NORTHAMPTON — If you scanned the caps at the Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School graduation Thursday night, you would see a lot of designs on graduates’ mortar boards.
Some graduates pasted pictures and drew on them; others wrote messages. Aidalis R. Robles’ said: “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” Dylan A. Dextraze wore a cap with a United States Marine Corps emblem.
Gabrielle A. Petlock wrote this daunting yet thrilling message: “The rest is still unwritten.”
The 112 graduates heard from Principal Andrew Linkenhoker, Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz, board of trustees Chairman Michael Cahillane and Interim Superintendent Kevin Farr at the John M. Greene Hall on the Smith College campus Thursday.
Linkenhoker urged the students to stay active in their pursuit of knowledge.
“You need to continue challenging yourself,” he said.
Narkewicz told the graduates to “be involved” in wherever they may go.
“Be engaged,” he said. “Be involved. … Our nation needs young people like you to be part of your communities.”
He said teachers and staff deserved a round of applause — and so did parents and guardians.
“Mark Twain famously remarked that when he turned 21 he was amazed at how much his parents had learned since he was 14,” Narkewicz said. “Your parents, guardians and families have supported and loved you, and are deserving of your thanks.”
Graduates also heard from class leaders: Nicholas West, valedictorian; Shannon Ryan, class vice president; and Tomaz Oliveira, president.
West congratulated the graduates on leaving the schools and communities they knew in pursuit of training in a variety of different vocations.
“All together, we’re the Smith Voc class of 2017 — and we’re pretty lit.”
Ryan said some may not know what will happen next, “but as they say in the show ‘Gilmore Girls’: We are almost there and nowhere near it. All that matters is that we’re going.”
Oliveira talked about the time Jesse McDonald “wiped out a teacher with his backpack.” He mentioned when Jose Reyes tried to jump over a chair freshman year and “almost cracked open his head” and in 10th grade when the girls finally got their own soccer team and when the boys team made it to the playoffs for the first time since 2001.
“That’s the past,” he said. “Let’s talk about the real world coming at you right now. Some of us will go off to college; others will go straight into the workforce and others will join the military.
“No matter which path we take, there are always challenges ahead of us,” Oliveira said. “What I hope for each of you and for myself is that we always try to meet these challenges with our heads held high and our hearts wide open.”
Jack Suntrup can be reached at jsuntrup@gazettenet.com.