Class of 2011 Graduates from Conard High School

As the bright June sun was setting on their high school careers, 383 members of class of 2011 processed onto the baseball field in their caps and gowns.

There were speeches – punctuated by beautiful music performed by members of the senior class – and the presentation of diplomas. But when the graduates transferred their tassels from one side of their caps to the other, and threw those caps into the air, their lives as high school students came to an end.

Assistant Principal Matt Pace served as master of ceremonies, welcoming everyone, thanking those who made the event a success, and introducing each speaker.

Members of Vocal Jazz Quintessence, Conard’s award-winning musical ensemble, sang their own special rendition of the National Anthem to open the ceremony.

Senior Class President Vy-Thao Nguyen was choked up as she welcomed her fellow graduates to the commencement. “You don’t need a piece of paper to tell you what you can do,” she said. “Always remember your passions, or if you’ve forgotten them, hope that you will find them again soon,” she told her classmates.

The class had selected English teacher Bill Antonitis as their faculty speaker. “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities but in the expert’s there are few,” said Antonitis, quoting the words of Buddhist monk Shunrya Suzuki.

“Remember you are there to learn. Life is about getting everything you can out of every opportunity…hold onto your beginner’s mind,” he said.

“Please always try to put people first. People are real, they’re all around you, and they need you,” Antonitis advised the class of 2011. “One of the toughest parts about this job is letting you go. Stay safe, be smart, and take care of each other.”

Conard Principal Peter Cummings began his speech with a mention of the girl’s softball team’s incredible run to the state championship this past week.

“For each of you, today is a significant milestone. But today is only a beginning,” Cummings said. “Ask hard questions, create innovative solutions, and dream big.”

“Wherever you may go or whatever you may do, you’ll always be a Conard Chieftain,” Cummings told the graduates.

Dr. Karen List, Superintendent of West Hartford Schools, spoke to the graduates about heroes and true heroism. “Heroes are everywhere; choose to be one,” she said. “It makes life truly worth living.”

Board of Education member Naogan Ma joked that her children, who are Conard graduates, “practically begged me to please make it short.”

Ma urged the graduates, who are about to enter an unfamiliar phase of life, to be “comfortable with yourselves.”  She stressed adaptability and a supportive community as important components of success, and told the graduates to “continue to dream big… and have confidence as you pursue those dreams.”

Following a performance by the Senior String Quartet, class commencement speakers Luke Piscitelli and Ben Zeiger took the stage.

“We have undergone a metamorphosis to what we have become today,” said Piscitelli of the graduates’ years at Conard. “I hope your time at Conard has taught you how to live an exciting, adventurous, and spicy life.”

“Try as many ingredients as you can,” said Piscitelli. “Put things in there that are meaningful to you.”

Zeiger compared the Conard experience to the “world experienced through our own camera.”

“When this moment right now becomes the past, we’ll no longer have the shelter of high school,” Zeiger said. “Transcend your own self-interest to truly feel empathy for each other.”

The Senior Choir and Senior String Quartet performed “For Good” from Wicked before guidance counselors individually read each graduate’s name. Diplomas were presented by Board of Education member Ma, and when the last name was called, and the tassels were moved from one side to the other, the class of 2011 was officially graduated.

“I can’t believe I’m already here. It feels like just yesterday I was a freshman,” said new graduate Dana Feigenbaum after the commencement. She will attend Ursinus College in Pennsylvania in the fall.

Graduate Kaitlin Flynn said she felt “pretty good,” but admitted being nervous about starting college next fall at the University of Maine.

Dana Hadra, who will attend Boston College, said that the weirdest part is that “I may not ever see these people again.”

And proud parent Barbara Zukowski, whose daughter Rosemary, a future UConn Huskie, was the last of the alphabetically–ordered graduates to cross the stage, laughed that since the cheering had to wait until the end, “everyone yelled and hollered for my kid.”

Please feel free to add your own graduation photographs to the photo gallery.

Conard High School Graduation 2011 will be telecast on West Hartford Community Television Cable Channel 5. Check www.whctv.org for dates and times of telecasts.