Gardner High School Class of 2022 urged to assist each other on life’s journey

GARDNER — Class of 2022 graduates from Gardner High Faculty have been urged to go after their passions, forge their own paths, and be cautious of destructive on the web influences throughout graduation ceremonies on Saturday.

Diplomas have been handed out to 108 graduates through the ceremony at Watkins Area, marking the 147th commencement in the school’s heritage.

“What a fantastic bunch of children, critically,” mentioned GHS Principal Paula Bolger in her remarks. “They’re a smaller sized team than we generally have, but they make up for it in spirit.”

Bolger linked a tale about accompanying about 50 percent of the senior course on a hike to the summit of Wachusett Mountain.

The group, which bundled expert hikers as perfectly as novices, may possibly have taken different paths and moved at unique speeds, but that they all at some point wound up at the top rated of the mountain. The journey again down, even so, was an fully distinct experience, she stated.

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When all routes up finally led to the summit, Bolger stated, not all trails down led down to the place the buses had been parked to acquire the college students property.

“We commenced counting young children at the bottom of the mountain, and we were missing it’s possible 12 or so,” she stated. “They were spread out all about the base of the mountain. Some of them have been, like, 3 miles away from the place the bus was.”

The students began calling and texting just about every other to decide everyone’s spot. Sooner or later, all college students ended up identified, ended up picked up by a bus, and built it properly property. Bolger said the incident illustrated to her just how close the users of the graduating class were to each other.

“I saw a group of youngsters doing the job jointly, communicating with every single other, and relying on every single other,” she said. “They took distinctive paths for diverse causes — maybe intentionally, perhaps not, (and) some were being absolutely lost — but in the finish they all discovered every single other. They counted on each and every other, they helped every other out, and they figured it out.

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“It seems a little bit like existence to me,” Bolger added.

She reminded the pupils that they would every single choose different paths in their life, facial area struggles, and at moments truly feel really missing. She urged them to request help when they felt they necessary it, and to be a individual that other individuals could rely on.

“I have no doubt you can all come across success in whichever path you pick out,” Bolger explained. “And ultimately, in time, you will all figure it out.”

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Superintendent Mark Pellegrino encouraged the graduates to not let themselves to let their thoughts be swayed by influencers who could possibly not have their ideal passions in mind. He admitted he experienced been persuaded to consider an inaccurate account about a lawsuit that experienced acquired nationwide media notice just about three a long time back, when radio and television were his principal sources of info.

The dilemma experienced only been created worse because the introduction of social media, Pellegrino said.

“It’s even now the same tactic, but it’s a million situations a lot more frequent in today’s digital entire world, and these forces have made social media a divisive tool,” he warned. “Social media was intended to carry us together, but in its place it is tearing us aside. It’s tearing the country aside.”

Pellegrino told the learners it is important to be informed of when attempts ended up becoming produced to sway their impression, and to be vigilant about their sources of details.

“So, when you hear the soundbite, consider of who compensated for it, what was their motive for generating it, (and) query and dig for the info before you embrace a belief,” he spelled out. “And be sure to query and dig right before you broadcast a perception on any  system.”

Mayor Michael Nicholson congratulated the class on behalf of the city’s 21,000 people. He reported he had gotten to know lots of of them as a result of group functions, their civic engagement, and all through his transient time as a substitute instructor at Elm Street School.

They had proven toughness and resilience in the course of unparalleled situation, specifically when the globe was struck by a global pandemic through their sophomore and junior years Nicholson mentioned.

“Your lessons transitioned to Zoom, functions were both canceled or moved to a virtual or distant structure, and lifestyle in general was just different,” he explained. “But via it all, you persevered.”

Nicholson reported he was specifically amazed by how the students performed themselves as they started their senior calendar year throughout what experienced come to be the ‘new standard.’

“You established the illustration for the other pupils in the grades underneath you of how items went at Gardner Higher University in a normal year, even while you seriously only had your eighth grade and freshman years to set that illustration from,” he stated. “But rather of focusing on what could have been seen as the losses you experienced, you focused on supplying the underclassmen the greatest ordeals that they could have by turning something that could have been viewed as a loss into anything that you viewed as an option.”

Nicholson urged the graduates to continue on serving as an example to other people.

“Remember how resilient you’ve been, how you’ve confronted adversity,” he mentioned, “(and) how you set the example for some others previously, due to the fact there are presently much too quite a few people today in this environment searching for aid and assistance who will need individuals like you to present them how to get items accomplished.”

This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Course of 2022 graduated from Gardner Significant School