Tolland High Graduates Urged to Have a “Joyous and Very Full Dash”

As senior class couple Lana Higgins and Joe Chagnot waited in the Tolland High School auditorium Monday night for someone to pin a red carnation boutonniere to their gowns, both were thinking very different thoughts regarding graduation day.

“It's weird,” was all Higgins, who will attend Bay Path College in East Longmeadow, MA, could say.

Chagnot, who will attend Lincoln Tech in East Windsor, took it in stride.

“It's just another day,” he said.

Just another day … maybe.

“It is truly a special evening and a once-in-a-lifetime event,” class advisor and commencement coordinator Todd Blais said moments later.

Watching the first class graduate under her tenure as principal of Tolland High, Dominique Fox told the 228 soon-to-be alumni, their families and friends that the Class of 2011 is ready for the challenges that life has for them.

“Don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone or even fail,” she said, noting that failure can be a great learning experience. “The next chapter awaits you, embrace it.”

Superintendent of Schools William Guzman echoed Fox’s words, telling the graduates not to be afraid if they don’t succeed on the first shot.

“Don't be afraid of failure,” Guzman said to those gathered in the THS gymnasium. “It's not the number of times you get knocked down, it's the number of times you get back up.”

When the students had a chance to take the microphone, class salutatorian Solomon Boucher reminisced about the first days at Tolland High, likening the class to uncertain children when the students first walked into grand THS lobby. Four years later they leave as prepared young adults, he said.

“We are not done learning,” Boucher said. “We will carry with us the skills this community has fostered in us. We learned that true success comes with dedication and perseverance.”

Boucher also said he hoped each of his classmates has found a mentor, much like he did in Roger Leege, a technology teacher and administrator who retired this year after 40 years in education.

Adding more emphasis to the importance of learning, class valedictorian Beverly Naigles told her fellow classmates that although the ceremony marked the end of high school, it was not the end of their education, no matter what the future has in store for them.

“A real education teaches us how to question,” Naigles said. “Many of the smartest people I know ask a lot of questions. Education is about questioning the answers. Keep questioning.”

Lucy Anne Hurston, Manchester Community College professor, author and niece of novelist Zora Neale Hurston, started out with what sounded like a lesson in punctuation. Instead, “the dash” she referred to turned out to be a metaphor for life’s journey. She said there is a dash between your birth and death dates, it's what you do between those dates (the dash) that is most important.

“Zora Neale Hurston was born in 1891 and died in 1960,” Lucy Anne Hurston said of her aunt, who wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God. “She was one generation [removed] from slavery. Her parents were slaves, but all eight of their children were college educated,” she said. 

“Before that dash was education. It is expected that you, too, will be life-long learners. You stop learning after the dash. Have a joyous and very full dash,” she said.

Here is the Tolland High School graduating class of 2011:

First Name

MI

Last Name

Lauren

M

Abbate

Jesse

C

Aldin

Rachel

M

Alvarez

Erik

D

Anderson

Sarah

Kristin

Anischik

Alexander

T

Arena

Cody

E

Artruc

Devin

D

Beck

Connor

A

Becz

Katherine

E

Blair

Tyler

M

Bobey

Solomon

L

Boucher

Christopher

R

Bradford

Brianna

Elyse

Brancati

Isaac

Braz

Nicholas

T

Bunce

Paige

C

Bundy

Lindsay

A

Cabaniss

Katherine

Alexandra

Callis

Greg

J

Canepa

Chad

Justin

Carpenter

Nicholas

R

Cassarino

Joseph

E

Chagnot

Hanna

Kristin

Christensen

Troy

M

Ciesco

Hayley

Elizabeth

Clark

Alexander

Buck

Clifford

Jesse

Cook

Audrey

Dean

Corbin

Jennifer

M

Correnti

Pasquale

Biagio

Cortese

Laura

Jane

Costello

Nicholas

Walter

Coutant

Connor

Nichole

Crawford

Justice

Briana

Croutch

Craig

M

Cyr

Gregory

Walter

Czarnecki

Alexis

M

D'Aloisio

Adam

Nizar

Dassouki

Lindsey

Kathryn

Davidson

Brittany

Alexis

DeCarli

Nicholas

Spencer

DeCrosta

Brooke

Olivia

Dederer

David

P

Della Camera

Francesca

O

DeRosa

Matthew

Joseph

DeRoy

Justin

D

Desilets

Taylor

Steven

DesRoches

Kailee

N

Doerfler

Alyssa

G

Domian

Shania

E

Donais

Ashley

Rose

Donor

Kaitlin

M

Dooley

Karen

Elyzabeth

Duhamel

Bryan

Richard

Dunham

Garrett

P

Eastman

Samantha

L

Ehrhardt

Elizabeth

Ann

Elliott

Thomas

J

Fabrizio

Bradley

Christopher

Farnum

David

M

Ferris

Julia

L

Finke

Kirk

Richard

Fitzgerald

Ralph

Spencer

Fogg

Christy

Caitlin

Forschner

Charles

Bryan

Fowler IV

Rachel

A

Francis

Ian

W

Friedrich

Allyce

M

Froning

Connor

S

Furey

Dakota

Leigh

Gagliardi

Ryan

M

Gannon

Jennifer

Ann

Gaudio

Matthew

M

Gaudio

Audrey

Elizabeth

Gaughan

Ryan

James

Gosse

Devin

A

Guerreri

Lauren

Elizabeth

Gustafson

Alexandra

Nicole

Guzy

Joseph

R

Haggerty

Mason

Matthew

Hainey

Kelsey

Lynn

Hannington

Sarah

Joan

Harder

Jesica

A

Higgins

Lana

Rae

Higgins

Olivia

Ashley

Hodina

Michael

Holybee

Eric

Scott

Horsfield

Kelly

Marie

Howard

Sarah

Howard

Micaela

Ann

Hussey

James

Benjamin

Hutton

Emily

Lynn

Isch

Andrew

Jandzinski

Kyle

A

Jaworski

Lauren

N

Jay

Robert

Corey

Keane

Rebecca

R

Keller

Melissa

P

Kenney

Adam

Matthew

Kies

Kevin

A

Kilguss

Sharon

Hyun

Kim

Heather

Ann

Kittredge

Trevor

J

Knapp

Stephanie

Michelle

Knowlton

Erika

Maria

Koiva

Zoe

Robyn

Krause

Julia

Judith

Lachut

Trevor

J

Lafontaine

Zachary

Leonard Carl

Lafontaine

Bryan

Chester

Lanoue

Jamie

E-M

Landolina

Timothy

D

LeBel

Justin

W

Lee

Marissa

Ann

Lenoce

Alexis

Nicole

Lissabet

Eric

David

Longo

Thomas

Arsenio

Loura

Melinda

Katherine

Lutzen

Jeremy

P

MacDonough

Patrick

James

MacGillvary

Zachary

Maffessoli

Samantha

Ann

Mairson

Alexis

Nicole

Martin

Andrew

B

Martin

Stephen

R

Maurer

Joshua

B

May

Victoria

Kyrsten

May

Tyler

James

Mazzadra

Anthony

P

Mazzola

Wayne

Scott

McGuire

Christopher

McKenty

Lauren

Jessica

McNevins

Sara

Jean

Mokoski

Thomas

Patrick

Moran

Christopher

William

Moreau

Amber

Ann

Morrone

Jonathan

E

Moser

Erin

Nicole

Mulry

Belle

Ami

Nadeau

Beverly

Marcella

Naigles

Gregory

Haskell

Naigles

Austin

Tyler

Nelson

Benjamin

Paul

Nixon

Ashley

O'Brien

Justin

James

Opraseuth

Randy

W

Osgood

Rhiannon

L

Pearson

Andrew

Adam

Pelzer

Kristina

Elizabeth

Pfau

Kristina

Brooke

Porter

Liane

Eileen

Povilonis

Stephen

Matthew

Quick

Jennifer

Lynn

Rankin

Steven

Travis

Reel

Jonathan

P

Reynolds

Taylor

Reynolds

Jessica

Lauren

Rhodes

Kathryn

Elanie

Rhodes

Matthew

Palmer

Richmond

Nicholas

Rigazio-Digilio

Brittany

Taylor

Rodenmayer

Ryan

Wayne

Rossignol

Roger

D

Rothe

Andrew

Cyr

Roussey

Kyle

Alexander

Ruggiero

Elizabeth

Angell

Sadlon

Jedidiah

Peter

Sadloski

Justin

Salvatore

Andrea

Kathryn

Santariello

Emily

M

Sattler

Courtney

Jean

Savage

Dylan

M

Schiff

Peter

John

Schmidt

Kyle

William

Schmitz

Jonathan

C

Schuberth

Eric

Robert

Sentochnik

Joshua

P

Shaw

Kevin

M

Shaw

Alexandra

E

Shea

Damaris

J

Silhavy

Maxwell

M

Silvia

Nicolas

Jas

Smith

Caitlin

R

Solazzo

Samantha

L

Sprague

William

T

Sprout

Ashley

Nicole

St. Pierre

Brittany

Ann

St. Pierre

Emma

Jo

Stankiewicz

Taylor

P

Stetson

Steven

M

Stoyer

Kristofer

K

Strobel

Joseph

Peter

Surdel III

Joanne

Elizabeth

Swanson

Corrine

Lahaina

Swart

Kim

Suzanne

Tanguay

Kristen

Claire

Tetreault

Deanna

M

Thibault

Daniel

S

Thompson

Regan

Marie

Torres

Rebecca

Lynn

Tourtellotte

Kelsey

Nicole

Tuller

Emily

Rose

Tunila

Alexandra

J

Tursi

Dominic

D

Tursi

Megan

E

Vatteroni

Stefan

E

Velez

Andrew

Allan

Vigeant

Jeffrey

A

Wagner

Alexis

Kayla

Waller

Olivia

A

Warszawik

Brittany

Amanda

Wasilewski

Justin

C

Wasserstein

Allison

Jane

Waterfield

Ryleigh

Webber

Jennifer

Marie

Weigold

Amy

Welch

Tyler

Symmes

Wellington

Zachary

Lee

Whitney

Evan

Merrill

Wilchak

David

A

Wilson

Evan

V

Winebrenner

Alyssa

Michele

Yavis

Kyle

Richard

Youmans

Michael

D

Young

Jenna

Zabilansky