EASTHAM — Nauset Regional High School’s seniors — 203 of them — marched from the school’s new auditorium down a hall lined with applauding teachers and into the new gymnasium to a standing ovation from the assembled crowd at graduation on June 6. The doors opened for relatives and friends at 5 p.m., but a line had formed outside the cafeteria much earlier.
The graduates’ plans and passions showed on their caps’ mortarboards and in the tassels and sashes they had received at Senior Academic Awards Night on May 19. Members of the National Honor Society got gold tassels, and those who completed more than 100 hours of community service won an extra silver one. The Seal of Biliteracy came with a blue and gold tassel. Class president Brianna Wall of Brewster had a special gold sash.
Some students marched with sashes representing their cultures. Toni-Anne Fraser and Kimesha Harriott sported Jamaican flags on theirs. “Mine was the Costa Rican flag!” said Liv Prince. “I’m celebrating my heritage because family is the reason I could do any of what I did in high school.”
“All the changes these past four years have prepared us to take this next step in our lives,” said Wall in her speech as salutatorian. “It will be scary and unfamiliar, but we’re accustomed to dealing with uncharted territory.” Having studied architecture at Nauset, she used the school’s $160-million renovation project to talk about her classmates’ adaptability, saying, “We are blueprints in motion. We walk away with the tools to keep building stronger, smarter, and with more stable foundations.”
Valedictorian Alyia Vasquez of Wellfleet spoke of the importance of not passing judgment on people we don’t yet know and implored the class of 2025 to go out into the world with open arms. “Making an uninformed judgment about a stranger can hurt you just as much as it does them,” she said. Vasquez, who will attend Columbia University in the fall, spoke of her nervousness about the tense political environment there but said she is nevertheless optimistic. “If we all try to treat each other with a little more respect and less prejudice from the start, we’re working toward the future we hope to live in,” she said.
After a performance of “Nessun Dorma” by the combined Nauset bands and orchestra, directed by Daniel Anthony, Principal Patrick Clark stepped to the podium. In his talk, delivered in the form of a poem, he reminisced about reminding students to be “slow and safe” in the cafeteria, the Rock the Stage talent show, the musical Anything Goes, and the success seniors brought to the boys ice hockey team.
“We did something for the first time, which is nice material for a principal’s graduation rhyme,” said Clark. “We brought home the big one in Boston, crowned champ four times against Medfield, the team with the lamp.” He told the graduates never to stop learning, to fortify their souls, and to live life genuinely as they head off to work, college, or service. “So, as you head off over the horizon, there’s nothing left to say,” he concluded, “except live a good life and have a Nauset day.”
Supt. Brooke Clenchy praised the hard work of the senior class and spoke of her imminent retirement and this last graduation ceremony of her 43-year career. Clark presented her with a bouquet of sunflowers.
Guidance Director Katie Cameron called the class to walk under a giant projection of their senior portraits and receive their diplomas. When all had had their moment in the spotlight, Clark called the students to rise. Their caps flew to the ceiling; cheers echoed through the gym, airhorns blared, parents whistled, and the class of 2025, amid hugs and bouquets, made their way to the football field for their last photos under the pine trees.
