Class of 2011 Graduates from Milton High

A sunny yet breezy Sunday set the stage for the Class of 2011's graduation ceremony from .

A class of 246 seniors created a "sea of red and white" in the Copeland Field House as retiring school principal Dr. John Drottar and School Committee Chairperson Glenn Pavlicek welcomed friends, family and administrators to the ceremony.

Michelle Nabi, the class salutatorian, was the first to speak to the class and delivered a short and sweet commentary on the importance of dreams.

"Passion, determination and effort are what make dreams...and those dreams have now awakened...I love you all. Keep dreaming" said Nabi.

A joyful music selection performed by the Milton High School band broke up the speeches. Rebecca Damiani and Gary Good directed the group, which included the seniors of 2011 in their robes.

Valedictorian Kathleen Hill comically remarked that "in six years, we'll all still look like this, so the first reunion won't be so bad" and gave a shout out to her "second family" in the music hallway, all while she urged her classmates to look to the future.

"We will be the change we wish to see in the world---for better or for worse," predicted Hill.

Finally, it was evident that class president Veronica Surette-Fahey wanted to remind everyone to live in the moment by  quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson, reading, "People are always getting ready to live, but never start living" and restating time and time again that "now is the time"

Dr. Drottar, who has spent the last 31 years in the Milton Public School system  as a math teacher, head of the high school's math department and the school's prinicipal is retiring at the end of this school year. Thanking Dr. Drottar for his amazing teaching and guidance over the years was a recurring theme in the ceremony's speeches.

Superintendent Mary Gormley even stole the mic for an impromptu tribute to Dr. Drottar before the presentation of diplomas.