and ladies and gentlemen good afternoon my name is dan richardson on the principal of belmont high school on behalf of the administration faculty and students of belmont high school i'd like to welcome you to our commencement ceremony for the class of two thousand and seventeen we're here today to acknowledge that all the young men and women assembled for us have mastered the skills knowledge and habits a blind that our community has deemed to be necessary for success in the future the belmont high school diploma which they will receive today as a symbol of these achievements while the diploma they received today only bears the signatures of school committee chair the superintendent of schools and the high school principal there  scores of individuals in our school system who have had a lasting impact on our young people we also need to recognize their tireless efforts for the faculty and staff for the entire belmont public schools and guiding our students through thirteen years of education here and belmont today we have a group of our faculty here to help preside over this ceremony and celebrate the success of the class of two thousand seventeen i would like to personally thank you for your dedication and devotion to our students for bringing them to this moment today thank you within the group we have an individual who will be leaving us at the end of this year his mark on belmont high school will be remembered for years to come please join me in thanking assistant principal john moe june for his service and wishing him the best of luck in his journey as principal of the shanghai american school to the class of two thousand and seventeen congratulations on being a member of the one hundred forty eight graduating class of belmont public schools the first graduating class of belmont high school was in eight hundred sixty nine and it consisted of six students the class of two thousand and seventeen consists of two hundred eighty nine students and join in at least group they join in a league group of over twenty eight thousand other alumni that can probably call themselves graduates of belmont high school today is truly a day of celebration for not only you but your friends families neighbors teachers and so many others that have been on a journey with you while this chapter of your life is now complete your story is far from over today marks the beginning of a new chapter in your life for this point forward you have the freedom and luxury of creating your own identity and venturing off to follow your passions your future is going to be filled with laughter joy and excitement however at times it may be filled with disappointment struggle pain and sadness while these moments may not always be pleasant you will grow amateur through these experiences and truly find who you are where you are going do not become defined by labels because embrace those that show a spirit of service and commitment to your fellow humans society will want to define you in some way but my advice to you is to resist packaged labels and to create your own you are much more than what you will do for a living become involved in your community and give back to others you never fail to acknowledge the most important labels you will hole mother father spouse and friend continue to and definable but be sure that the labels placed upon you are those that speak to who you truly are labels not only have the power to lift you up but can quickly destroy the story you were telling follow your passion in life wake up to a job you enjoy and go out and make the biggest difference you can in the world along the way take time to explore passions and hobbies as you never know where they might lead to take the trip you've always wanted create your own future rebooked run with a side business started nonprofit politically active and don't form other labels but your own you can and will make a difference in the world just don't be afraid to take that first step as dr seuss proclaims and oh the places you'll go your personal adventures await you thank you for allowing me to be part of your story each and every class that passes through these hallways and walks across the stage a special place in my heart and your class is no different regardless of where life may take you i hope you will always be proud to call yourself a long nine belmont high school congratulations class of two thousand and seventeen tech room with mr dyer leaning over shoulders helping us create our ed line accounts remember how on the end of our account names there was seventeen well that signified a graduation near twenty seventeen and twenty seventeen is now how that happened it felt so long ago back then but now we're here graduating from high school there's certainly a special quality about  class i always thought there was something that set this particular group of people aside from just the average high school class i could never put my finger on what exactly that special quality was til recently i thought that maybe it was because of our maddening fascination with america's favorite gardening supply mulch a fascination that is also shared by our very own mr muld was a class wide game freshman year maybe it's because mr richards once told us that we were the class with the least disciplinary issues in recent years actually maybe now i think about it might be  euphemism for us being the most boring class in recently however none of these reasons are what makes the class of twenty seven thousand truly special quite recently someone someone we all know i think is our very own sarah nelson actually when i hit the nail right on the head about this specialness about her grades her grade is special because regardless of who you are you can sit down with anyone else and just have a nice conversation with them no matter who you are you can take up a supporting role the p c hop into a model un conference or journey down to the creek with the wildlife exploration club you will be accepted as a friend there is a monumental amount of goodness in each in every person in the class of twenty seventeen a goodness that translates into each person looking out for one another it just struck me recently that this is going to be the last times we're all here in belmont together a lot of us have been around the same group of people for thirteen years as long  in the balance school system that's about two thirds of our entire lives now we're going our separate ways for the first time ever it's going to think that we'll be in different parts of the globe sometime soon but i'm consoled in the fact that you're going to be able to spread this goodness wherever you go i'm inspired by you all every day and i know they will be able to spread this goodness outside of belmont inspired countless others i just want to say thank you thank you for making every day exciting and thank you for being a fantastic your people to grow up with i actually i don't think i can illustrate how much i appreciate you all and short time i have to give the speech but i think i can i'm a song i guess ready to go there yeah this is just learn how to play this last weekend i call this little diddy there's no one else i'd rather spend seven hours a day with than you he talking about the class of twenty seven was chosen then some kids broke the bathrooms and calls an explosion headline of something this year that we lucked into also post portals of god our cow truthfully all the way through you people are the best people i knew and deep in my heart this rings true no one outside rather spend seven hours a day with thank you devon for that inspiring speech i'd like to now ask assistant superintendent doris to come to the podium for the presentation of the first two school committee awards devan that's a hard act to follow good afternoon graduates of the class of twenty seventeen parents guardians families educators and other special guests i bring you best wishes from superintendent failon like all of you in the audience today he is with his daughter who is graduating from milton high school this afternoon i see before me two hundred eighty nine young people about to become high school alumni you are two hundred eighty nine stars and each and every one of you will achieve a momentous goal when you receive your diploma today congratulations to all  and i look around this room and i see family friends educators who have loved and supported you throughout your life helping to get to this moment congratulations to you as well there is one star that is not with us today your classmate my words who sadly passed away eighth grade year i know that many of you carry her in your hearts and thanks to you her spirit is here with us today all of the people who touched you in your life will leave a part of themselves  you don't forget to thank all of those people i extend my heartfelt congratulations to each and every one of you and to your family friends and  teachers now before i continue with the program i do have one other award to bestow on friday during the senior awards assembly we made a mistake and we failed to honor a student who earned perfect scores on her a c t exam i am proud to call to the stage to receive her award today congratulations th ok now back to the program i am very pleased to present the first of two school committee awards for outstanding achievement in scholarship this first award is presented to a senior who is a remarkable combination of athlete actor singer volunteer leader and student provides leadership by example on the field in the classroom on the stage in the community is an active participant in the classroom and whose strong interpersonal skills are evident is a four year participant in the performing arts company as well as the improvisational act has served as senior officer of the performing arts company on the stage he stands out for his confidence and dynamic stage presence he has excellent comedic timing as well as the ability to portray serious characters a talented singer he has been a participant in the m singers and chamber choir he has been captain of the b h us varsity soccer team for the past two years he's an eagle scout whose capstone involved gathering and preparing soccer equipment to be donated to children in rwanda he plans to attend the university of california berkeley in the fall for engineering the recipient of this award is edward thank you very much it is an honor for me to be up here representing our class and talking about our years in high school one of the first things i remember from our freshman year was the activities fair that we all went to in our first few months here i remember walking into this gin and hearing the b conversation and interest in the room and seeing the dozens of tables set up with bright signs candies and buttons laid out for the new recruits and each with a different club with its own leaders and members everything from young politicians to cultural groups community service to rock climbing and filmmaking the possibilities were endless and i thought that it was incredible that there were so many people who wanted to do so much in just our small corner of the world over the past four years we have all grown a lot both as students and as people and it has been remarkable for me to see the things that we have done in that time while i have been spending long nights in the theater running lines over and over my friends have been winning state championships in rugby playing at christie just jazz clubs and leading movements for real social change i have had so many incredible experiences and great memories in the theater and i've gotten to see both myself and others grow and shine but more than that being a part of all of those productions and groups gave me a sense of the things that i value in life and  all else is what i believe we have really learned throughout high school since our freshman year we have become the leaders of all of the groups and activities that we may once have thought we could never be a part of we have found our voices our passions and the confidence to back it all up now as we sit here we prepare to move into the next phase of our lives and i know without a doubt that we will continue to grow as both leaders and as people pursuing the dreams that we have found even farther if the person who i was four years ago looking around at this gym at all that stood before me could see us now in that very same  i would be amazed at what we have become thank you at this time i'd like to ask assistant superintendent artist to present the second of the school committee award the second school committee award for outstanding achievement in scholarship is presented to the senior who is intelligent and motivated and has taken on belmont high school's most rigorous classes emerging as a leader in athletics extracurricular clubs activities as well as in the classroom has also taken numerous outside programs in classes to further his knowledge including c s fifty at harvard and multivariable calculus at the harvard extension school with summers spent learning a variety of advance topics such as java script number theory and commie torics i can't explain that one to me has interned at boeing medical technology as well as with d of harvard medical school working on a server to automate data transfer as a member of the soccer team the rewards of careful preparation and training an accomplished young scientist and mathematician whose achievements in these areas are too many to name but include play scene in the massachusetts state science a limpia the new england championship math meet as well as the massachusetts state math me he also represented massachusetts at the american regions math league competition and qualified for the american invitational math exam multiple times is a captain of the b h s math team whether volunteering at the public library tutoring students in math or the s a t s he brings a positive and empathetic nature to all that he does his primary area of focus for service has been at the cambridge center for chinese culture where he served as a teacher's assistant he plans to attend dartmouth college in the fall the per family friends teachers and ministration and fellow graduates to be honest i was a little disappointed when i learned i had to listen to a couple speeches before i could graduates today because i was like nope i am not going to listen to some nerd talk and about a month ago i was told that i was that  reflecting back on high school some of my fondest memories revolved around my school i pad freshman year besides playing flappy bird on it nonstop while of a in the tech department i also unfortunately managed to crack the screen like many of you guys when i asked the school how much a replacement would cost i was told two hundred and fifty dollars now i was not trying to pay two hundred and fifty dollars so i went home and ordered a replacement kit off amazon for twenty bucks i thought of the as a test after it came and i had a full month to use my time management skills to research the inner workings of an i understand fully the replacement procedure and then carry it all out so per usual the night before i had to turn it in i started by looking up how to replace i pad screen on you tube even though all i had were a hair dryer and a set of tools i had no idea how to use i powered my way through the night which included angry asian parents who forced me to go to bed and subsequently honey in my closet for two hours to finish the job finally thirty minutes before school i hit the power button and did didn't turn on luckily it turns out i just didn't connect something properly and ten minutes later it booted up the screen flawless i then proudly turned it in totally sleep deprived bomb my world history final and after less than a week in the fall the point is i had no idea what i was doing and honestly no one really ever does so i want to encourage all of you to continue trying new things in the future especially those who find comfort in sameness soon we'll all be taking the same blind journey into adulthood although our paths will diverged from there many of us will go off to college perhaps thousands of miles from home some of us will opt for a gap year to explore new places around the world and some of us will launch straight into a career no matter what we will all try out new and unique experiences like playing the ukulele at graduation and for that i'm excited i hope the rest of you are too if times ever get hard just remember that back in our years out belmont high we survived three different rounds of a noxious freshm i don't want to delay this ceremony any longer again congratulations so class of twenty at this time i'd like to ask the belmont high school senior our capella group to come up to the stage and perform and so it goes ok we will be performing i'll be there for you the friends theme song and not and so it goes so i enjoy um members of the school committee i hereby certify that the students assembled here today have completed their requirements to earn eight belmont high school diploma at this edward freeman stafford nicholas albino i'm in arkansas alexandra margaret bail and judyth baker louisa farrow lucy and rachel barret john anthony beyond though samantha nicole cas eleanor sarah chambers james clark stuart patrick davis cleary francesco joseph matthew thomas donovan katherine mary daniel joseph allison kayla angela gend molly elizabeth goldberg reagan ashbury hate louisa jane harris frances michael hogan cheyenne are isaac cameron charles jefferson benjamin john jo elizabeth and knight miranda brown joshua a lesson cameron jay macleod jacqueline patricia mahoney robert f malcolm the third jeremy chamberlain curtis alexander sarah elizabeth miller fiona josephine milton bianca molina alexandra elizabeth brand colleen bridget murphy sarah elizabeth nelson georgia violet parson michael andrew paul richard ramsey james michael robert show rachel scal maxwell jay santa lindsay elizabeth say you knew she kathleen a star walker alan thomas rebecca turner sarah and tim molly elizabeth thomas michael o'tool and closing i'd like to thank everyone for coming to share in the celebration with us for today's musical performance many thanks to mr paul kitchen and mr sean landers and their very talented students thanks to head custodian earl frazier and our maintenance staff and for transforming this field house and mr rich preston for his work in putting together this complicated sound system and assistant principal lisa herd of bees who coordinated all i'll pay for that later i also like to think the main office secretaries carol what cindy from a know joan paris for their incredible work in organizing the events of the past few weeks seniors seniors on behalf of the faculty and staff of belmont high school i can say that we're honored to have been able to work with you for the last four years congratulations and good luck i now