you remove your hats for the singing of the national anthem followed by the peters township all mater sung by graduates meghan fitzgerald lindsay garlic ladies and gentlemen you may be seated good evening and welcome to the two thousand and twelve peters township high school graduation and commencement ceremony it is my honor and pleasure to present to you this exceptional group of students who collectively represent not only academic athletic and artistic excellence but also incredible character building character is no easy task and it is not done alone there are a number of people who share credit for helping the students become the young men and women seated before us today i would like to take a moment to acknowledge those people as we bring to a clo graduates thirteen years of education first and most imperent importantly to the parents and families of our students we found you we thank you for providing the guy hands tutoring transportation laughter and shoulder to cry on moms dads brothers sisters grandparents aunts uncles cousins this night is as much for you as it is for our graduates tonight we celebrate you to our teachers it is your caring guidance and insistence on excellence that has helped our students achieve their potential high school teachers please stand we thank you for the early morning tutoring the late afternoon review sessions and the countless hours working with our students both in and outside of the classroom your passion and dedication has inspired us all our high school teachers are not alone in contributing to the achievement of today's graduates from kindergarten through their senior year our students attend more than two thousand four hundred days of school over one thousand six hundred of those days are spent with their elementary and middle school teachers some of these teachers are here with us tonight i would ask that those teachers please stand thank you for planting the seeds of success and establishing a solid foundation for learning and leadership often unrecognized are the administrators at the building level and district office whose vision and leadership provide the foundation for excellence to these individuals accolades mean less than student success their decisions are driven by what is best for kids please stand when i call your name to be recognized doctor's addie dr part of this dr monsoor this is we welcome you tonight and we thank you the board of school directors are before you this evening on stage it is because of their work and difficult decision making that all of this is possible it takes a special individual to serve voluntarily in this capacity it is moments of celebration like this one that remind us all what is important and allows us to recognize the work that they do please stand when i call your name this is galling  also in our audience celebrating tonight with their families mrs amber and mrs greg we thank you tonight ceremony would also not be possible without the collective efforts of the high school administrative team mr christian lesson and miss emily sanders our assistant principals your leadership and wisdom this year has been invaluable you have spent countless hours committed to the ensuring success of today's graduates to the office secretaries mrs board mrs worst mrs glass mrs dare mrs  before we begin our ceremony tonight i would like to take a moment to remember nathan allen who passed away after a long illness on june eighth two thousand and nine he was a member of the class of two thousand and twelve nation you will never be forgotten please join me in a moment of silence parents family school board doctors faculty staff class of nine hundred sixty and people who just come to these things good evening and congratulations to the peters township class of tw since we don't have much time tonight i wanted to leave an impression i wanted to show my dedication to my classmates and everyone who helped me along the way i wanted to approach the speech like i approach any test project or essay so and then i began writing but not seriousness i'm honored to be given this opportunity and i'm excited to finally be graduating from this wonderful high school but of course there are people we all have to thank our our siblings the administrators everyone in the audience has helped us get here and we need to show our appreciation finally we have to thank our friends and our classmates the students to find this school and it's called here's to the peters task class of tw now it is my honor to introduce to peter township class of one thousand nine hundred sixty they graduated fifty years ago entering a world with different opportunities and different challenges the difference makers of the time left behind a legacy that carries through today i con such as martin luther king jr and john f kennedy used their actions and their words to make a difference in the world they inspired the class of nine hundred sixty to in the generations that follow it let's take a moment to ari's graduates please hold your applause until all of the graduates are introduced carmela a thomas bal charles l baird carol bride wagner lawn i am bride corbett when the class of sixty two was graduating there was a boy just beginning school in palo alto california he dropped out of college after one semester by the time he was twenty he was pretty clear that the odds were not in his favor but he continued to persevered creating products that pushed the limits of what was considered standard when steve jobs passed away eight months ago he left behind a legacy of enervation in creativity when we use our i macs and our i phones we experience this impact but it is jobs role as a visionary an innovator that defines his legacy his story will never be forgotten now it's our t we have the chance to solve the problems that past generations could not whether it's health care or diplomacy education or the environment we have the tools to leave this world better than what we were given fifty years from now we will be sitting here for our reunion fifty years from now we were flat on our complements in our failures what will we be remembered for what legacy will we leave behind our lives will change that's a promise this journey is just beginning but the memories we've made will never be forgotten we will travel to new places meet new people experience new things will each leave behind a life story and with it a legacy we all have the potential to do great things it's not about how many people we impact it's about how much of an impact we have congratulations to the peters please welcome pretty sank our roy our senior class speaker every august we lay in our beds thinking oh no every august we dust off the old alarm clock remembering it's unbearable banshee scream every august we post our schedules on facebook to see who we will get to know a little bit better that year every august we look at lacrosse or soccer or football videos because we can't wait to get on that field every august we mean to ourselves that we are a little excited to be here every august we admit  we are p t this august so we won't be so united in our thoughts we will split up going our own routes whether we choose call it trade school the work force or the armed forces we will be hundreds of miles away from each other instead of just down the hall and to be honest it's a little scary let's think about why for a second here a p t we built ourselves an identity although an ambiguous want to times of course there are a lot of kids that are your average suburban type but oftentimes you tend to see a lot of country and a lot of ghetto fabulous i tend to be pretty gangster myself the  plagued with flattering hats as well as cowboy hats there are nike air force ones as well as timberland work boots and student parking lot you see big diesel trucks blasting these little differences between the four one two and the seven to four lifestyles seem like they detract from a unified identity our identity but the adhesive factor that brings us together is our fight over the last twelve years or so this district has sculpted us into strong young men and women we have been prepared to take on the world and that is exactly what we would do we will prove that if you came out of that building you have a lot of fight in you and let's think about why for a second think of all the academic challenges we had like guided readings in design minutes homework quizzes power points photos stories basically anything just short of medieval torture methods but we all know the saying whatever doesn't kill you kills your grades that's not it regardless high school was rigorous we had to work often late into the night and all of that work put that fight and us i see it in you your teachers see it in you your parents your coaches your mentors your neighbors who ever you came in contact with can see that you all have unwavering determination and that is the part of our identity we can take with us no one can look at us weirdly when we excel to be the best in our classes no one can question our sanity when we demonstrate our determination in the work force no one can deny that we w do whatever we set our minds to every june we think to ourselves oh yeah every june we dust off the old swimsuit remembering the sweet smell of chlorine every june group pictures of our friends on facebook just to hold on to the memories every june we look through the year book reading all the nice things our friends have written to us every june we admit to ourselves that we're going to miss this place and every june we had mature selves that we will always and forever be p t thank you graduation ceremonies are undoubtedly special occasions for students it represents the combination of years of hard work goals attained and success achieved normally high school principal focus their remarks on the road that we travelled together over the past four years well peters township high school class of two thousand and twelve we first met only a year ago i can't speak to the students you were as freshman or how you have grown over the past four years but i can speak about the young men and women who sit before me today and who have given me the honor of sharing in the final leg of their journey when we first met i was your newly hired principal and you were anxiously awaiting the last day of school so that you could finally claim the name senior you welcomed me cautiously i could sense the trepidation when we first met i knew what you were thinking here we go again what now perhaps you are thinking who does she think she is i understood after all i was your third principal in four years if fact you had nearly an entirely new administrative team this year again lots of changes were coming your way and you proceeded cautiously i knew this i expected hesitation perhaps even some resistance i mean as summer finally began and my new administer administrative team settled in we adopted a new montra it is a quote by henry ford that eloquently captured our collectivism vision for the year he said coming together is a beginning keeping together its progress and working together is success we enthusiastically and anxiously set out this school year to follow mr ford's advice and our journey together began that journey has been filled with complications and accomplishments with tears and laughter i knew i knew in august that you were bright students this was evidence by your test scores your excellent grades but what i have come to know about you is that you are truly truly an extraordinary group of motivated young men and women through my role as principal i am to inspire and guide you but this year i feel you've guided and inspired me i have learned a great deal from you class of two thousand and twelve you have taught me about the spirit of the  student a few things i learned for you are you want to be asked your opinion you will give it freely and you will give it honestly you will rise to any challenge when presented with a problem or a setback if i get out of your way you will address it and you will shine you will fight for what you believe you will speak up for what you believe when given the opportunity you do make the right decisions and that you can smile and laugh through adversity these lessons that you taught me will remain with me and guide my decisions throughout my tenure as principal here for this i'm eternally grateful furthermore it was clear that you have come together as a class you stuck together through adversity and you are not deterred by change sing it sitting among you today are some of the most talented charitable eloquent and entertaining students that i have ever met what has most impressed me about you is your attitude sometimes fun loving generally positive and always respectful when you slipped up as we all do you acknowledged it learn from it and moved on so class of two thousand and twelve i can only surmise that you have accomplished what henry ford recommended you came together made progress and achieved success now you will be starting this process all over again as you begin the new phases of your life but don't fear p t you are ready and you are more than able mayor years ahead continue to be characterized by empathy compassion and objectivity may you always lead by example work hard and play straight may you take risks without fear of failure henry ford also wisely said failure is simply the opportunity to begin again this time more intelligently i wish you class of two thousand and twelve every success in your future it has been my honor and my privilege to represent and serve you as your principal of this year good evening class of two thousand and twelve welcome to you your family our fifty year grads our faculty and the school board i am honored to be with you tonight because you are the first class i've watched grow from the time you entered middle school when you started ninth grade your eighth grade teachers told us that they couldn't have chosen a better class and they were right i've watched you choose to excel academically choose to keep your new athletic director busy with all of your athletic playoffs and championships choose to entertain and astound us artistically and choose to touch our hearts your selfless display of character and service to others in addition from this class i saw an emergence of leadership like no other class before you you chose to step forward and turn student council into a true governing body you offered ideas and solutions to potentially challenging situations like the student section of football games and you chose to be involved in governance areas like how the g p a should be calculated and finally you chose to take on the issue of acceptance and bullying by initiating a student led assembly on tolerance you make us all feel confident that we are sending over three hundred fifty young adults into society prepared in eager to make it a better place that tells me that our curriculum is strong our teaching staff is excellent our coaches are skilled and our emphasis on character education and leadership is working so there's just one final lesson we have for you you'll notice i used the words you chose a number of times all along the way you told us you wanted choices you asked for better choices of food in the cafeteria when we were growing up the choice was chocolate milk or white milk you asked for a variety of electives to choose from when we selected classes we had woodshop cooking band creative writing and typing you have so many choices today that it can become overwhelming just think about selecting a channel on the television your parents or in some cases grandparents have three two four and eleven how many channels do you scroll through today how much time do you spend just picking out a pair of jeans we had lease levi's and if you had enough money you could buy yourself a pair or a designer jeans jordache you have skinny jeans faded jeans low ri stretch jeans when you start adding up the time it takes you to effectively make all the choices you have to make you'll have to ask yourself if it's worth it before you know it you'll have to choose an employer an affordable means of transportation a place to live utility supplier's health and life insurance investment options why every second of every day you'll be choosing and there are so many alternatives for each choice so how do you do it how do you make the right choices when so many are coming your way well you can either pick or you can choose to choose or begins with his goals thinks about the short and long range consequences of the choice weighs the options and in some cases determines that none of the options may be the right one and creates a picker just picks one so my lesson for you as you follow your choice to go on to college or trade school or the military or work is to learn when to pick and when to choose certainly you learn some of this from your teachers and your parents but if you find yourself in need of a refresher course while you're standing in best buy this summer trying to decide laptop or tablet p c or apple consider this your last high school summer reading assignment get a copy of the paradox of choice why more is less by barry schwartz you see as educators we pick every one of you but we choose to invest ourselves in you and we are grateful for the experiences you've given all of us so as you move on to a life of picking and choosing we wish you continued success and happiness good luck and congratulations mrs pavlik good evening to the class of two thousand and twelve and all attending today this fabulous weather was brought to you by your peters township school board graduate you have heard from several speakers how many people have supported you and have been part of your life and have gotten you here today two things come to my mind as i think about those seven hundred people every day that wake up with one thing in mind you seven hundred and one we should forget avalanche are crossing guard as i said two things come to my mind the first sang no wonder you feel like you need some space the second thing this is your opportunity please stand up and give a round of applause to all of those who have supported you over these years students please stand up thank you you may be seated whatever you pursue after high school graduation go with confidence and know that you are prepared and now the reason why we are here today you and as it should be about you to recognize and celebrate your hard work which is really your response to all of that is all of those seven hundred plus people who have invested and who have shown faith and who have sometimes yanked out of bed in the mornings your response to them congratulations on your hard work and your achievement without that you would not be sitting here today on behalf of the peters timeship school board i congratulate each and every one of you on your hard work and your achievements as you move on to the next phase if your lives please think carefully about that myriad of choices that everyone has been waiting for as they come with responsibility if you can understand and accept these freedoms along with their responsibilities then perhaps that will be the beginning to truly accepting each other's differences and then you can focus on what we all have as common beliefs and values and began your real work what you are going to do to make this world a better place who came before you are watching the who come behind you are depending on you we wish all of you great health happiness and most success in your future and now it  my great honor and privilege to introduce the teacher who was voted on by the class of two thousand and twel both of whom are married and she has a grandchild who is three years old she has taught in the peters township school district for nineteen years nine at the middle school and the last ten at the high school for those of you who do not know miss suspect yard she has asked me to tell you that she's trouble and hard to get along with and that she's you know i'm sorry before i began i have to say how proud i am to be with all these distinguished guests and on this day as with more distinguished people up on the days and addressing you you have to know i'm never invited to a gig like this normally you know i'm usually the one who's invitation has gotten lost in the mail or if i volunteer to help you know they say well we've taken the four hundred people we need we really don't need your input so it's humbling and not just a little stressful first and foremost again congratulations to the class of two thousand and twelve everyone in this stadium is so proud of you and your accomplishments and there is an adult and adult here who wouldn't change places with you in a heartbeat when my students heard that i would be speaking at graduation period eight said tell them that really funny story about college and i thought what story  i tell them and why would i tell them a story about college i graduated in the sixty's and you know i was afraid i wasn't sure what that was period for them my more sober class their very serious they're very serious they said mrs specter and whatever you do for the love of god don't talk long we've got places we want to go and so with that hue from period four and for the last time and for the rest of our lives if i could please have your attention just for a moment we in the stadium look at your faces and see unbelievable promise and and and and potential and we know that there are yet to be discovered opportunities for all of you for all of you there will be exhilarating successes and there will also be profound and spirit crushing and life changing failures so before you leave the sheltered halls before you leave the safety of your home and the familiarity of your friends before you go out in the world that's just waiting for you make sure you stand for something stand for something don't go out there so undefined or so morally ambiguous as to become easy prey for those people looking for weakness or ten make sure you stand for something of value something large enough to give you comfort and to keep you company when you feel particularly a lot in the big world and you will feel particularly alone at some point make sure you stand for something so true and so genuine that it guides you as you begin to get navigate the world you'll have important decisions to make and you'll need to have some standard some principle some basic truth strength and compassion some core value that is non negotiable and that is not subject to the demands or whims of the moment you'll need that core value to it here to as a compass to have it as a constant in your life at a time in your life which will be marked by many things and not especially constancy as stephen covey suggests the principle driven it won't guarantee you success or popularity and social circles it may not help you win friends or influence people but it will make you the most genuine and the truest of human beings in a world that is full of ethical and philosophical amby ambiguity as shakespeare had richard the second tell us my honor is my life both grow and one take honor from may and my life is done stand for something as a first step towards the rest of your life i don't think that's a bad place to start thank you and good luck and i miss all boys will wait for  you that was for you mrs backyard well folks it is the time that you've all been waiting for it is the time for our senior class to receive their diplomas man i asked the first row of boys and the first row of girls to please stand and move towards the stage kirsten alexis adams jonathan clyde era lata laurel irene adam adam talk based or jessica lynn catherine hems bear david cameron sarah elizabeth bars a charles beggs camille suzanne barnes caroline anne back john thomas bianc alley christine bianco jared michael coleman kara grace elena marie eric robert connors jacqueline elizabeth clark david stewart copeland madison rose taylor jordan cox brianna lynn dear matthew martin dixon catherine ruth downing alexander robert ern gillian ray madison catherine eskew adam james for rocco edward douglas finley mackenzie kathleen fitzgerald christina bianca fortune  christopher john ghana ashton clare lindsay diane garlic the van joseph groom valerie catherine go molly catherine gordon kenneth john herman jessica margaret graham alexander higgins jacqueline mccall graves eric sarah marie gripping zachary william hindman stephanie christine ham howard benjamin marcus hoskins tara gray dalton large jenna marie shauna lynn lair nicholas erickson leach christina  emma morley lindsay antony john so christopher mark alexis elizabeth marla matthew paul michelle caitlin martina's robert dawson marshall the third morgan taylor  robert james mcguiness reagan elizabeth mcglennon john eugene mcgovern the third amanda christina roan jonathan daniel peiffer caroline elizabeth nixon thomas grant casey rebecca norton austin men row pits madison ashley nevis ski catherine rosa laughlin elizabeth ashley pal john michael provident the fourth rachel and parker jonathan william cassandra alexis peiffer austin robert samantha rose philips taylor jeffrey robinson tyler alexander santo emily susanna tyler gregory sheldon timothy joseph scrape michael allen small ellen margaret shock tori montana jamie roselle simpson nicholas scott snyder brooke alexander a smith robert russell staff danielle nicole stites mitchell aaron matthew david nico dominic sim area bonnie elizabeth stra andrew lawrence sylvester jessica murphy says mansk grant joseph taylor allison heather thomas old raymond to me michelle marie thomas leonard tossed matthew christopher david verner elizabeth marie kalen ashley williams david richard wall robert wesley ward thomas william webster the third tyler austin wil charles willis ryan andrew w caleb keller why saki according to mrs pavlik have all fulfilled the requirements of graduation set forth by the department of education and the peters township board of education as such see the power vested in me by the commonwealth of pennsylvania i pronounce