A new class of graduates

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:43:00 GMT

The first instinct Bridget Sargent had at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 20, was to hit the snooze button.

But then she remembered she had to graduate.

“Once I was awake, I was excited that it was graduation,” said Sargent, a Pembroke Academy senior from Allenstown.

Sargent and her friend Lynn Noonan worked together to make sure their sashes were straight and their caps were pinned on correctly. Both will attend the New Hampshire Technical Institute in Concord this fall.

All the graduating seniors were abuzz about future plans that morning.

Senior Kurtis Chesley is shipping off to Illinois in a few weeks for basic training. He is joining the Navy; Tyler Fritz will head to NHTI to study video game design.

Savannah Fitzpatrick, the senior class treasurer, is excited about attending Plymouth State University this fall, but was more focused on the speaking part she had to deliver in front of hundreds of family and friends who turned out for the graduation ceremony.

Fitzpatrick also presented awards to Pembroke Academy faculty.

“I’m nervous about speaking,” Fitzpatrick said before the program. “I feel like I was in first grade last week. These last four years have gone by so fast.”

More than 200 seniors received diplomas on the athletic fields of Pembroke Academy yesterday morning. The rain held off, and the grass was dry enough to set the picture- perfect backdrop for the ceremony.

“When I looked at her this morning, I thought that by the end of the day, she’ll be on her own,” said Donna Hall, mother of graduate Alex Hall, who will attend the University of Hartford in Connecticut.

“It’s gone by very quickly. We’ll definitely miss her, but we’re excited for the opportunities ahead,” she said.

Andrew Gosselin, father of senior Stephanie Gosselin, said there could not be a prouder parent on the athletic field yesterday.

“I know my daughter has a head on her shoulders above most others,” Gosselin said. “She’s graduating from Pembroke Academy in the top 10 percent of her class. She knows exactly who she is, and what she wants to be. It’s a very proud moment.”

West, Central and Memorial high schools also held graduations on June 20.

Grads urged to do good

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 16:35:00 GMT

BY SUSAN WARE

Pembroke Academy graduated 186 seniors during a ceremony on the school grounds on Saturday, June 16.

Senior class advisor Barbara Michaud gave a moving speech where she encouraged graduates to “get a life” by shunning material wealth and doing for others.

“If you don’t do good, doing well is not enough,” said Michaud.

Headmaster Michael Reardon promised the class that he would be brief and skip all of the graduation clichés. He encouraged them to look at Vietnam and the lessons we as a society learned there.

When he enlisted and was sent to Vietnam, he assumed that the administration that sent him there had done its homework.

“But who among us cannot be appalled that a mere 35 years after the conclusion of the Vietnam War, we are asking this sacrifice of another generation in a conflict about which our leaders – those, again, who, by definition, should know better – have not done the homework of answering the same questions that were not understood in Vietnam,” said Reardon.

He also told graduates the purpose of school was to cultivate their minds so they could compete in today’s global society. Quoting from author Thomas Friedman’s book, “The World Is Flat,” Reardon said every year, India and China graduate millions more from college than the United States.

“In other words, there are a lot more people in the world prepared to steal your lunch money than there are planning to blow us up, and if you think the correct response to that is to despise them or bomb them, then you’re not doing your homework,” he said. “We – all of us – need to use our minds and remain diligent and alert about our world and our place in it.”

Pembroke News : graduation

A new class of graduates

Grads urged to do good