The Class of 2022 culminated its high-school career Thursday evening with joyful ceremonies that could have been scripted as the final episode of a Lifetime Channel series.
Cheering for their leaders, their teachers, and each other, more than 220 seniors joined the ranks of BHS alumni with a celebration in Lowell’s spacious Tsongas Center.
Aaron Zhao pulled out his phone and took a “selfie” from the stage with his classmates in the background before starting his graduation essay. Principal Heather Galante and Assistant Principals Thomas Casey and Daniel Hudder danced to Taylor Swift’s “We’re Feeling 22” on a video. Most student mortarboards were decorated, some ornately, and many went sailing toward the ceiling in a traditional closing declaration. Tyler Rauch turned a backflip on stage after receiving his diploma from School Committee Chair Sarah Scoville, and Aram Vajabedian danced across the podium to receive his diploma..
Speakers directly or by inference cited the seniors’ resilience against – and ultimate emergence from – the Covid-19 pandemic that influenced half of their BHS years.
Galante charged the graduates “to stand for – and care for – something.”
“You still showed up during the pandemic,” she said, at a time when “so many days I questioned my profession.” The seniors, she said, “stayed positive and expressed gratitude” and had “the courage to question, to disagree, to advocate.”
Galante shared a personal story of a childhood disability that she eventually overcame because of initial self-advocacy. “You have used the power of your voice,” she told the graduates.
Jared Lasonde, an English teacher and assistant football coach, was chosen by the seniors as the faculty speaker at graduation. His message was infused with humor, much of it self-deprecating, such as visiting the “graduation speaker page” on Wikipedia. He said at one point, “No one is going to remember this.”
But his underlying message was serious. “All of us should embrace doubt,” Lasonde said. “It’s essential to us as humans; it’s how we realize that we are not all-knowing.”
Doubt is “a waystation on the path to reason and action,” and a vehicle to “not taking everything you read or hear at face value.” That, he said, tongue in cheek, is “the benefit of the doubt.”
“What kind of action you take is up to you, but I hope you do some good in the world,” he urged.
Zhao shared a Chinese legend about learning “to enjoy the little detours, because that’s most important.”
“This class puts an extra emphasis on success and thrives on challenge,” Zhao said. But for the past two years, there was a sense of “potential that we feel has been taken away.” When looking back at “the moments that helped you grow,” cherish the small ones, he urged.
Bryan Aweh-Kisob, class president for the past two years, acknowledged that “masked and quarantined, we missed out on some things. But we really did pull through. Despite all the worries and doubts, we had it all.” He urged his classmates to “make an impact. Make real change.”
Aweh-Kisob and his Black classmates wore kente cloth stoles over their robes, representing the dignity of African heritage; each was inscribed with the class year.
Superintendent of Schools Philip Conrad opened the proceedings, saluting everyone who contributed to the success of the graduates, from the schools’ leadership team to snowplow drivers.
“Don’t forget that opportunities don’t always look bright and shiny,” he told the seniors. “Open yourselves so you can have the fulfillment you deserve.”
English teacher Jillian Butler produced the 10-minute video shown on the arena’s Jumbotronfeaturing recorded well-wishes from teachers and staff members from all four Bedford schools.
Galante presented the annual Principal’s Award to Prakhar Gupta and Allie Zorn. Gupta has worked as a news correspondent for The Bedford Citizen, as did one of the 2021 winners, Ryan Doucette.
The arena, though divided in half to accommodate the staging, still offered enough room for social distancing by spectators. They also were there without water bottles, cardboard cutouts, noisemakers, all of which security prohibited. Concessions stands, however, were open.
Mike Rosenberg can be reached at [email protected], or 781-983-1763
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