Updated: Abington's Class of 'One-One' Graduates

The class interrupted its principal a handful of times with “the wave,” several (confiscated) beach balls and chants of “one-one.”

Abington Senior High School principal Jeffrey Fecher seemed to roll with it.

The 124^th commencement at Abington Senior High School, on June 13, bumped 598 students to the level of high school graduate.

The ceremony was special for Fecher because the Class of 2011 is the first class in which Fecher had the opportunity to get to know the students from their sophomore through their senior year.

He called the Class of 2011 a creative and innovative one—and added that he feels good about their generation … despite the wave, the “one-one” and the beach balls.

“Thanks for the slight intermission,” Fecher said jokingly and nervously from the podium, as the excited students interrupted the flow of the ceremony.

Fecher went on to say that the 598 students earned about $4 million in scholarships. Many have been accepted to prestigious colleges and trade schools, and many are serving in each branch of the armed forces.

Stealing the show was salutatorian Nicholas Ruhl. He said he wanted to convey to the class that it’s OK to take risks—but said that if he said that, the class would forget his message by Thursday. 

Instead, he took a risk by “throwing away” his speech after reciting some trite lines.

“This has been a long 12 years—pause for laughter,” Ruhl said. “I remember I was a little kindergartener—blah blah blah blah.”

Ruhl then threw a piece of paper off the podium and then appeared to speak from memory.

“Anything I say right now, you’re all going to forget by like, Thursday morning because when you hear something, you forget it, especially when you hear from a graduation speaker who can barely put his cap and gown on correctly,” Ruhl said.

“Maybe throwing away my speech was a horrible idea. I might forget what to say, get stuck up here and get booed off the stage by all of you guys.

“By throwing away my speech, maybe I’m trying to show everyone that it’s OK to take risks, and take a gamble and to do things your own way,” he said.  “I didn’t want to sit up here and read a paper aloud. That’s not me.”

Valedictorian Rebecca Glynn compared the last day of high school to the last day in the minor league. Glynn’s speech was heavy with the baseball analogies.

And class speaker Jennifer Ryan compared Abington Senior High School to home. Ryan told her class and the audience that her grandfather’s last word was “home,” and said that her father even has a tattoo of the word “home” on his arm.

Ryan went on to say that, looking back, she found it odd that she was initially frightened of her high school home.

“In the beginning, not all of us were comfortable being here. Not all of us felt like we were part of the family,” Ryan said. "In the senior high, we were thrown into the school with big, bad seniors. They were 18 years old, could vote, smoke and buy lottery tickets."

Ryan said said she wore Velcro pockets on her first day at the senior high school so no one would steal her lunch money.

They never did.

Abington Superintendent Amy Sichel said the Class of 2011 excelled in every aspect of high school.

“We now stand together at your commencement, and tomorrow you will move on to an exciting world, which will offer you many things and have much demands on you,” Sichel said. “Your accomplishments have been, and will continue to be, significant. I know your futures will be bright …"

After Sichel’s speech, a student yelled, “One-one!”

Sichel said, “That’s right. The Class of ‘Twenty one-one.’”

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