My Daughter's Graduation

Written for the 6/9/2009 Edition of Andrea's Random Thoughts:

My daughter, Alexis was among the 174 members of the Class of 2009 who graduated from Belchertown High School this past Saturday. I have enjoyed celebrating her last few months of high school through my column and it’s helped to restore the pride that I had in my own high school experience here. I want to also mention that three other members of the Class of 1987 are also parents of BHS ’09 graduates. Congratulations to them and all members of 2009 and their families! On the morning of graduation, my daughter told me that guests are “not allowed past the black line” in the gymnasium when taking pictures; however, in my quest for the perfect shot of her processing in, I may have overstepped a little. She told me later that she wasn’t surprised to find me up front. As I waited with other photographers at stage left, I was so thrilled to be able to give her a big hug and kiss on the cheek just moments after she was handed her diploma. As a parent, BHS alum, and the press, I just knew that I had to be up front, even if for a few minutes.


I have been promising a Tribute to the Class of 2009 for several weeks now and I truly spent most of Sunday working on putting it all together in a Microsoft Word document. Little did I know that I was also creating somewhat of a “pixel monster” which our news website could not easily handle. What you see attached here is a scanned version of the tribute I had created. It includes a list of all the graduates followed by several photos (graduation, senior show, prom, and random group photos). If I add any more to it, I could run the risk of crashing the website or something terrible like that and I certainly don’t want to be responsible for such a catastrophe! I hope that you enjoy the photos.

During Principal Vigneux’s speech during Saturday’s ceremony, I remember hearing her say that when our graduates were little in the early nineties, we thought that they would be around forever—after all, they are in the class of 2009! It’s true--the year 2009 seemed so far off back then. For many of the graduates, the timeline since then included the Belchertown Community Pre-School, Cold Spring School, trips to the CHCS playground and pool, trips to the library, Berkshire and Tadgell Schools, candy sales, Swift River Elementary, learning to play an instrument for band, Chestnut Hill Community School, events at the Old Town Hall, dance and/or sports, four years at the new high school (they just missed being in the old high school by a year), car washes, Relay for Life Walk, and the Belchertown Fair to name just a few of the highlights.

I was always amazed by how quickly news spread amongst my daughter and her friends. Of course, technology has everything to do with that. With cell phones, email, and online social networking sites, word travels faster than this 80’s grad ever thought possible. I do like to keep up with the times, and my child, and I must admit that I have gotten pretty good at text messaging. I will never forget the time I dropped Alexis off at a sleepover and pulled out my phone for some (texting?) necessity and heard several “wows” and even one “your mom is cool” from one of her friends. I wasn’t trying to be cool, but I do try to stay current—I think you have to be otherwise you will miss something. Believe me when I say that knowing this technology has served this parent well over the years…I also have a Facebook profile which enables me to view my daughter’s profile and of course at the same time, allows me to reconnect with many of my former BHS classmates! In fact, just today I heard from a classmate who I haven’t spoken to in about 20 years! Perhaps this technology helps the graduating class of 2009 work through any concerns they may have about never seeing each other again.

It is interesting to note that of the 174 graduates, 60% of them will attend a four-year college, 32% will attend a two-year college, 1 person will attend a post-secondary school, 3% will join the military, and 5% will seek employment.

As of this fall, my daughter and I will both be in college! I might even have an interesting tale or two to share. In the meantime, congratulations and best of luck to all the members of the Class of 2009 and their families! I will certainly miss you.