Knights celebrate community, achievements at Middletown graduation
May 25—It was a gray and drizzly day in Emmitsburg, but as Principal Bernard Quesada looked out at the Middletown High School class of 2022, he spoke about sunlight.
On his morning drives to the school building the last few days, Quesada said, he's caught a few sunrises. When the weather is right, that means he can see farms and churches dotting the Middletown Valley, "the homes blanketed in the beautiful gold of morning," he said.
"You are the product of that good Earth and landscape," Quesada told the students. "You are the fruit of this valley, sent out in the world to be the leaders and the difference-makers."
Middletown's senior class — with 287 graduates — walked across the stage at Mount St. Mary's University on Tuesday afternoon.
Rayanna Abedi, who moved to Middletown during her sophomore year, said she was sad to leave behind what she described as a welcoming, tight-knit community.
But she was excited, too.
"It's the end of a chapter," she said. "I'm ready to move on to the next part of my life."
Abedi plans to attend West Virginia University in the fall and study public health. She said she'll carry memories of "going all out" at football games and helping design class T-shirts as the seniors' vice president.
Aidan Waters said he'll hold onto memories of football games, too — as well as time spent with his wrestling teammates, who earned second place in the state championships this year.
Waters will join the U.S. Marine Corps in August, he said, following in the footsteps of his dad and his brother.
"It's something I've always wanted to do, since I was little," he said.
As he waited in the gym before the ceremony began, Waters said he was excited to have a graduation ceremony free from masks and social distancing. That concept seemed unlikely at times during his sophomore and junior years, he said.
"It feels normal, which is nice," Waters said Tuesday.
Student speakers Brianna Bongard and Benjamin Tabor each focused their address on a separate theme. Bongard spoke about failure and Tabor spoke about gratitude.
Bongard told her classmates about times she's failed, speaking about falling during barrel racing and quite literally getting back on the horse. She said she'd learned from each fall, and urged students not to be afraid of similar missteps.
Tabor encouraged the graduates to take time to be grateful to their parents and teachers for helping them reach their graduation day. The staff "weathered the most difficult conditions to educate us," navigating virtual and hybrid instruction, he said.
Though she didn't speak at the microphone during the ceremony, Abedi had advice for her classmates as she readied herself for the ceremony.
Adults have always told her to treasure her time in high school, she said, but she hadn't always listened.
"It always went in one ear, out the other," Abedi said. "But now that I'm here in this room, I'm like, 'Wow, this is it.' And sometimes I wish I cherished moments a little longer."
Follow Jillian Atelsek on Twitter: @jillian_atelsek
