TLHS Class of 2021 enjoys outdoor ceremony; told “Never stop being your true selves”
By Rich Rosentreter
The sunshine beamed upon the Tupper Lake High School Class of 2021 as they gathered on the Frank Tice Memorial Field - the site of this year’s graduation ceremony, and it was indeed a glorious end to what has been a challenging school year.
The keystone speaker was Christine Campeau, who has worked for more than 20 years as the school programs manager at the Adirondack Experience, formerly the Adirondack Museum, and she regularly visited students in the Tupper Lake School District as part of her role at that facility.
The ceremony was originally scheduled to be in the L.P. Quinn Elementary School parking lot, but an insightful and wise last-minute change was made to hold it in the spacious field area. The bleachers were full of proud family and friends, while the graduates, faculty and school administrators sat below - a giant screen was set up on the field so everyone could get a clear view of the proceedings.
Festivities got underway with Molly Sullivan giving the opening remarks, and she spoke about the challenges of the school year, with the pandemic being front and center.
“The first challenge we faced was the pandemic. School was different for all of us. We got through it just fine and some of us improved in some aspects,” she said. “Yes, we’ve had a tough year, but I believe what matters is that our class was able to push through all of these struggles. We are here today because we made it, that’s how I know all of us will continue to keep making it. I know it’s cliché to say we are closing a chapter of our lives and opening a new one, but I’d like to go off that analogy and say I know we can make it through any number of chapters that we are faced with. Welcome to the graduation ceremony of the Class of 2021, the class that was able to make it through it all.”
Miss Sullivan was followed by Principal Cynthia Lauzon who gave the introductory speech. She started by joking that she was not only introducing herself to the audience but to the graduating class as this was the first time many of them had seen her face as it was covered by a mask for the past year.
“I am sure there are seniors graduating tonight who have never seen me in person until now,” she said. “It’s nice to meet everyone.”
“I could talk about all the doom and gloom and all the fancy buzz words that we’ve all heard through this past year, I’m not going to do that. The way I like to look at it is this has been a year of firsts,” she said, explaining that both she and Elizabeth Littlefield, who is the principal at the L.P. Quinn Elementary School, have completed their first year on the job. “I’ve only been here for this school year, therefore I don’t have many detailed memories to share with you about this class, which is normally what you’d hear from a principal at this time.”
“I will stick to what seems to be the theme for this school year. I guess the theme that I took away from this year and what I want to share with the graduates - plan for what you hope or want to happen, but be ready to make adjustments along the way. There isn’t only just one way to reach your goals. I don’t think any of us would map out or plan a school year like this one. At the beginning, most of wondered what school would even look like. In the middle, I don’t know about you, but I was constantly thinking about ways to get us back to in-person more. The fact that we can all work together, entrust in the process, allows for great things to happen, like tonight. We are all here tonight to acknowledge the accomplishments of each and every one of you. The path was not easy for anyone to navigate this year, but you all found your way, more importantly, in your own way. So on behalf of the faculty and staff, we’d like you to know this: We are proud of you, proud of what you’ve accomplished, and we’re thankful we got to share this experience with you.”
“We hope you find passion and purpose, and accomplish your heart’s desires. We hope you find the courage within yourself to be and the strength to be persistent. Finally, we hope you will continue to represent this school well, and throughout your lives, you will leave each place you touch a bit better for your having been there. Congratulations and best of luck to the Tupper Lake Class of 2021.”
Next up was Alexis Staves, who gave the Salutatory Address and started by saying that when she wrote her speech, the last thing she wanted to write about was the pandemic.
“I want to reflect on all that we had and what we still have despite the circumstances we have all faced over the last year. The group of students that sits before you today have thousands of memories throughout the halls of both the elementary and high school,” she said as she recalled some of those memories, such as Mrs. Savage’s classroom and the rug they all remember, learning the alphabet and “Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom, which garnered laughs and giggles from the graduates.
“As you leave here today, I want you all to not be sad about the memories we missed out on, but recall all the memories we were able to make in our time together,” Miss Staves said. “As you continue on in life, whether it be entering the workforce, pursuing further education or going into the military, I want you all to remember the memories we have shared and continue to make new memories with those around you. There have been many tough times throughout our lives thus far and in our futures unfortunately there will be more. When the road gets rough we’ll look back to these times, the exact milestones you have been able to reach despite the challenges that have been thrown at you. These past two years have not been the easiest, but if we all learned one thing from it, is that we are capable of doing what some think is impossible, that perseverance is commendable and does not go unrecognized. Thank you to my class for all of the memories and never failing to keep things interesting. Thank you to the teachers who went above and beyond for their students. Thank you to all the janitors and bus drivers who have picked up our messes and gave us a ride home. And thank you to all who came tonight, you have helped us reach this milestone in our lives. With that being said, congratulations everyone, you made it!”
Next on the agenda was the playing of the class song, which included a school highlight video clip and sung by the high school chorus - and that provided a plethora of emotions for the Class of 2021 as graduates smiled, laughed and at times got teary-eyed.
Following the video, the Valedictory Address was given by Samantha Higgins who had a congratulatory message for her classmates.
“We’ve made it! It’s been a long, bumpy road from pre-K to today, but we made it! And now high school is in the past. We’ve come a long way and I’m proud of each and every one of us, and you all deserve to be proud of yourself too, especially this past year, we’ve worked very hard to get here,” she started, and mentioned some of the issues students faced during COVID - even though she realized not many people want to hear about that topic. “I started thinking and I realized how resilient our class is and just how much we’ve been through. I know a lot of us had a hard time even making it here today with all the work being online and being home for so long, on countless Google meets, having mics on mute when people listened to music during class, teachers being muted and trying to speak to us, cameras not working and the list goes on.”
“On top of the technology issues, I myself and others had a hard time finding the motivation to get the work done at times. But we all got through it and once we got back to school we put in a lot of hard work and extra hours after school to get our grades up so we can graduate. Even with these setbacks, we’ve all made it to the day when we finally graduate high school. It seems unreal.”
“This is the first step toward our future. In reviewing this difficult year, I feel we have learned something that will valuable for the rest of our lives. We have learned self-motivation, learned to deal with the lack of in-person socialization and new ways to try to connect with people. No matter the setbacks we faced and missing out on so many things I can say I was looking forward to since middle school, always seeing how much fun the seniors had each year,” she said, naming such events a pep rallies, regular sports seasons, school musicals and especially the prom. “However, due to these setbacks, I believe this class is still going to overcome and still be able to achieve whatever we set out to accomplish. We are unique with the fact that there is no other class that has faced what we did for a whole year. I have come to the realization that it is so important to realize that life will throw you curveballs, and you will need to push on through to achieve your goals or get through a problem.”
Miss Higgins then provided her classmates with her advice.
“Make sure you have a support system, whether it be friends, family or mentors to lean on because it’s better to have someone by your side to pull you through,” Higgins said, adding that shoe would to have been able to make it through the school year without her family and classmates. “These people were vital to me being able to achieve what I have and to succeed in high school. These are the kinds of people you need to try to find as you figure out where you plan to go next. Thank you and congratulations to the Class of 2021.”
Russell Bartlett then gave the superintendent’s address on the big screen and spoke to the audience via computer as he was out of town for personal reasons.
“I know we’ve all gotten accustomed to seeing people on Zoom and Google Meets so talking to you like this is less out of the ordinary than it should be, but this isn’t how I wanted to speak to you tonight. I wanted to be there to celebrate with you in person, but as we’ve all learned over the last year and a half, sometimes real life gets in the way of our plans. But as you have been doing since March of last year, we find a way, we persevere, and we just plain get stuff done when we have to,” he began, as he discussed terms like normal and change. “A phrase that’s been used a lot over the last year is the ‘new normal.’ It’s supposed to lead us to think about a future that involves changes we hadn’t thought of previously. Well, you know what? Normal is being redefined every minute of every day, global pandemic or not. Every discovery, every invention, every answered question, puts us on a new path that looks slightly different than the one we were on a minute ago. If you want another cliché to throw on top of the other one, let’s talk about ‘The Only Constant is Change.’ See, we like to have tidy little sayings that sum up life in a few short words - it makes things feel less overwhelming, a little smaller and more manageable. Here’s the thing: change is good. Change leads us to try different things, to ask new questions, or to look at the old way and see if there are newer or better ways. Sometimes there are new ways, and sometimes the old way is better. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t ask the question every now and then. And sometimes a giant stupid global pandemic comes along and asks it for us.”
“So all of this is my way of telling you that unexpected, sometimes unpleasant things are going to pop up in your lives. When they do, you can go ‘Woe is me, this is terrible, I should just wait until everything goes back to normal.’ But what if they never do? There’s a good chance they won’t. What if, instead, you used it as an opportunity to take a look inside and see what works and what doesn’t work well and make some changes for the better? I think that might be the lasting message that comes out of this school year, and something that the graduates sitting out here have already started to do. Again, sorry I couldn’t be there with you today, but congratulations and I’ll see you soon!”
The next presentation provided more emotions as English teacher Melissa Savage fought tears in an emotional acceptance of the Outstanding Educator Award. Her qualities as a teacher were read by Mr. Bartlett, who first introduced some of the criteria for the teacher’s award.
“Outstanding educators work to educate the whole student. While they may teach a particular grade level or subject, what they actually teach are the life skills that make for productive, capable adults,” he said before providing some quotes from colleagues and current and former students about this year’s winner:
“They educate the entire student, recognizing that each must have his or her basic needs met before they can be expected to be fully functional and engaged in class. Got some other stuff going on in your life that’s bothering you? Let’s get those things solved first, then we can attend to the things we came here to learn; reaches out to every single student, not just the good ones or the ones that seem to care the most. You can’t get away with not caring in their class, they will pull you in no matter how hard you try to stay invisible; sets high expectations for everyone, and no matter how hard you try to break them down and get them to lower those expectations, they’re the same every day; you know you’re going to have to think every day when you walk in the door to their class; super knowledgeable, structured and no-nonsense; will always challenge every student every day. Witty, empathetic, high expectations. Takes no crap. May or may not be the root of all evil and all things terrifying in the universe, but that’s why we love her.”
“I have seen her display the full gamut of emotions when it comes to her students. She is their biggest advocate, fiercest defender and greatest cheerleader,” Mr. Bartlett said as he announced Melissa Savage as the award recipient - who then made her way to the stage.
“I love each and every one of you, thank you so much,” she said, her emotions on full display from the moment she left her seat. “I am speechless, that has never happened to me before. I’m really very, very proud of all of you, I just want you to know that, and I can’t wait to see what you do in the future.”
Lily St. Onge then came on stage to introduce guest speaker Christine Campeau, who shared a story when she was visiting the local elementary school
“A third grade student at L.P. Quinn once said to me, ‘You are so not boring.’ I considered that the highest compliment I have ever been paid, until tonight. It is an absolute honor to be invited by seniors to be your graduation speaker. I have known most of these students since they were in kindergarten,” she said. “I am especially honored to be up here tonight… It is the graduation speaker's duty to offer advice. I will offer several pieces, and you can choose what speaks to you,” she said.
“First a quick one – if you do not know how to play the game of chess, learn. And when you know how to, play as often as you are able. There are many metaphors for life among those pawns and queens. Next, the old standby – work hard. Hard work nearly always pays off. Often in amazing ways. Perhaps not always in the ways you imagined and not always immediately, but there are real rewards to doing hard work. Now what is hard work? Well, mowing the lawn, stacking wood, raking the leaves; and also, reading the book – all of it; writing the paper; making the phone call. The rewards often out way the effort put in. There are times when you’re going to be frustrated, feel defeated, and just be tired; power through that and keep going and keep doing, while the rewards can be delayed, they are there.”
“Remember your lumberjack roots - grit, determination and good humor. Those jacks went out each day and worked hard and returned to camp singing songs and telling tales,” Ms. Campeau added. “I have enjoyed and appreciated your honesty and good humor ever since that kid told me I wasn’t boring - because it seems he expected I was going to be. That frank, good natured honesty is refreshing in a world that is sometimes not honest and often not funny.”
“The next piece of advice is a balance to all that hard work – find your joy. Do not let anyone take it from you, diminish it or make you feel silly or bad about it. Find what makes your heart sing. I am happiest when I see/do/hear - fill in the blank. Sometimes it takes some time to find that perfect joy, trust you will find it and when you do delight in it as often as you can,” she said. “The final piece, is something the Rolling Stones said better than I will – you should occasionally stop and look around. Quite literally stop. And look around. Prep for what is coming at you and reflect on what has passed. And recognize blessings. That joy you are looking for and that is looking for you, may find you in these moments. Things come to you when you are silent and listen. Good things. They sometimes come when you take a break from raking leaves or stacking wood, or reading that long book.”
“Thank you for giving me a final opportunity to present to you. You are brave, humorous, hardworking, amazing humans. Stop and listen now and then and notice the rewards and blessing there. And never stop being your true, honest selves!”
Finally the graduating class were presented their diplomas followed by the always emotional presentation of flowers and then the closing remarks by Elaina Daniels, who fought back her emotions as she delivered her speech - and recognized she was the final speaker of the ceremony.
“I’m not much of a talker, but at this moment I could talk forever because I’m the only thing keeping us from the end of our high school experience, and what an experience it has been,” she said. “I hope everyone here today has reflected how far they have come and realize how far they will go. Plans change and opportunities come and go. You have to fall in order fly, and I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to start flying. As long as you constantly keep pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, you will be successful. Choose happiness over everything, take care of your mind, your body and your spirit. Be kind, choose the right people, and demand respect when it’s deserved. I’m excited to see what all of you make of yourselves someday. Congratulations to the Class of 2021!”