For the 17 Community Evening School students graduating on Thursday, June 1, the road to the commencement ceremony in the WHRHS Performing Arts Center may have been more challenging that for those receiving their diplomas the following evening, but it made the accomplishment sweeter.
“It gives me great joy to see these students … finishing what they started some 12 to 13 years ago,” said Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak as he reflected on his own rocky start as an educator teaching “students who didn’t fit the traditional school environment.”
His first job was teaching 12 freshmen in Abington, “who absolutely, positively didn’t wat to be there. They pushed me. It was hard. It was draining and, honestly, sometimes – many times – they drove me nuts.”
But by the end of that first year, he had learned his purpose as a educator was to find alternative ways for students to learn, grow and find success.
“I’ve been involved in alternative pathways for students to receive a diploma ever since,” he said. “I give you that background, because, graduates, I get it.”
The struggles CES students face can be difficult and that they have to work to be there every day, are truisms he said he understands.
“I know things didn’t go as planned and getting your diploma has not been easy,” he said, expressing pride and joy for what they had accomplished and asking them to find their people in the audience and recognize their pride, too.
“They see you,” he said. “They see your struggles and, tonight, they see your accomplishment. … You found a way to finish, and you have the right to sit on the stage tonight. For that, you have earned tremendous respect.”
The school also continued the CES tradition of handing out diplomas, as each student was afforded the opportunity to decide from whom they wish to receive it. Parents, grandparents, boyfriends, fiances, teachers and administrators have been represented in that group over the years.
CES Co-Director William Glynn offered humor and wisdom in his keynote speech of “helpful commentary on what comes next,” including five ways of living that make “the huge, crushing weight of life bearable” and can also make it exciting, interesting and valuable beyond measure: Know when to move on; embrace happiness; speak up; take risks and celebrate and congratulate other people’s successes.
“He is the person that many turn to in both happy and difficult times,” his co-director Joseph Chismar said in introducing Glynn.
“Don’t dwell on past mistakes,” Glynn advised. “Move on, get up and go. Don’t chase the loss.”
The change from moving on, whether physically or mentally and emotionally can change one’s life.
“There will be hard moments,” said of embracing happiness. “There will be hard days …This is the reality of our world. There will also be … moments of genuine happiness and positivity in your lives. Treasure and cultivate, recognize and do the real work needed to extend those times of happiness.”
When it comes to speaking up, Glynn said it can change lives.
“If you find yourself in one of those moments where you think, ‘Gosh, somebody should really say something.’ You! You are the somebody who should say something.”
Whether at work, or in the voting booth, use your voice he said.
“Those people who tell you it doesn’t matter are fools,” he warned. Democracy is hard, being engaged and active is hard, speaking up is hard, but it is worth doing. Being silent is easy, and it is a trap.”
Everything doesn’t have to stay the same, he said, advising the graduates to take risks, which is essential to living a fulfilling and exciting life.
“Sometimes it will work out, sometimes it will fail and sometimes it will be a disaster – and sometimes it will be glorious beyond your wildest expectations,” he said.
Finally, celebrating others and expressing kindness and congratulations costs nothing and makes people feel great while putting “legit goodness out into the world.”
“Say the words,” he said. “You aren’t lessening yourself when you say these words, you are literally cultivating a world of fraternity and positivity.”
Receiving diplomas were: Guinevere Ambrose, Guilherme Rodrigues Azevedo, Aidan Vincent Bernier, Kalli Marie Bonner, Julyanna Marie Colby, Rafael Costa Da Silva, James Bernard Gillan, Autumn Mary Gray, Brenn PAtrick Keefe, Dali Kelsch, Brooke Nancy Presente, Joecelly Estrela Teixeira Rodrigues, Pedro Henrique Gomes Sampaio, Jennifer Freitas Scofano, Benjamin Joseph Sheehan, Wesley Keydson Silva Marques and Kaik Ribeiro Souza.