 class of 2022. Steven Dellinger paid U32's principal and I want to welcome parents, caregivers, grandparents, siblings, family, friends and everyone else who is joining us for viewing our ceremony. At this time I would ask that you stand if able, remove your hat for the singing of the national anthem by Tia Leno. Thank you Tia. So I hold a special place in my heart for this group of graduating seniors. We've faced many challenges together over the years and as I look at you today I see a group of strong, resilient and capable young adults. There are countless people to thank for their work to get you, our graduates, to this point in life. I particularly want to thank the wonderful staff at U32 who have worked with this graduating class to help them reach this milestone. Many of them are sitting over here to my left. Graduates, I also want to remember, want you to remember this community, the people here tonight and that you have come into contact with each and every day. This community has done what is necessary to keep us safe and healthy and I want to encourage each of our graduates to give back to that community that has supported you throughout your education. We want you to take the lessons learned in your time at U32 and to continue to build communities that are kind, supportive and inclusive. People will not remember what you say. I don't kid myself to think that you will remember one word of my speech three minutes from now but people will remember how you treated them. Treat people well and good things will happen. There are no doubts in my mind that the graduating class of 2022 is ready to fulfill the vision of U32. You have the passion, creativity and power to contribute to both our local and global communities. And so while here at U32 there are several groups of students who have helped us grow. I want to recognize a couple of those groups now. So students, those of you who are members of Seeking Social Justice, BLAM or GLAM, would you please stand at this moment? I commend you. You are the ones who rose the Black Lives Matter flag and the progress pride flags a symbol of our commitments to making all students feel welcome at U32. We also had a task force of students that helped us eliminate or try to eliminate sexual harassment at U32. So would the students of that task force please stand at this point? And then we had another group of students, the PEP Squad, that helped organize activities that bring us all together and build a stronger school spirit. So seniors, if you were a member of the PEP Squad, could you stand as well? And finally our seniors also gave time as mentors for younger students. You selflessly give your time to help others be successful. So if you were a mentor to a younger student in your time here at U32, would you stand to be recognized as well? Great, thank you for your service. And so at this time I would like to call Mindy Lecaire and take an O'Donnell up to present their class gift. Good evening. Our class is the 50th class of U32 to graduate and to celebrate that we had a plaque made for our school. And for those of you in the back who can't read it, it says celebrating 50 years from the class of 2022. Thank goodness it wasn't a heavier class gift. So as I stand at this podium now, I have a difficult time knowing what the future holds for you graduates. What I can see is that there are opportunities. Take hold of each of those opportunities, make them your own and strive for excellence. Remember what you've learned during the last several years both in and out of the classroom. U32 and the Greater Central Vermont community has prepared your well for your next challenge. The entire faculty and staff of U32 is proud of you and we wish you the best as you embark on your next challenge. Congratulations to the graduating class of 2022. At this time I would like to invite our interim superintendent, Jen Miller Arseneau to come up and give a few words. Good evening U32 graduates. Research clearly indicates that express gratitude supports increased happiness and better health outcomes in ourselves and in our communities. Intentionally practicing gratitude helps people feel happier by increasing positive recall, boosts immunity and heart health by calming the nervous system and creates stronger connections by improving communication. Psychology professor Robert Emmons defines gratitude as having two parts. The first part is an affirmation of goodness and the second part is the recognition that the source of that goodness lies outside of oneself. I purport that cultivating a stance of gratitude is harder and even more vital in challenging and uncertain times and you, the class of 2022, have encountered plenty of challenges and uncertainty during your high school years in particular. Tonight I want to thank you, the class of 2022 for your hard work, your perseverance and your creativity. I'm grateful for your advocacy and your willingness to serve as engaged and willing partners who are committed to making U32 a stronger and safer community for everyone. You are leaving an indelible mark on this community and I am so grateful to you. Many people, especially those gathered here this evening to celebrate this milestone, have supported you along your journey. I encourage you to cultivate your stance of gratitude starting tonight by thanking those in this space who've contributed to your success and achievements thus far. You will be happier and healthier for having done so and so will our greater school community. Thank you and congratulations. Thank you, Jen. At this time, I would like to invite our student speaker up to the stand, Genevieve Evie Moore. Please come on up. A couple of years ago, my mom presented me with a photo. The corners were water damaged and it was well wrinkled, but in the middle of it was a younger version of myself. My choppy bangs hadn't grown out yet. My backpack was halfway visible, clutched tightly to me and a sideways grin stretched across my face. All that was visible in the background was the wavy metallic interior of the bus. Well, don't you remember when this is from? She asked. Of course I didn't remember, as is typical when this kind of question is posed to any person. It turned out that the neighbor's son had taken the photo on an old camera during the bus ride to my first day of school. The photo had been developed long ago, but had only been recently recovered. The biggest flaw of growing up is being told what to remember or believe. When we're young, we're told to savor our childhood and never take it for granted to cling to it with fondness. However, the truth is most of us don't remember the moments we're begged to hold onto. I don't remember the context for the kid taking my photo, how the seat felt, or why I had a death grip on my backpack on the bus ride, because they weren't pivotal to my first day of school. What mattered most about the day was the people I met at school and so that is the image I retained. This is what is so special about the individual. We are gifted with the innate ability of perspective from the second we are born. What I remember from my first day here to my last is different from what any of you remember or will remember because we are all different people. As we mature, we continue to make our own paths as we learn who we are. We may diverge from the paths that we followed for a long time, sometimes we reject them completely, other times we may modify them to meet our needs. When we build the road to who we are, to who we want to be, it changes so much. It is therefore no wonder when we look back, we cannot always remember the checkpoints and hard work it took to get here. Every stone you turned or brick you laid may not be worth the long-term recognition or a photo. It is certainly part of what shaped you, but if we hold on to everything, we will forget to continue to lay those stones and bricks along the path ahead of us. You, me, we, the class of 2022 are here today because we've hit a checkpoint. This is the time when many of our paths will no longer intersect. Some of you have known what you will do since your first bus ride. Others have no idea what they're going to do next week. Regardless, you will all continue to change and grow. From our largest differences to the smallest disagreements, all of you have become the incredible individuals I see out here tonight. Be proud of how far you've come, how hard you've worked, how much you've all endured to get here. Your successes, your memory, your structure may not have looked like your peers, but they were never meant to be measured against anyone but yourself. It was a difficult high school experience. We often felt tested not just by our teachers or our peers, but by ourselves. We became adults behind masks and computer screens. We didn't make all the traditional memories of high schoolers. I'm not fond of thinking back to all the virtual lectures I attended, canvas dilemmas I faced, or emails that got lost. Some people will say that this is only terrible and regrettable. They gladly will never look back to the bricks or stones that got laid during that time period. These memories are eagerly replaced by shiny new ones. However, they are still a part of you and there is still beauty in them. You may have started a new hobby or picked back up an old one, reconnected with friends, or finally moved on from those it wasn't working out with. You may have learned new things about yourself or taken the time to polish things you were already aware of. Each and everything you did was something that brought you here today. When we did come back, we continued to learn about our peers, to stand up for our values, to define or redefine ourselves. Things have not been perfect, but they have made you all even stronger. This is the end, but it is also the beginning. The future stretches infinitely in front of you with so many question marks and so much undiscovered terrain. Continue to find yourselves, to pursue your interests and hobbies, to meet new people akin to you and to hold on to those you have already found. You all graduate today, not only as one of the most COVID impacted classes, but also as strong young adults in a tumultuous time. Your individual gift of perspective matters most. Stand up for what you believe in. Support others even when you cannot speak to an issue. Do not go unheard, but never silence or step on others to get your way. You have the responsibility to respect everyone, no matter how different from them you may be. You will never be done learning, so do not shut yourself off to things and people as they come. For every moment that brought you here, for every moment now, for every moment that stretches out before you, never stop being willing to grow. As we all head out into the world in the years that follow, continue to take things as they come, celebrate your successes, push through your failures, and cherish most what matters to you. Thank you, Evie. At this time, I would like to invite forward Agnes Marie Polk to introduce our guest speaker for this evening. He is a man we all know and love. He has helped so many of us through some of our most trying times, known as 10th grade geometry, and even helped some of us go on to be absolute wizards in math. His sense of humor and his kindness has reached far and wide across our grade. On behalf of the senior class, I would like to invite Drew Junkins of the podium. When I got asked to do this speech, I instantly thought, why do they want to hear from a speech from a 27-year-old? I was sitting at my own high school graduation only 10 years ago. Have I really gone through enough to even give them a bit of advice? When I think of people giving speeches, I think of people with inspiring stories and how they overcame dramatic obstacles, and were able to make huge changes in the world. As a young, single remoner, whose parents have stayed together his whole life, what could I possibly give them for advice? Besides, make sure you know how to do your laundry before you leave home. Make sure you don't forget your keys, wallet, phone before you leave the house or dorm. So, I was golfing one day with a guy some of you may know, Jim Willis. Jim has done a speech here before at U32. I asked him for some pointers and told him I didn't plan on bringing toilet paper to this graduation. He said, make sure to be real with them. Life is not all roses. It will not be easy. There will be challenges. So, I thought of two people I look up to most, who I know went through the ringer in life, my parents. My dad grew up in a small town up in northern Maine. When I say small town, I mean about 75 people living there. He grew up with his three brothers and his parents in a two-bedroom house with no running water in an outhouse. He went to school at a one-room schoolhouse. This school serviced about 15 kids from grades first to eighth grade. On the way home from school, it wasn't on common for kids to bring their shotguns to go blast a partridge for dinner. My dad is very proud of the first bird he got when he was four. When he shot that 16 gauge, it kicked him right off the stump that he was standing on. When he got back up, there was dinner. This definitely was not the normal childhood experience. Along with school, my dad and his brothers worked on the family dairy farm. They started out with feeding the calves before school and then cleaning the barn for two hours after school. When the summers and weekends would come, so would they to 10-hour workdays. Once in sixth grade, my dad encountered one of the most devastating events in his life. His older brother was crushed by a load of wood pulp. While the family mourned a bit, there still had to be work done on the farm. However, his dad was never the same after that tragic day. Dad continued his schooling through high school and became the first one of his family to go to college. So he literally traded in his horse to get a car to drive to college. He moved to the University of Maine in Orno, leaving his girlfriend back at home. It is there where my dad studied animal science. In order to support his new family and pay for his education, he worked work study jobs and at the car garage. Because he had to work over 40 hours a week, he had to be selective of which classes he skipped. Yet again, life threw another swing at my dad. During his freshman year of college, his father unexpectedly died due to a heart issue. Dad then debated on if he should drop out and work on the farm full time, but his family encouraged him to stay in school and finish his degree. Along with the passing of his father, another wrench was thrown into his plans. Now guys, if you can get the connection later on in my speech, you get some points. The decision to stay in school is made so that my dad could continue to meet with his biggest mentors, Dr. Sniffen and Dr. Hoover. They engaged my father with academics, saw his work in the lab and told him he should be their lab technician. My dad completed his degree and continued to work at the university. Then Dr. Hoover got a job at West Virginia University. He asked my dad to uproot his family and join him there. Well, my dad took that risk and it helped lead him to his passion of helping people. At WVU, he got his master's in animal nutrition. He used that degree to work multiple jobs involving the farm industry. The job I personally got to see him happiest at was the Vermont Dairy Systems Coordinator. It was this job that he was able to do what he had a passion for, problem solving and helping people. He would go to farms all over the state to help them with their milk production, herd health and age smaller farms to be more competitive. He had this job from when I was about in middle school to sometime in college. He would then work long 10 to 12-hour days. But this was something he enjoyed. If you know my dad, which I doubt you do, but maybe I'm a bit like this, he loves telling stories and listening to them. These stories would serve as a break as he worked. Looking back on his snapshots of life, he would give the advice of, find something you want to do. You better go to work doing the thing you love and take some time to have fun. As he looks back on his past, he wishes he was able to take more time to have fun before he constantly worked. Well, you just got some advice from a farmer who grew up in the Boonies of Maine that was able to find his passion of helping people. Now it's time to learn about another one of the strongest people I know, my dad's partner in crime for 50 years of marriage and my mother. Who is my mother? My mom grew up just a town away over from my dad. She had all the amenities. Her house had running water and a bathroom. Her school house had two whole rooms and a couple of teachers. You might think she lived a luxurious life compared to my dad, but that's not the case. At school she was picked on because she wore glasses and had a lazy eye. However, my mother was extremely gifted with intelligence. When she was five years old, her teacher commented on how good of a memory she had for she remembered the whole newspaper her parents read to her that morning. Well, her parents didn't read her that newspaper. She read it, all the stories, at five years old. With her extreme intellect and luck of being in a two-room school house, she was able to learn things about her parents. She found her own students who struggled in school and teaching them on her own. At that school she met one of her role moms, her third grade teacher. She was in awe of how engaging her teacher was. My mother was always on the edge of her seat. The teacher taught them reading, math, and even good all-square dancing. This woman showed the spectacular multifaceted a woman could be. Even with the teasing, elementary school still proved to be a place where my mother could find joy and excitement. It was her escape, her escape from her hellscape of a home life. Her parents constantly argued, loud, intense fights. Her dad was an alcoholic and worked away from home for many days at a time. Even with his flaws, at least he showed my mom love. My mother's mom, on the other hand, was incapable of that. Whenever she had enough of my mom in the house, she would take her and drop her off at someone else's. There was many times my mom did not know these cousins or family members. One time her mom took her and dropped her off at a cousin's house in New Hampshire. Thank you. She was left there for at least three months and even started school there. One day, start for love, my mom decided to run away. She ran and hid not too far away from home. She was hoping someone would come looking for her. She was looking for someone to yell for her. She was hoping for someone to show her love. She waited until she was tired of waiting. Even with this attempt to go missing and have at least someone notice, no one came to rescue her. This left her feeling unwanted, rejected, worthless. Ways my mom would cope with this was reading and playing sports. She was rough and tough and was good at nearly every sport she played as a kid. This made her feel wanted and worth something. She also would find escape through reading. The many stories she would read, the adventures and hopes and dreams, these gave her something to strive for. Once my mom reached high school, things actually turned around a little bit. This building had multiple rooms, way more than two. She was able to take advanced classes with peers and started to find her spot. She of course got straight A's all through high school, a far cry from me. Her senior year, she became student council president and was able to be so progressive that she changed the dress code for the school, allowing female students to be able to wear pants instead of dresses. You guys saw the dress code here sucked. My mother was also in the yearbook club and was awarded several super relatives, like class clown. Not only was she crushing in school, she met someone on her bus rides, some farm boy from a small town of Oxbow who was just a year above her. When I asked her how things evolved from talking on the bus to a relationship, she said, you know, I have no idea. I guess my dad went for the long discreet game as opposed to the flashy stuff. Later in her senior year, a high school of, and later in her senior year of high school, a life changing moment happened. She became pregnant with my brother. This threw a wrench into her plans. There's the connection, guys. Come on. Before the pregnancy, she was able to receive loads of scholarships for her top school of University of Maine. She didn't know of many other schools. She was top 10 in her class. However, with the news of the baby on the way, she had to change her plans. Her and my dad got married in 1971. She then moved up to Orno with my dad and had my brother. There while my dad was still in school, she stayed at home with my brother. After a year went by, she then applied for school and got into UMaine, but she didn't have the scholarship she had before. Even with having a son and paying her own way through college, she was able to graduate with a double major in elementary and special education along with a minor in psychology. Again, a really kick-ass person. Her and my dad then moved to West Virginia. In typical fashion of a big move, my mom was pregnant again with my sister. After she had my sister, she got her first special education job in a self-contained class for kids who experienced trauma. She fell in love with this. She wanted to make these students feel loved, wanted, and worthy. Then her and my dad moved to New Hampshire and she found more work supporting kids who experienced trauma. She even started her own program at junior high school for students of this demographic. She worked there for nine years, and as life was about to change, she had me. After I was born, we all moved to Vermont, where my mom worked at a school in Middlebury called Mary Hogan Elementary School. She worked there and ran the success center, another program for children who experienced trauma for more than 20 years. In total, she worked with countless children who struggled through the same turmoil as she did as a kid, and she did this for 35 years. So what does a warrior of a woman who gave birth in three different stays have for advice? If you believe it, you can be it. Don't settle and have confidence in yourself. Both of my parents said they were proud of 50 years of marriage when no one believed we could make it, earning what we got in our kids. Our kids echoed in my head. Then I made a connection that I, as well as all my siblings, have gone through with their advice. Have fun, have confidence, believe in yourself, find something you want to do and love. Now I will follow my parents' advice once more and share one more narrative. That narrative will be about a boy who grew up with his own set of challenges, overcame them, and found confidence as well as things he is proud of. That person is me. At two years old, I was off socializing with some of my peers, one of them who is still one of my best friends to this day. Well, my mom hadn't really seen me hang out with kids that were my age, and she noticed that they were way further ahead of me in speaking. While my parents could understand what I was saying because they were around me so much, other adults couldn't. So at three, I was evaluated by a team and determined to be behind in speech and find motor skills. So not only could I not pronounce words, but I couldn't walk right or hold things strongly. To put in a layman's terms of the list of things that were going on, first, I could not process correctly what people were saying. So even though I thought I was saying them correctly, I was not. Second, my coordination was a lot whack. There, my muscles were stretched so much that they weren't as tight and strong as they should have been. So what a trio of things to have as a young boy growing up trying to make friends. So I was put on an IEP. This IEP involves extensive interventions and pullouts out of the classroom. I was constantly having to learn how to say beginnings and endings of words like th and sh and ed and the dreaded sp. Along with that, I learned how to hold a pencil. I went through several different iterations of grippies for the pencils like the triangle grip or the indented rectangular prism. There's a math thing for you. And the bumpy grips. It was so, it was a slow process, but soon I began to find my own way to hold a pencil. Not only did I spend an hour or so a day out of the general classroom for that, I had a second PE. This second PE though was not as fun as the first. There wasn't as many games as I enjoyed. I loved them because I was actually pretty fast. This PE was to learn how to better control our bodies and build up strength. With all these pullouts, I was missing class time. This caused me to fall behind in topics of study like math, writing, screw cursive, and spelling. I absolutely hate spelling. The speech thing definitely doesn't help with spelling. So I saw myself struggling in these compared to my peers. I was aware of this at a young age and that began to make me feel dumb and have low confidence. The good thing though was I was a social butterfly telling stories like my dad and jokes like my mom. Well, as I got older in elementary school, I did have a good amount of friends. I also got better at speaking. However, my lisp still stuck around. Can we take a second to acknowledge how the chosen words to describe speech difficulty are? Lisp? Are you kidding me? That's a tough word to say. Speech? Yeah, that's also pretty tough. Like, couldn't we have chosen easier words? Like, I don't know, talking trouble or like tuba? I don't know, something easy. Anyways, some people would bring it up and all the confidence I gained by making friends would drop. In my mind, I wasn't like my peers. I was below them. I wasn't smart. Then came sixth grade and a new kid named Sam came. He joined our friend group and seemed decently cool. However, soon he started calling me drusy. He really made sure I heard the wussy of it. I didn't like that very much. Then in an attempt of dominance over me, he tried to take my hat. Well, Kenny Rogers once sang a song about enough being enough. And even though this was not the same amplitude as the issues going on in that song, the kind laid back drew had enough. So after a fight where I don't believe there was a true winner, even though my friends say I won and I kept those friends, Sam and I were suspended for a day. Now my mother would not condone violence. She was an intellect. So when the principal made me call my own mother to tell her what I did, I was scared out of my mind. I called her in tears, waiting to hear her berate me with her stern words. She calmly said, it is okay. You will be fine. Let me pick you up. I went home. No trouble. I got to play Star Wars Battlefront on my PS2. What the heck is going on? Later on, she told me about how she was proud that I stood up for myself. And even though it wasn't the best way for someone to handle conflict, it wasn't all wrong. When I moved to middle school, I had a 504 attached to my name. It stressed that I easily tired and would need a scribe as well as extra time to complete assignments. Sadly at that time, students weren't as accepting as they are now. I knew that, so I declined the assistance of my 504. When people asked if my hand was tired from writing as a grip of my sore hand, I would say no. Can I write for you? No. Looking back, was this the right decision for my education? I don't know. But for me personally to prove to people as well as myself that I could do things by myself, like my peers, it felt right at the time. So comes high school. Remember that other ailment of coordination strength? Well, I decided to play football. Now I'm not going to go into great detail in my glory days, but that sport did give me confidence. When I felt a little bit of success on the field, it made me want to work harder. I saw growth and when I saw it, I was getting better at the sport. I was pretty proud. I was determined to be good at sport of strength and grit. Then in one practice, my junior year, another thing was said to me that turned to switch. A couple of players noticed I was having trouble looking them in the eye when I talked. Another confidence thing that somebody who has trouble speaking has. Then they said, does your dad beat the shit out of you? And that's why you can't look a man in the face. Even now, my blood boils when I think about it. Of course, they were just busting my chops. But to say something like that about my loving father was not okay. This time though, I held in my rage and I used it. I worked even harder in practice and I definitely went game speed on those two fools. The following year, that extra motivation fueled me to achieve multiple individual honors and helped our team make the playoffs. The previous two years, we only won one game. We kind of sucked. I also make more of an effort to look people in the eye when I speak to them. So even though in my mind, it was an awful thing to say, I faced it head on and made a better version of myself. Along with those moments of self growth and challenges, I had other bumps and bruises in life to help shape me into who I am today. I've dealt with my dad's heart problems. Yeah, it runs in the family. Lucky me. Losing friends due to illness and tragedy. Being a mediator in my family's battle with the aftermath of my brother's drug addiction. Deciding to move back to Vermont after my freshman year of college because my mom's chronic illness popped up as well as my dad developing cancer. Having a seven-year relationship end in being cheated on and lied to. And having my uncle, who was like a grandfather to me, died this year from cancer. I have also had many positive moments of growth, like making the Dean's List multiple times throughout college. Realizing my dream to become a teacher through helping underprivileged kids feel valued at summer camp. Earning a scholarship that basically paid for my grad school. Letting a job here at U32. Experiencing amazing things with my friends and family, colleagues and students. I've used all these snapshots for my, my parents, my friends, my colleagues, my students' lives to help me grow as a person. Some are easy to flip to, easy to talk about, use multiple times. Others are tough to dig up, hard to share, but are still there to make this album of life. So now is my turn to give you advice, class of 2022. First, make space for yourself to feel important. You all have gone through challenges that have made you into who you are. You deserve to feel important, wanted and valued. Second, gain that confidence. Yes, you are going to hit roadblocks, rough patches, mean people, but you can handle it. Third, have some fun. Now when I say that, I want to make sure that you will be safe. Do not be dumb. But please explore the world, enjoy the company of friends and family. Share your snapshots of your lives with each other. This will bring you laughter, happiness, tears, healing, and much more. Class of 2022, you have left quite an impression on the school, this community, and me. You have shown how to become comfortable in your own skin. You have had difficult conversations with peers and adults to help promote growth for the better. You have promoted school spirit and joy. You have given me sayings like hydrate before you die, and roll union. That's for you, Josh. Now, go on and spread all the amazing stuff you have done here with our community, with other communities. Go do your best and do something big. In closing, I prepare to perform my graduation song, float on by Bondis Mouse. I'm just kidding, I wouldn't do that. I don't have that type of talent. But I can quote the song to you and do it with a little bit of rhythm. So, here's a quote from that song. All righty, we'll all float on. No, don't you worry. We'll all float on now. All right. Thank you guys and good luck. Good evening. Buenos noches. As a school board member, as a member of the community, as a Washington Central alum, and as a proud parent, I want to express our community's appreciation for each and every one of you, our appreciation for your talents, your skills and abilities, our appreciation for what you brought to our school community and what you learned and how you grew during your time here. We appreciate you for your struggles and your successes, what you have achieved, and what you hope to do next. We appreciate you for just being who you are, a member of our community and one of us. Whatever happens next and wherever you end up, whether you settle here in Vermont or move elsewhere, or maybe you leave for a time and then come back, that's a good one. I recommend that one. Wherever and whatever your next stops are, please know that there are people here in this community who appreciate you and that you are loved. The Gahagan Award was created in 2000 in honor of Jackie Gahagan, who is a teacher and associate principal of U32 from 1971 when the doors first opened until 2000. Jackie believed that this school called on its students to be caring, involved people willing to contribute to the betterment of the school by supporting and reaching out to others while developing their own personal sense of self. We present the Gahagan Award each year to that graduating senior who best exemplifies the true spirit and soul of U32. Each year the actual Gahagan Award, a gift to the recipient, varies, intended to be a very special gift that also recognized the extraordinary talent of a U32 student. The award itself is a piece of art created by a U32 student, artist, or woodworker. Our artist this year is Abigail Abby Brown. We chose her work from pottery as the gift of this year's awardee. Abby is a thoughtful and meticulous artist and student. Her art is bright and energizing even when taking on complex and sometimes difficult topics in her work. Abby takes things seriously and still finds way to bring humor to her work. Another strong quality about Abby is the intensity of her convictions. She questions everything, doesn't make its words, and is strong in her answers. One of her teachers said, when Abby gives a compliment it means a lot because she isn't just shoveling them out. Each graduating class is given the words that they wrote to themselves when they began in seventh grade. Abby's words to herself were spot on, which just demonstrates a tenacious and steadfast commitment to who she is. We thank Abby for creating such wonderful artwork and we wish her the best as she attends Rochester Institute of Technology in her journey to become an interpreter for the deaf and hard of hearing. Abby would you please come up. It is our pleasure and my honor to award the 2002 Gahagan Award to Allie Marie Guthrie. Congratulations. Just stay right here. I will begin with some individual comments about Allie from those who know her. Allie is personable, cheerful, and willing to give her best effort in class all class activities. She's a real leader in the classroom and her presence inspires others to do their best. Allie is among the kindest, hardest working students with whom I've had the privilege to work. Academic work has not always been easy for her, but her attitude is always, okay, I'll go do it. She puts in the time, she puts in the work, and she does it with a smile on her face. In TA, she is a student I can count on for a kind word. When people do poorly, she is slow with criticism. When people are struggling, she is quick with encouragement. She helps bring out the best in others just by being in the room. Allie is a natural leader. She leads by example seeking to listen and understand. She leads by demonstrating kindness first. Those who get the opportunity to meet this young person will immediately recognize why she is a three sport athletic captain to her teams. She communicates effectively and works well with others. I find it difficult to put into words, but Allie fills the void. Whatever is needed, she is right there to put people at ease and get things done. I will not forget when students broke up into groups of two or three. There was a student with whom no one moved towards. Allie just got up, took her chair, and went to work with that student. Feeling the void again to make sure everyone is included. Love this kid. From the pinning of her sea, Allie excelled at the leadership role of captain. Many athletes are presented with the role of captain, yet few take on the role with such enthusiasm, pride, grace, and sportsmanship. Allie gravitates towards positive outcomes and others naturally follow. With those efforts, she attained the respect early on of not only her teammates but her peers, coaches, and others outside the hockey arena. As a coach, it's always encouraging and refreshing when you have a player with such courage and a genuine desire to not only see herself succeed but others succeed as well. Allie is leaving behind a legacy of what it genuinely means to wear the sea and the Raider jersey. An individual I was proud to coach and watch and grow as a player and a person. Allie Guthrie is an extraordinary student, one that represents U32 as a whole. As an athlete, a learner, and a spirited leader, Allie puts her whole heart into everything she does. We wish you all the best of luck as you head off to the University of Rhode Island next year. Congratulations Allie, you truly exemplify the spirit and soul of U32. All right, congratulations Allie. At this time, I would like to invite Kari Bradley, the WCUUSD school board vice chair and Jen Miller Arsenal, interim superintendent to the stage. And I would like to invite Grace Moustakis and Tova Williams to receive their diplomas as they will be reading the names of the students who will be receiving their diplomas after this. I would also like to invite teacher advisor David Powelson to the stage and our first graduate of 2022, Grace Elaine Moustakis. Tova Nicole Williams. I'd like to welcome teacher advisor David Bezos to the stage. Madison Dayell. Alden T. Fitz. Caden Bryce Jiroux. Colby S. Lapeurle. Esther Linnea Mackey. Page Madison Lee Mori. Emma Catherine Neff. Cree Robert Potlin. Addison Michael Peru. Joshua Ty Roland. I'd like to welcome teacher advisor Beatrice David to the stage. Aila Jane Bodak Turner. Katrina Chaney. Jacob Grant Fair. Lacey Simone Green. Ian Lee Holmgren. Kimberly Audrey Krull. Evan James Levine. Jackson Richard Scribner. Elvin J. Stowell. Mia Michelle Tangway. Kestrel Nora Wyant. Please welcome school board member Mikaelyn LeClaire to the stage. I'd also like to welcome teacher advisor J.B. Hilferty to the stage. Kaylee Amato. Carson B. Beard. John Henry Bealing. Anderson Riley Boyd. Bance A. Bradbury. Dylan Benton Lutz. Lily Ann Mahoney. Nadia Tess Genara McAllister. Elizabeth Brooke Wilson. I'd like to welcome teacher advisor Margaret Keyes to the stage. Sean Daniel Butler. Maxwell Carlos Clark. Samuel Gavin Clark. Lowell J. Devereville. Anna Sophia Farber. Magara Blue Deer Gomez. Ivy Ann Hines. Jessica Hines, Berlin school counselor is joining Ivy on stage. Sean Michael Mercer. Quinn Hastings only. Monarch Sultanel. Rebecca May Thayer. Please welcome school board member Jonas N. Ovan Fleet to the stage. I'd like to welcome teacher advisor Amy Koningbara to the stage. Michael Galen Abel. Madison A. Babbick. Jacob Matthew Bracoli-Lengua joined by Arlen Bracoli, the Eastmont Pillar Library Tech integrationist. Bill Everett Humkey. Eleguin Ann Johnson. Mark Y. M. Meehan. Riley Joseph Richards. I'd like to welcome teacher advisor Sue Agubene to the stage. Austin A. Beard. Elena Lexi Boregaard joined by Carolyn Boregaard, Calis Food Surveys agent. Atticus Core. Duncan Kehoe Latimore. Talia Mae McDougal. Cora Gwendolyn Lee McMahon. Jacob R. Olson. Samantha F. Cisley. Lauren Mary Town who is joined by Steve Town U32 PE teacher. Please welcome school board member Vera Frazier to the stage. I'd also like to welcome teacher advisor Mitch Pauley to the stage. Isabel Coates. Tom Hannon. Charles William Haynes. Rose Lino. Kari E. McKinstree. John Allen Meckleson joined by a U32 paraeducator Laurie Meckleson. Gillian Louise Smoller. Caleb Jeffrey Chorombly. Gavin Burton Young joined by Amy Young, the Berlin Library Tech and Integrationist. I'd like to welcome teacher advisor Brittany Perry to the stage. Madison Pauline Byrd. Mallie Ann Dupree. Cole George Dyer. Kaylee Heading. Maeve McFadden Hofford. Olivia Jo Hogan. Sophia Grace Cotecase Cummings. Arthur Neeland LaRose. Zevi Schwartz. Please welcome school board member Jonathan Goddard to the stage along with teacher advisor David Paulson. Silas Michael Beatty. Abigail Lee Brown. Anthony Earl Conchesi. Eva Helena Goodwin. Marie Guthrie. Shane Andrew Irish. Jaden N. Carr. James Kennedy. Jacob Lane. Teagan Shay O'Donnell. Bodie James Puglisi. Peyton Elizabeth Smith. Unfortunately, teacher advisor Cara Rosenberg isn't able to be here tonight, so I'd like to welcome Sarah Valinsky as backup TA advisor. Sam Bergeron. Cameron Leon Comstock. Joseph Alonzo Fleabot. Emily E. Hunt. Madison Lorraine Landrian. George Lane. Caroline Michelle Murray. Garrett Allen Pease. Riley Mae Reed. Isabel Simone Serrano. Trevor Alexander Woods. Please welcome to the stage school board member Lindy Johnson along with teacher advisor Georgia Roy. Hannah Mae Darby. Wilder Azul Gluck. Elijah Joseph Hankins. John Hansen. Carter Kenneth Hoffman. Melinda Jamie Lecaire. A. H. Pembroke. Morgan Diane Ribellini. I'd like to welcome teacher advisor Sarah Valinsky back to the stage. All right. I kind of lost my marbles up there, but kids, thank you so much. All right. As we send the graduating class of 2022 away, I've got one quick little piece. Come on, Josh. All right, class of 2022. How are we feeling? So as our teacher speaker, Drew Junkin said, we have this saying called Roll Union. This is something I'm pretty attached to, and I know the rest of the graduating classes as well. So I've been given the honor of leading us in one final Roll Union chant. I want to ask that our friends and families participate to make it even that more memorable and special. Sorry, big words. Pretty used to saying just Roll and Union around here. All right. So the way this is going to work, we're going to say it four times. So when I say Roll, you're going to say Union, but it needs to be the loudest and proudest union you can give me. Are we ready? Ready? Roll. Roll. Roll. Roll. Congratulations, class of 2022. I want to thank you for joining us tonight, and I present to you the U32 class of 2022. Stand up. Let's go. All right. Thank you, folks, for being here tonight. Please celebrate with this class. As we finish up another memorable year, please drive safely. Be safe. Have a great summer.