As Shannon Downey addressed her classmates at Hayfield Secondary School’s graduation ceremony, she said the bond that kept the class together transcended surnames. "As I look out upon you now this afternoon, I do not see last names. I see a family," she said.
Speaking to her fellow seniors on Wednesday, June 13 in the school’s gymnasium, Downey told her classmates to remember the school’s faculty — "They come early, and they stay late" — and their parents — "No matter how scared we may be, they’re more afraid of this day than we are." But she said she expected the struggles, transitions and guidance she and her classmates had experienced in the last four years would help them to navigate the "real world."
Although the graduates would never again chant "07" together at pep rallies or experience another first or last day of high school, they would always hold onto the memories of their years at Hayfield, she said. "We will always remember the people we confided in, the ones we lost and the ones who inspired us."
"Today, we find ourselves starting over, going from seniors to freshmen," said class president Megan Cotton, noting that she and her classmates had learned much during their time at the school. "What are we going to do with the knowledge we’ve acquired and the tools we’ve been given?" she asked, challenging her fellow graduates to plot a course for their futures. "Ask yourself, what do you want to be?"
However, Cotton noted that plans for the future could wait until the graduates had said their goodbyes and relished the success of graduation. "Congratulations, class of 2007," she said. "We did it."
Jan Kill presented this year’s Faculty Award to graduate Dominic Carr, for whom, she said, "respectful, friendly and responsible are just three adjectives that come to mind." Kill noted that Carr had been active in sports, played three different musical instruments and had chosen "the most rigorous academic program available at Hayfield" while maintaining a grade point average higher than 4.0
Carr, who will major in engineering at the University of Virginia next year, "is described by veteran teachers as "the best student they have ever taught," said Kill.