WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — High school generally takes four years to complete, but forgive the Class of 2022 if it felt a bit longer.
For the first time since 2019, Hartford High School’s graduates sat shoulder to shoulder Friday night in chairs on the football field — no need for social distancing, not a mask in sight — and celebrated with their similarly unencumbered families a night of joy that reflected their perseverance.
“I am confident that no one is going to get in the way of the Class of 2022,” Tom DeBalsi, Hartford’s superintendent of schools, told the 120 graduates and a throng of family and friends arranged in a horseshoe around them. He cited their “grit and moxie,” and noted that their efforts during the coronavirus pandemic had made them stronger and more compassionate.
The student speakers took up the same theme. The past two years have been hard, between the pandemic, a national reckoning on racial justice, post-election violence and the current war in Ukraine. But the graduates are more aware and more engaged as a result.
“Hollywood loves to make movies about high school,” class Salutatorian Holly Moore said. “I’m not sure who wrote the plot of the last three years,” she added. “That was rather sick and twisted of them.”
“The truth is, we’ve all been through hell, … but we’re all here,” she added.
Valedictorian Nora Knudsen sounded some of the same themes. It’s easy, she noted, to be upset and wish things were different. Instead, she’s kept a list over the past few years “of moments of pure happiness,” calling it her “best-ever list.”
A cone from the sadly defunct Newt’s Ice Cream or winning a spot in a state title game are unalloyed pleasures, she said, when the mind is uncluttered by other thoughts and joy can spill over.
“Were you with your friends? Were you outside? How did you feel?” Knudsen asked.
“I fully believe that this is one of the moments that we’ll want to carry with us,” she said.
For the first time in three years, the community was all together.
“We have to go forward, to where the bigger and brighter things are,” she said.
Class President Caroline Hamilton said she couldn’t think of what to say to her classmates until she completed a recent 10-day service trip to Puerto Rico, where she reconnected with classmates.
“I cannot stop thinking about how lucky I am,” she said, to be looking over the graduates and their guests given what they have been through together. They continued a music program even when they couldn’t play their instruments and had to sing with masks on. They started a debate team, put in hundreds of hours of community service and this year alone reached five state championship games.
“Take an extra second tonight to thank the people sitting next to you,” she told her fellow graduates. They made one another who they are today.
Bob Sherman, a member of the Class of 1972 who went on to a long career in radio, told the graduates that he got where he was by moving forward. He started at 16 as a sports stringer for the Valley News, writing one-paragraph summaries of games. At each subsequent step up, he repeated the refrain “I didn’t know I couldn’t do it,” and he carried on until he knew that he could do what needed to be done.
School officials presented awards, most of them already printed in the program. But the identity of the Phillip DuTremble Outstanding Honors Program Student, named for the former principal who created the honors program, was unknown. The award was bestowed upon Olivia Merrill, who spurred school officials to develop policies that would make the school more welcoming to transgender people.
A waxing moon hung over the football field’s press box as the sky cleared and the day darkened. The graduates received their diplomas and moved on to the next phase, needing all of that hard-won grit and moxie.
Alex Hanson can be reached at ahanson@vnews.com or 603-727-3207.
Daniel Adams; Christopher Akers; Jennifer Albert; Aliza Aldrich, Millersville University; Makenzie Arnold, employment; Noah Arsenault, Castleton University; Adam Ashline, Western Welding Academy; Kaetlynn Ashline; Jose Miguel Asis; Sharia Banks; Maximus Beaudine; Tia Beland, Community College of Vermont; Katherine Blood, Boston College; Aidan Boonyaharn; Andrew Boyce, UMass Amherst; Kalem Boynton; Najae Brooks, Gulf Coast State College; Kaedence Brower, Colby-Sawyer College; Daniel Brown; Kayla Burnham; Sebastyan Chase; Olivia Chase, University of New England; Liam Clark, Pace University; Haley Clough, University of Vermont; Cole Currier, River Valley Community College; Madisyn D’Amico, Appalachian State University; Bethany Davis, Castleton University; Elsie Davis, University of Vermont; Hailie DeFabiis; Zoe Delisle; Matthew Derosier; Elizabeth Dobrich, Drew University; Allaura Dunham, Community College of Vermont; Megan Duranceau, Ithaca College; Jordynn Ellison; Gracie Fortier; Katori Foster, travel Europe; Leah Foster, travel Europe; Alexis French, Florida Technical College; Liam Gallagher; Grace Gardner; Harrison Gaudet; Gunnar Gaudette, employment; Chase Goodwin, Caldwell Community College; Delaney Gross, Husson University; Caroline Hamilton, St. Lawrence University; Caleb Hammond; Jared Harrington; Madelyn Hennig; Sarah Howe, Keene State College; Sophie Howe, Saint Anselm College; Jenna Jasmin, University of New England; Chloe Jensen, UC- Santa Cruz; Memphis Johnston, employment; Jaiden Keefe; Avery Keener; Kailey Keener, Community College of Vermont; Sean Kelly, Vermont Technical College; Autumn Kimball, Northern Vermont University; Makayla Kimball, Southern Maine Community College; Nora Knudsen, Stanford University; Travis Leonard; Cean Lieberman, employment; Tyler Longley; Isabelle Lussier; Sean Lyons, Rochester Institute of Technology; Andrew Martin, employment; Trinity Martin; Alexander Mason; Emilee Mayotte, New England School of Hair Design; Olivia Merrill, Brandeis University; Ethan Michaels, Middlebury College; Cole Miller; Alexys Moffatt; Holly Moore, Bard College; Beau Morrell, Albany College of Pharmacy; Nickolas Newsome; Cayley North, Bentley University; Chase Pallmerine; Caleb Perry; Grace Pfenning; Seth Pfenning; Brandon Potter; Tarin Prior, Bridgton Academy; Katrina Quillia; Dylan Radicioni; Harry Ray, III; Julian Richardson, employment; Kaitlyn Ricker, employment; Jordan Riggs-Vire; Gabriella Rivera, Norwich University; Brianna Roberts; Charles Rose, employment; David Rule, North Bennet Street School; Sean Saewert; Jacob Seaver; Michael Shumway; Devon Sinclair; Simon Spaulding, Linemen Institute of Northeast; Owen Sprague, employment; Sierra Sumner, Anglo-American University; Erin Thompson; Issabella Trombley; Isabelle Vandenberg; Abigail Vanderpot, West Virginia University; Colin Vielleux, Norwich University; Ashleigh Wheeler, Castleton University; Sara White, Ithaca College; Michael Whitney, employment; Josh Willens; Gordon Willey; Georgia Winn, Emerson College; Madison Withington, University of Rhode Island; Royal Wood; Sheldon Wood; Emily Wright, Bentley University; and Eric Young.
