A Powerful Force Spreads from Mount Greylock
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After a second, the winner of the school's Martin Luther King Jr. speaking contest continued without the benefit of a sound system, his voice ringing out in Mount Greylock Regional High School's darkened gymnasium.
It was just another example of the can-do attitude of the class of 2008, a class with a rebellious streak that had spent four years questioning authority, that wanted to see positive change — and expected it to happen.
"We are a class of doers, of initiators," said Elizabeth Lehleitner Fox, the faculty-chosen speaker, wondering why her class has stood out, even in the teachers' minds. "Maybe we it's just that this class for some strange reason had a lower threshold for crap than other classes."
The class had organized protests and worked with the School Committee to end the practice of valedictorians and class rank, and helped revamp Advanced Placement classes to allow more students access.
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She bemoaned a high school structure that "keeps us separate and stratified" for four years only to bring them all together to receive the same diplomas from the same stage.
"I and many in this class realize that there is something truly wrong with the nature of the divisions in our high school," said Fox, especially when classmate Geoffrey Lewis died and "those of us didn't know him well enough to know all the amazing things about him."
Lewis, 17, died in a tragic fall in December; the ceremony included a moment of silence in his memory.
She hoped that here classmates would take the lessons they had learned to heart, and that "this class, this spirit, this mission, has not only shaped Mount Greylock but also shaped us, hopefully, to remain in our individual actions forever."
It was a sentiment that echoed in graduate Peter Glover. "I was surprised to hear in the speech a lot of what had entered my mind," he said after graduation as friends and families clustered around the new graduates.
Glover is heading to American University to study international relations. "It feels really good to finish," he said, and being able to "breath out."
"It's great," said Heather Danylin, who will study business management at Western New England in the fall. Trying to sum up four years drew a blank after more than hour seated with her 93 classmates in the steaming gym. "I guess I'm just glad we're finally out of there."
It was a long, strange trip by all accounts. Bellmon, who will attend Georgetown University in the fall, described it as "The Real World: Mount Greylock" as programs fluttered in a crowd trying to keep cool.
Like on the popular MTV show, Bellmon was thrown into the company of strangers, many of whom had known each other since kindergarten. It was a culture shock for the Philadelphia native, who attended the rural school through the Greylock A Better Chance Program.
"I was different from them and they were different than me," he said, wondering how he was going to survive "being pushed out my comfort zone."
With humor and liveliness, he described his four seasons at Mount Greylock — making friends, learning he couldn't play basketball, finding his gift for oratory, dealing with bouts of senioritis and an influential trip to Washington, D.C., "that solidified my decision to run for office sometime in the near future as well as influence my college selection process."
Over that time, Bellmon, who will attend Georgetown University in the fall, said he took the measure of his class, referring to the Marianne Williamson quote, "our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."
"I can't help but find people who are powerful beyond measure," he said. "We're powerful in the classroom, we're powerful on the court, and we're powerful in the community."
And it fits with the theme of class of 2008 — defiance.
"This is the year Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton defied the political norm; this is the year that Danica Patrick was the first woman to win an IndyCar race; and when global warming is heating up everything on Earth, this is the year that Mount Greylock had so many snow days that our doors are now closing on June 24.
"So when I say this class is powerful, believe we are powerful ... defy any limitations that others may put on you or you may put on yourself," Bellmon said.
Now the "The Real World: The College Years" is about to begin, he said. "Stay tuned. This is gong to be another unpredictable, life-changing and powerful show."
The diplomas were handed out by School Committee members. Superintendent William Travis charged the class to prepare for the challenges ahead, noting that they may well be working in fields unknown even 10 years ago to find solutions for the many problems plaguing the world — shrinking energy resources, global warming, pandemics and wars.
Harking back to the Civil War soldiers who struggled on the battlefield at Gettysburg, the graduates would have to find new ways to fight the battles ahead, to seek limits, to choose between business climates and survival climates, and to declare their own Emancipation Proclamation, one not just for humans.
"Our survival as a people will depend in part on your generation's success."
The award for Teacher of the Year was presented to science teacher and track coach Lawrence Bell. He perhaps summed up best how the school and faculty felt about the departure of this class:
"I'm missing you in my heart."
Class awards can be found here.
The Mount Greylock Class of 2008
Rychelle Patricia Almonte
Donald Edward Anderson
Joshua Maxwell Anderson
Kenneth Allen Aubin, II
Emily Hale Baker-White
Samantha Marie Beattie
Lindley Erin Bell
Anthony Andrew Bellmon
Zachary Ryan Bishop
Ashley Lynn Bouchard
Torrey Allen Brenner
Sofia Caroline Brooks
Amanda VanKleeck Burdick
Brittany Rose Calderwood
Tierney Lynn Carlson
Nicholas Brady Chenail
Andrew Bernard Chick
Lauren Marie Clement
Christopher Michael Condron
Alexander Patrick Cowley
Heather Elizabeth Danylin
Zachary Walter DiGrigoli
Ashley Mae Duncan
Maria Greig Dunlavey
Brigid Mary Flynn
Nicholas Jon Fogel
Elizabeth Lehleitner Fox
Kelton Patrick Frye
William Robert Gale
Mitchell George Galli
Dakota May Garrity
Samantha Marie Gilardi
Amanda Lea Gillooly
Peter Oliver Glover
Jordan Marion Grauman
Caitlyn Marie Greene
Tiffany Lee Hartlage
Alexa McKee Hiley
Hines, Monica Fern
Joni Rebecca Hirsch
Gina Marie Iannitelli
Jonayah Marie Jackson
Nicholas Andreas Karampatsos
Veronica Lynn Kelly
Grace Anne King
Io Kohana Walczak Kleiser
Alexandra Margaret Kovacs
Andrew Michael LeBarron
Gordon James Leete
John Martin Lucido
Marichal Lynn MacDonald
Kathryn Elisa Markland
Clinton Larson Mason
Allyson Nicole Maynard
Lindsay Anne Maynard
Jenna Elizabeth McLain
B. Whitney Montgomery-Nassif
Alex Christopher Moody
Daniel Tristan Nawazelski
V. Ralph Charles Nettleton
Corey James Nichols
Colin Anders O'Neill
Benjamin Salzer Ogden
Irena Maria Pandzic
Jun Yong Park
David Lee Payne
Sean Patrick Peltier
Maggie Michelle Pytko
Justin Gordon Quetti
Joshua John Rahilly
Sarah Lynn Renzi
Alexandria Brown Riley
David Leon Rosenthal
Kaitlin June Roy
Jayne Alida Russo
Tamara Samardzic
Henry Phillip Sauvé
Zakariah Ibrahim Sekkal
Alicia Mae Shampang
Heather Lynn Shartrand
Ashley Nicole Spencer
Matthew Raoul St. Pierre
Meaghan Ann Stiles
Anna Elizabeth Swann-Pye
Ruth Murphy Thier
Brier Thomas Turner
Blair Adrienne Vander Voort
Jared Louis Vella
Daniel Mark Weiner
Daniel George Whateley
Ryan Connor Wilson
Audrey Frances Wojtkowski
Andrew Jordan Wolf
Shannon Kathleen Young
Ozgur Aydin (Visiting Student)
