Hatboro-Horsham Graduates Class of 2012

“Ladies and gentlemen, it is with honor and great pleasure that I introduce to you the graduating class of 2012.”

With those words, spoken by Principal Dennis Williams, graduation caps came off and were flung into the air Monday evening as hundreds of Hatboro-Horsham seniors officially finished their high school careers.

As the ceremony began at the recently , gray clouds began to fill the sky above the ceremony. Thankfully, the foul weather stayed at bay and the commencement proceeded without a hitch.

, the high school’s two salutatorians and Principal Williams all spoke of the future and the past.

“While it’s important to know your past, it’s even more important to carefully craft your future. So, now turn your attention from your rearview to your windshield - because if you are constantly looking at what happened previously you cannot truly be focused on what you need to make happen in the future,” Williams told the students.

“The future is coming, at a rate of 60 minutes an hour, every hour. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, it’s coming, and there is nothing we can do to change that,” said co-salutatorian Sarah Alexander. However, she urged the class to value the time they have and to make the most of it.

Co-salutatorian told his peers that failure was a part of life and his fellow graduates should embrace their failures and “fulfill our dreams.”

"Our graduation is only meaningful because of how we’ve struggled and grown these past four years," Vaddempudi said.

During Zhang’s speech, the graduate used Harry Potter’s struggles in the best-selling book series as a metaphor for navigating life and achieving greatness.

“Any one of us could be Harry Potter. And although magic isn’t real … each and every one of us is capable of accomplishing great things in the real world,” Zhang said.

In Alexander’s speech, she referenced Harry Potter by saying that many students knew her during freshman year as a “Harry Potter-loving math nerd,” but she learned to embrace it.

Students should have “memories of how this community always seems to pull together in the face of tragedy and loss,” Williams told the graduates.

Williams referenced the tragic 2010 death of Nicolas Carr, who would have been graduating with the class of 2012. Carr died after falling from the 175-foot-tall tower at Whitemarsh Memorial Park in Horsham after a night with friends.

The principal congratulated the class on their many accomplishments. He boasted that 75 percent of the students were attending college in the fall and a large percentage of the others will be entering the workforce or armed forces.

“High school is over in the temporal but it will always be in our hearts. The whole world is free to you now, so summon your broomsticks and prepare for a wild ride,” Zhang told his classmates with a smile.

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