Graduating Woodstock students urged to branch out into the unknown

Stephen Darling, of Barnard, blows his tassle in the air while waiting for Woodstock Union High School commencement to begin at Union Arena in Woodstock, Vt., on Friday, June 9, 2023. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

Stephen Darling, of Barnard, blows his tassle in the air while waiting for Woodstock Union High School commencement to begin at Union Arena in Woodstock, Vt., on Friday, June 9, 2023. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. James M. Patterson

Daphne McDermott, left, communicates with her uncle Erik Larsen, of Selkirk, N.Y., right, about the National Honor Society cord that she needs to wear during the Woodstock Union High School commencement, but forgot at home on Friday, June 9, 2023. Family members were able to bring her the cord before the start of the ceremony. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

Daphne McDermott, left, communicates with her uncle Erik Larsen, of Selkirk, N.Y., right, about the National Honor Society cord that she needs to wear during the Woodstock Union High School commencement, but forgot at home on Friday, June 9, 2023. Family members were able to bring her the cord before the start of the ceremony. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. James M. Patterson

Jeremy Perkins, left, and Jennifer Perkins, watch for their son Joss to pass by in the Woodstock Union High School commencement procession at Union Arena in Woodstock, Vt., on Friday, June 9, 2023. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

Jeremy Perkins, left, and Jennifer Perkins, watch for their son Joss to pass by in the Woodstock Union High School commencement procession at Union Arena in Woodstock, Vt., on Friday, June 9, 2023. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. James M. Patterson

Woodstock Union High School Valedictorian Isabel Konijnenberg discovers a missing page of her speech inside the podium during commencement at Union Arena in Woodstock, Vt., on Friday, June 9, 2023. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

Woodstock Union High School Valedictorian Isabel Konijnenberg discovers a missing page of her speech inside the podium during commencement at Union Arena in Woodstock, Vt., on Friday, June 9, 2023. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. James M. Patterson

Co-salutatorian Sam Leggett straightens his mortarboard in the reflection of the Union Arena glass before lining up for Woodstock Union High School commencement in Woodstock, Vt., on Friday, June 9, 2023. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

Co-salutatorian Sam Leggett straightens his mortarboard in the reflection of the Union Arena glass before lining up for Woodstock Union High School commencement in Woodstock, Vt., on Friday, June 9, 2023. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. James M. Patterson

By NORA DOYLE-BURR

Valley News Staff Writer

Published: 06-09-2023 9:05 PM

WOODSTOCK — Dressed in green robes inside Union Arena, 62 Woodstock Union High School seniors became graduates Friday night.

In their remarks, the class’s co-salutatorians used natural themes to encourage their fellow graduates to be like trees and to live in the moment.

“Trees don’t sit dormant questioning the meaning in life,” Co-Salutatorian Samuel Leggett said. “Instead, they simply reach out to the unknown realm of the sky.”

For her part, Co-Salutatorian Anne Hauze provided a list of things she doesn’t know much about, including being an adult or who she’ll be at her next graduation.

“The only thing I know is how to live in this moment,” Hauze said. “I only know that because I know how to breathe.”

Meanwhile, Valedictorian Isabel Konijnenberg encouraged graduates to rethink how they approach their goals and expectations for the future.

Since as early as preschool, Konijnenberg recalled, adults had been asking her what she wanted to be when she grew up. Her responses varied, from farmer to veterinarian to professional soccer player.

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But, she said, she had recently determined that they’d been asking the wrong question. Instead, she said she wants to know who she will be when she grows up. not what.

She urged her classmates to be kind and compassionate, to always put away their shopping carts, to see others and to wave at passing cars.

She said home is a place where people notice when you are not there, and she said she had found homes of many kinds while in high school, including on sports teams, at school and among friends.

“When I grow up, I want to be someone who creates home,” she said. “... I want to be someone who is undeniably present.”

The class’s artistic side was also on display at Friday’s event. Senior band members played “Come on Eileen” by Dexys Midnight Runners and a speakchorus performed “A Circle in Motion,” which included brief descriptions of each of their classmates. They lauded one for her “beautiful eyebrows.”

Class President Lily Gubbins said that during much of the past year she and her classmates have been focused on either the past or the future. But Friday night’s ceremony offered them the opportunity to share a moment to celebrate their accomplishments together.

“This day has been long-awaited,” she said.

One of the senior class advisers, Heather Vonada, used a quote from the 1986 film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” to encourage the graduates to focus on the moment: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while you could miss it.”

Woodstock Union High School Class of 2023

Jordan Lee Allard, Merrimack College, marketing and communications; Emma Halpin Allegretti, Villanova University, environmental studies and communication; Meghan Jennifer Bailey, gap year; Cody Edward Bartlett, Army National Guard; Austin Robert Bloch, Plymouth State University, business administration; Christopher Morrill Bradley, gap year; Jacob Jonathan Carey, college, exercise science; Nicholas William Champine, carpentry; Jared Lewis Clark; William Robert Coates, University of Vermont, business; Owen Michael Crossmon, Oregon State University, outdoor product design; Maya Cassidy Cully, University of Vermont, psychology; Stephen James Darling, CDL certification program; Ethan Derek Dean, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, mechanical engineering; Emma Mae Durney, working toward LNA certification and working at The Village; Audrey Eve Emery, University of Vermont, environmental science; Graham Brendan Farrington, landscape construction for ArborScape; Kali Lynn Filiault; Skylee Lauralai Gadapee, Savannah College of Art and Design, film & television; Joshua Dylan Garcia; Aryana Saje Gibson; Myeia Michelle Griffin, Vermont State University, applied Business and technology management; Lily Nicole Gubbins, St. Lawrence University, environmental studies; Cyrus Winter Harkins, Spring Brook Farm; Norah Elizabeth Harper, Saint Joseph’s University, biology; Anne Elizabeth Hauze, Swarthmore College, religion; Nathaniel Leo Hough; Daniel Varian Jones III, St. Lawrence University, business; Isabel Hetty Jacoba Konijnenberg, Williams College, biology and economics; Holden Jeremiah Larmie, Flint, Blake and Boles Roofing; Samuel Lewis Leggett, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, English; Luke Hudson Maxham, trade school for plumbing, working for St. Cyr Plumbing and Heating; Declan Rowan McCullough, University of Vermont, environmental science; Daphne Elizabeth McDermott, University of Vermont, studio art; Graeme C McKeon, Anna Maria College, sports management and recreation; Zedekiah Theodore Wood McNaughton, Hamilton College, undeclared; River Jordan Miles, University of Vermont, biochemistry; Emily Grace Miller, O’Brien’s Aveda Institute, cosmetology; Shelby Ann Miller, New England College, illustration; Andries Benjamin Morin, Vermont State University, electromechanical engineering; Dillon Estelle Moss, Virginia Commonwealth University, interior design/interior architecture; Natalie Rae Parent, Florida International University, education; Ethan Joseph Parker; Joss Gregory Perkins; Jack Peter Rasmussen, Project Search at Rutland Regional Medical Center; Cooper David Redmond, Rochester Institute of Technology, electrical engineering; Aidan David Francis Reed, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, biochemistry and biophysics; Corbin Alexander Richardson; Morghan Lee Robinson, work and animal care; Damon Xavier Rogers; Reece Thomas Sheehan, Champlain College, game design; Alec Norman Smail, Colorado College, political science; Rowan David Smail, Tufts University, biology; Daniel Paul Smith, Middlebury College, computer science; Logan Anthony Sudol, Pennsylvania State University, architecture; Oliver Fraser Szott, University of Vermont, computer science; Kyra Tarleton, online criminal justice course, work, travel; Hayden Scott Taylor, Vermont Technical College, construction management; Violet Lucy Tuckerman, University of Tampa, marketing; William Watson Underwood, University of Rhode Island, business; Ethan Daniel Westney, University of Vermont, business; Ariana H Winawer-Stein, University of Vermont, economics; and Forrest N Yeager, Ohio University, philosophy.