By Owen Boss
Staff Writer
NORTHAMPTON - The hundreds of family members and friends of the 128 graduates in Hampshire Regional High School's Class of 2009 filled Smith College's John M. Green Hall Friday night to celebrate their accomplishments over the past four years and to prepare them for the changes the future holds.
The theme of the night, it seemed, focused on preparing the graduates for the uncertain world they are entering into and encouraging them to take chances in spite of adversity.
The students donned the school's tradition colors, boys wearing red caps and gowns and the girls in white, as they entered into the recital hall as high school students for the last time and stepped into the next stage of their lives.
While addressing his fellow students, Class Treasurer Thomas Alexander reminded graduating seniors that while the world of today may face a long list of problems, it will be up to their generation to come up with many of the solutions. And instilled in them a quote from Grace Murray Hopper, that "a boat in port is safe, but that is not what ships are built for."
"Do not waste your life away sitting in harbor and waiting for the storms to die down, go out and conquer the fierce winds and waves that are the challenges we face today," Alexander said. "In the words of Robert Herrick: Gather your rose buds while you may, old time is still a flying, and the same flower that smiles today, tomorrow will be dying. So go now, seize the day, seize your dreams, seize your hopes and seize the next stage of your lives."
Another speaker, Class Advisor Michael Braidman, told seniors that while it will be up to them whether or not they will make an impact on the world in the future, each one of them now has the tools necessary to do it.
"As your class adviser I want to leave you with some advice, there is a lot that is wrong with the world that we live in but it is the way it is because of the people who live in it," Braidman said. "Every individual has the power to change it and each of you can change it simply by the choices you make and how you live your life... Be the kind of person that you think the world needs more of and you will have made it a better place already."
The night's final speaker, Superintendent Barbara J. Ripa, used her chance at the podium to offer an optimistic look at the future and to remind students not to shy away from life's challenges.
"You are fortunate to be graduating in the year 2009, it is a time when the world is full of opportunity and challenge. There are new careers opening every day, careers that weren't even thought of just a few years ago, you can do wonderful things with your life," Ripa said. "Don't experience life from the sidelines. It was never meant to be a spectator sport. Jump in and give it your all."
She went on to say, "Graduates, today your life begins. Today you become citizens of the world, today you become grown ups, today you become accountable to someone other than yourselves or accountable to your grades, today you become accountable to the world, to the future and to the possibilities that life has to offer. Your job is to show up wide-eyed and willing, ready for anything and ready to take on life, to take on love, to take on responsibility and to take on possibility."
Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com
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