Lee High Graduates Told to 'Get Out There'By Tammy Daniels, iBerkshires Staff
09:04PM / Saturday, June 04, 2016 | |
Valedictorian Emily P. Donovan challenged her classmates to lose sleep and take chances. See more photos here.
LENOX, Mass. — The 60 graduates of Lee High School couldn't miss the message on Saturday afternoon: Get out and do something.
"Lose sleep, take those chances, do memorable things that stay with you forever and let go of unimportant things," valedictorian Emily P. Donovan told them from the stage of the Shed at Tanglewood. "Let go of that AP test or 12 that you failed. Let go of that ex-boyfriend or girlfriend. Let go of any mistakes you made along the way. Start this next chapter with a clean slate ...
"Go into the world filled with endless opportunities and create your own luck because luck is a result of skillful preparation."
Lee High School has prepared the graduates for this next chapter in their lives, through the support of their families and teachers, and especially because of each other, said Donovan, calling out classmates for those unique characteristics or habits that set them apart.
"We have survived it all together whether we were best friends, locker buddies or partners on a project: we did it together," she said. "We have always been a very close-knit class and that makes saying goodbye even harder ...
"I know we are fully capable of continuing with our success because in the words of fellow classmate Krystal Provost, we can make it."
But there is some trepidation on leaving the security of familiarity and friends, acknowledged Cayce J. Williams, the class salutatorian.
"We have spent the past four years with very little change," she said. "The thought of leaving the school I'd spent years attending did frighten me ... but we all need to leave at some point."
Coming from a such a small area, they were "destined to meet each other with the purpose of leaving an impact on Lee Middle and High School, and for the people within to do the same for us."
Williams urged her classmates to "save time for the little moments that we often take for granted."
"Nothing will seem too important if we live a life overwhelmed with dread awaiting the days that approach us," she said. "We need to chase after our dream jobs and discover passions previously unknown."
Samuel G. Polastri, purportedly the "best fisherman in Berkshire County" and the student body's selected speaker, also spoke of the closeness of the class and the building that was their "big social hangout" where they spent every day with each other.
"High school taught you to be yourself because if you're not, who are you?" he said. But the four-year "novel" they were writing was over in the blink of an eye.
"It has been an incredible journey the last four years and I'm never going to forget them," said Polastri. "Our novel has a sufficient ending but a new, bigger and more intersting novels begins: It is called life."
The graduates marched across the stage to receive their diplomas from Superintendent of Schools Alfred Skrocki, Principal Gregg Brighenti, Dean of Students Arthur Reilly, Lee School Committee Chairwoman Andrea Wadsworth and Tyringham School Committee Chairwoman Maureen Lenti.
The Lee High School graduation band performed "Pomp and Circumstance" and "The Star-Spangled Banner." Thomas J. Jordan led the Pledge of Allegiance and the Lee School Chorus sang "This is the Moment," accompanied by Patricia Feldman.
Class President Samantha Goyette passed the traditional ivy plant on to the next class, represented by Emma Bartini, president of the class of 2017. Goyette said the ivy is in remembrance of the plants the grew on the first public high school on High Street and "represents our continuing efforts to climb higher." Bartini accepted the ivy with thanks and a pledge that her class "will strive to continue and build on the traditions and values of Lee High School."
But for all the pomp there was a sizeable hole in this year's ceremonies. For the first time in 63 years, Henry T. Zukowski was absent from a graduation.
The former teacher and administrator died last October at the age of 90.
A Marine veteran of World war II and the Korean War, Zukowski came to Lee as a teacher in 1952. He became principal in 1985 and superintendent of the Lee-Tyringham-Otis School Union three years later, retiring in 1999. The new auditorium was named in his honor and he continued to coach for many years.
Zukowski was a constant at school events, and was named an honorary member of the class of 2010. In 2014, he presented a diploma to his great-granddaughter.
Principal Gregg Brighenti called for a Wildcat round of applause to celebrate the late Henry T. Zukowski.
"Generations will remember his kindness, dedication, and support," said Brighenti, who graduated from Lee High in 1990. The school had had moments of silence over the past few months, but today Brighenti asked the gathering to celebrate him with "the loudest Wildcat round of applause we have" and the Shed erupted with sustained applause.
Brighenti also asked for applause for the graduates for their hard work, their commitment to service and for, in some cases, passing by the skin of their teeth. "I thank you for the accuracy of your calculations," he said to laughter.
More seriously, he told them that no matter where they ended up to experience life. To debate another viewpoint, to look up at the vastness of the universe and feel humbled, to live in a large city and feel there was nothing they couldn't accomplish, and to dedicate a portion of their lives to helping others.
"Go all out in the things that you do, never hold back ... you will run into obstacles, you will fail from time to time and that's OK ... without mistakes and failures we don't grow and learn," he said. But if they ever felt overwhelmed, they can always come home to this special place.
"So get out there Wildcats and make the world more interesting because you are there," Brighenti charged them. "Do great things, be nice to others, live well, laugh a lot, and make us proud."
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