DEERFIELD — Girls in white dresses and boys in suits grinned as they lined the sidewalk at Deerfield Academy, making way for a bagpiper and drum and fife ensemble to usher in the big day.
The drizzly Sunday was made brighter by the joyful spirits of graduating students and their proud parents, some of whom traveled far to watch their children close an important chapter in their life.
“Rain or shine, this day is golden,” said Jan Flaska, dean of spiritual and ethical life, who gave the invocation and led the crowd in prayer.
Kiana Noor Rawji, who traveled from Calgary, Alberta to attend Deerfield Academy, gave a bittersweet senior address to the audience, reflecting on the past four years she’d spent at the school.
She recalled sitting at Campf Becket four years ago, attempting to make conversation with her new classmates but worrying when the conversation fizzled.
“I’m never going to make any friends,” she recalled thinking.
But then, she told of how she began to blossom at the academy, making friends and succeeding in many ways.
She also told the audience that in Alberta, her friends were confused at the concept of why she would go to boarding school and they joked that she was going to Hogwarts.
“Even though Deerfield Academy isn’t Hogwarts, there is still magic here,” she said.