PEMBERTON HIGH SCHOOL

Graduates of Pemberton High Detail How They Overcame Challenges of Pandemic as ‘Underdogs’ by Maintaining Perseverance and Grace

By Douglas D. Melegari

Staff Writer

PEMBERTON—Co-salutatorian Rachel Hussmann, of Pemberton Township High School (PTHS)’s Class of 2023, had a wellreceived message for her peers graduating on June 19: “we are the underdogs” and “do not discount the underdog when the race is not over.”

Against the backdrop of a nearly twoyear shutdown of the high school during the graduating class’s freshman and sophomore years because of the Coronavirus pandemic, various commencement speakers, including the graduates themselves, described how “even in these times of seclusion, we persevered,” as Senior Class President Destinee Goodly put it this past Monday night.

“As we cross this stage, we are yet again stepping into uncharted territory and leaving the comfort of our homes, towns and schools behind,” further declared Class of 2023 Vice President Brianna Malave to the 272-member graduating class. “But this time we know that it is not impossible to find our way. We are not alone. We know that no matter how scary the world may seem, just like high school, if you search every classroom, seek every opportunity, make new connections and follow your dreams, you will see there is no mountain you can’t climb.”

Getting to this point, Malave acknowledged, “was not easy.” She described that she “had a plan for everything,” but now “I wish I could tell a 9th grade ‘Brianna’ nothing would go the way she planned.”

What was supposed to be a two-week break “turned into two years of our lives being turned upside down,” the graduating class vice president described, and “we faced different trials and tribulations: death, grief and losing ourselves in the darkest of times.”

However, arising from that experience, she said, “we also came together, found a way, and learned something new about ourselves and others.”

“We learned how to find the light in our lives and not just sympathize, but empathize with each other,” Malave declared. “Because now, we didn’t have to imagine that certain kind of pain because we lived it. We could all feel it.”

The senior class vice president recognized her goals and plans “changed a little bit” from when she first entered the doors of PTHS, before asserting, “I changed. We all have.”

“And that is how life is,” she added. “Life is not to forget your past and become a new version of yourself. Life is the reflection of all that is good, showing gratitude, appreciating your past and accepting that we are all human and life doesn’t always go as planned. We need to show grace not only with ourselves, but with one another.”

In further touching on the perseverance that led to the moment at hand, Goodly described that it was only when “we were a semester into this new adventure” of high school that “our world changed forever.”

“It spun on its axis, immediately shifting to Google Meets and drive-by birthday parties,” the senior class president said. “What began as a fun, little extension of spring break had turned into an episode of Black Mirror where everyone was trying to survive a virus, and even more strange, it kept evolving. Freshman year is supposed to be a time to find your footing, join clubs and create new bonds. I can wholeheartedly say not being able to socialize with each other affected us tremendously as a whole. Yet, even in these times of seclusion, we persevered.”

See PEMBERTON/ Page G11