And They're Off!

Belleville High School’s Class of 2011 is on its way.

The 114th class received their diplomas last night in a ceremony forced indoors by stormy weather. Hundreds of family members and well-wishers packed the Connie Francis Theater at Belleville High and dozens of others watched the ceremony from classrooms connected by video.

“Each person you met here will be a part of your life forever...Belleville High School will always be a place you’ll never forget,” Class President Vaugh Allan Granados told the crowd.

“Thanks to all of you for giving us the one thing in life that matters most: an education,” said Joelle June Viscardo, the valeditcorian of the Class of 2011.

Peter Zangari, the president of the Belleville Board of Education and himself a 1998 Belleville High School alumnus, offered up some advice from America’s most celebrated writer, Mark Twain.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Explore. Dream. Discover."  

A short time later, after all 316 diplomas had been handed out, the caps flew.