MHS Class of 2012: ‘Tonight Is a Turning Point in Our Lives’

Delivering her speech to the 2012 graduating class of valedictorian Leslie Fink summed up the battlefield of the last four years.

“More obstacles are lying conquered behind us,” said Fink to her classmates from the podium. “We are not the children we once were.

“We are more confident now… We go forward from here and different experiences will change us.”

With a crowd of proud parents, grandparents, siblings and friends looking on, Fink and her classmates became the newest alumni to graduate from the high school in the football stadium during Tuesday evening’s commencement ceremony.

Salutatorian Kelsey Blair compared the graduation to a nexus of not too long ago being those young children in middle school, and now young adults who are looking forward to new horizons. 

“Today is a turning point in our lives,” Blair said. “Never again will we ever be the same.”

Speakers made note of the advantages of living in Moorestown and having the tools of a good education and teachers who care.

“Access to education is a right,” said Joelle Hageboutros, student association president, “but it is a privilege that not everyone has.”

Hageboutros encouraged her fellow students to remember that they are a great class leaving as a great class, and to discover new talents in the road ahead of them. 

Before principal Andrew Seibel’s laudatory remarks to the class, the mood turned briefly somber. 

“It is with a heavy heart,” Seibel said, that “we are missing one of our own.”

Seibel asked the throng of attendees to observe a moment of silence for senior Brianna Wittman, still hospitalized from a  on June 11 that left the 18-year-old in critical condition. She at Cooper University Hospital in Camden.

Eyes welled with tears as Wittman’s family accepted her diploma, and administrators encircled them with hugs.

The high school football stadium then switched to a blanket of yellow and black, as 332 graduates received their diplomas from the staging area, with family and friends snapping pictures and cheering loudly.

The much-loved bouncing of the beach balls—a senior tradition—carried on throughout the ceremonial night.

Regardless of where life takes you, said senior class president Olabode Adunbarin, when this technological world gets tough, keep the ability to laugh.

“It’s been real,” Adunbarin said, “but all good things must come to an end.”

Don't miss our photo gallery from Moorestown High School's 2012 graduation. Plus, check out the Senior Snapshots to learn more about the Class of 2012.