Graduates marked by perseverance amid pandemic
Jun. 12—SALEM — The greatest thing Salem Academy Charter School students developed amid the COVID-19 pandemic will be with them the rest of their lives: Perseverance.
Salem Academy graduated 50 seniors in a social-distanced ceremony in Read Gymnasium Friday night. Throughout the gym, students were seated several feet apart with two guests sitting by their side. The seating arrangements provided a stark reminder of how education was impacted by the pandemic.
"The last year-and-a-half has been filled with fear and anxiousness," said staff speaker Christopher Beaver, a teacher chosen by the class to speak. "It's important to remember that fear is one of the biggest obstacles to success. Fear is the enemy to our dreams, goals, and passions."
Perseverance, meanwhile, is the antidote to fear, Beaver explained.
"It doesn't mean you won't fail, because you will," he said. "It means when you fail, you will get back up over, and over, and over again."
Britain Padgett-Day, the class' elected student speaker, opened by saying he was speaking "in front of everyone because you wanted me to. That is insane." Then, he explained that confidence doesn't come from much more than believing in yourself.
"Everyone, look to your left," he said, as each student turned to the guest to their left. "Now think, 'I'm better than you.'"
As the crowd laughed, Padgett-Day then had the graduates do the same to the person to their right.
"You're all better than someone around you at something," Padgett-Day said. "You're better than everyone else. All you have to do is prove it, and now you have the next four years of your life to do it."
Valedictorian Lena Parnassa talked about the importance of family and friends as they navigate the future.
"You can't worry too much about the future. Focus on the 'here' and the 'now,' and the people around you," Parnassa said. "While we might not be able to tell what comes next, we can count on the people around us to help us enjoy it. ... Take each day for what it is, and surround yourself with people who help you through the tough times."
Beaver also referenced those close to the graduates in a particularly moving portion of his remarks.
"For some of us, there are going to be times when that person most near you, that person you love so much, the next day, is gone — and all you'll have left are the memories, the cards, the smells on the clothes," Beaver said. "When you're lying on that bed, and those tears are flowing, and you think you can't make it, ... if you just calm down and listen just for a second, you may hear something."
That something, Beaver said, is perseverance — the little whispering voice that says, "This is not the end. You can make it."
"You will always persevere if you remember who you are," he said. "Will you be bloody? Yes. Will you be bruised? Absolutely. Will you be exhausted? No doubt about it. Will you be defeated? Hell no, because you'll persevere. You will go forward."
Contact Dustin Luca at 978-338-2523 or DLuca@salemnews.com. Follow him at facebook.com/dustinluca or on Twitter @DustinLucaSN.
