field and work hard for four years at Merrimack Valley High.”

SEE MERRIMACK VALLEY PAGE 21

GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor staff photos

Merrimack Valley graduate Lenna Quiter reads off the accomplishments of the student body at the Saturday graduation on the athletic field.

Merrimack Valley graduate Lexi Ann Goley Class president Addyson Kimball raises her arms after waves to her family after receiving her diploma at the ceremony on June 7. receiving her diploma at the ceremony.

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In her speech, Hassan quoted poet Robert Frost to urge students to understand that “hope is not found in a way out, but in a way through.”

Abigail Ciarametaro, who gave a student address on looking ahead, also quoted Frost.

“When I read one of his poems, ‘The Road Not Taken,’ I was captivated by the following verse: ‘Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference,’” said Ciarametaro, whose favored Frost since seventh grade. “At the end of the day, my hope for you all today is to take your past years at Merrimack Valley High School and use what you learned about yourself to walk down your own path that is paved by your own unique experiences.”

Ciarametaro encouraged her classmates to be proud of themselves, while also not letting comparisons get the best of them.

“It’s important to hone in on your true self and appreciate all the hard work and dedication that brought you to not only here today, but will give you the everlasting push into the time ahead,” said Ciarametaro. “In the final analysis of life, there’s always going to be someone smarter, faster, or stronger, but never let that stop us from shining our light as bright as the sun.”

CLASS OF 2025 —- Saturday, June 28, 2025

MERRIMACK VALLEY FROM PAGE 20

PITTSFIELD MIDDLE HIGH SCHOOL

Flowers, farewells mark ceremony

By YAA BAME Monitor staff

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CLASS OF 2025 — - Saturday, June 28, 2025

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rom his wrist, Pittsfield salutatorian Evan Munoz dangled a burgundy coil key chain and an attached dog training clicker with a bright yellow button.

It was a gift from psychology teacher Amy Guimond that he received when he got the highest possible score in her class.

Guimond used the clicker in the course to exemplify conditioning – a psychological concept where one can be trained to exhibit a behavior upon receiving a specific stimulus.

She conditioned her students to respond to the sound of the dog clicker by raising their hand to give her a high five.

“I just passed that along as my reward for him for being the most excellent student in the class,” said Guimond. “And all of his awards from last night he’s wearing, and I noticed when he was giving his salutatory speech, under his sleeve, he was actually wearing the dog clicker, and it was a very meaningful thing for me to see that.”

Munoz received three medals at the senior awards Friday night and wore them to graduation. Since the clicker was also an award of sorts, Munoz decided to carry it.

“It feels final, I guess, probably because this diploma is so elegant.

It’s so well-crafted,” said Munoz, who will attend the University of New Hampshire and study mathematics and computer science. “It’s my reward for working hard from time to time across the past however many years, and it does feel rewarding.”

Congratulations Graduates!

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From the staff at Pittsfield Police Department

YAA BAME / Monitor staff photos

Evan Munoz, the salutatorian of Pittsfield Middle High School’s Class of 2025, addresses the audience and his classmates during their graduation ceremony on June 14.

The 32 graduates of the Class of 2025 sat neatly in three rows on the stage in the school’s gymnasium on Saturday morning while donning navy blue caps and gowns.

During the ceremony, the school prepared a special presentation where each graduating student received five white or red roses to distribute to those who played an impactful role in their lives.

Munoz was unable to give away all five flowers during the presentation so, after the ceremony, he dashed to the platform where some still remained, grabbed a red flower and offered it to Guimond.

“I love this kid. He’s the sweetest kid in the world,” said Guimond.

“And he’s going to do great things.”

Elise Berry, the valedictorian, addressed their journey to graduation and what lies ahead.

“To see you grow from the little kids I sometimes see when I look

back at old class photos, to the young men and women that you are right now, feels like something that I don’t even know how to put into words,” said Berry, a Pittsfield native. “You’ve all had an impact on me, no matter how large or small.

Seeing you all in your caps and gowns forces me to see the reality that we are no longer those young kids. It’s time for us to leave, and it’s time for us to grow.”

During her speech, Berry said that a couple of months ago, she was terrified about leaving Pittsfield.

Despite her fears of experiencing something new, she decided to overcome them by attending the University of Alaska Fairbanks in the fall.

“Don’t shy away from something just because you’ve never done it before,” she said. “So try new Munoz and his dual enrollment things, and I’m excited to see what psychology teacher, Amy Guimond, at the future holds for all of us.” the graduation on June 14.

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