Families crowd GMUHS for graduating Class of 2015
Leah M. Cunningham | Jun 24, 2015 | Comments 1
By Leah M. Cunningham
©2015-Telegraph Publishing LLC
On Friday, June 19, overcast and rainy skies cleared in time for the evening’s ceremonies, as Green Mountain Union High School awarded 57 diplomas to students heading to either college, the work force or the military. (See photo gallery below)
Despite adding 200 chairs to bring audience seating to 500, some family and friends still had found themselves standing among the throngs to witness the milestone. Green Mountain Principal Tom Ferenc later said he expected that next year, he would be adding even more chairs.
During the speeches, salutatorian Madeleine Fulkerson reflected on the class’s first day at Green Mountain to draw on the importance of graduation. “We made it. Some days we may have complained that these years were going by slower than they should have, but tonight it feels like they have flown by,” she told the overflow crowd.
In her speech, valedictorian Alecia Rokes emphasized the importance of community. She urged her classmates “to be active in (their new) community, to take action within it, to make new friends and to find your place in the community that is around you … But we need to remember that this community (Chester) will always be here for us, as it always has been.”
Class guest speaker Melissa Palmer, a social studies teacher who was also an adviser to this class, said that this graduation was “breaking (her) heart.” She told the audience that she had asked GM faculty to pick four words to describe the Class of 2015. She said they came up with “boisterous, lively, fun and capable.”
Several awards that weren’t given out at the June 12 Awards Ceremony were presented during graduation.
They included: Alumni Award to Adrian Baraw-Nelson; American Legion Award to Vanessa Griswold and Alecia Rokes; Babe Ruth Athletic awards Kyle Kemp and Emily McNamara; Chester Academy Gold Pins to Alecia Rokes, Jordan Stewart and Casie Walton; John Butler Scholarships from the Chester Academy to Madeline Fulkerson, Brian Hennel, Daina Ricketts, Alecia Rokes, Jordan Stewart and Casie Walton. Medals and checks to two students nominated by teachers went to Joseph Epler III and Casie Walton. Vanessa Griswold was recognized for her participation in the VAST program at Vermont Technical College, which makes her a sophomore in college.
Several students not mentioned in last week’s Awards Night article in The Chester Telegraph are: Breanna Vittum, who received the Chester Memorial Teachers Award; and Emily Tornquist, Rachel Martel, Katherine McNally, Jessica Ralston, Melanie Thompson and Alexandra DeRosia, who are already attending college and received the Tom Spater Memorial Scholarships.
The ceremony ended with the officers of the Class of 2015 presenting the class’s gift of $1,000 to help fund the school’s outdoor project. And as the start of a new tradition, each member of the class received a GM Spirit Coin as a memento of their time at GM.
Those who also received diplomas but did not attend graduation include: Haley Adams, Pamela Ann Ameden, Sara Davidson, Lilith C. Dyke Gragg, Katherine E. Gordon, Rebecca Johnson-Blanchard and John Alexander Lighthall.
Photos by Leah M. Cunningham. Names listed from left to right, click any to launch gallery.
- Green Mountain Union High School’s Class of 2015
- GM middle and high school band play ‘Pomp and Circumstance.'”
- Staff and faculty of GM enter first.
- Class marshals Robert Haseltine and Rylee Ewald lead the procession of graduates.
- Casie Walton and Ian Martel
- Addison Provance and Kristina Knockenhauer
- Breanna Vittum and Emily McNamara
- Courtney Sheldon and Tessa Bushey
- Austin Barrows and Madeleine Fulkerson
- Jordan Alexandra Stewart and Alecia Barbara Rokes
- Adrian Baraw-Nelson and Brian Hennel
- Taylor Hendee and Kristie Palowski
- Logan Mott and Ryan Murphy
- Kyle Kemp and Joseph Epler III
- Jerick Hoose and Caitlyn Haughey
- Abagale Van Alstyne and Tyler Tyrrell
- Holly Landon and Desirree Nestor
- Vanessa Griswold and Abigail Underwood
- Tylisha Johnson-Blanchard and Megan Hayes
- Daina Ricketts and Abel Millay
- Karen Ellison and Samantha Wood
- Taylor Spaulding and Tanner Stearns
- Hope White and Steven Tyler Kingsbury
- Matt Palmer and Desirae Williams
- Bruce Jonson III and Benjamin Stowell-Danforth
- Eli DeLorea and Christopher Holley
- Kayla Elise Smith and Savannah Shields
- Josh Blish and Jonathan Wright
- Andrew Ditzler and Andrew Plumb
- Principal Tom Ferenc tells the audience that he’ll be increasing seating capacity next year as well.
- Superintendent of Schools Bruce Williams tells the Class of 2015 to ‘aspire to be the light’ in a world of darkness.
- Salutatorian Madeleine Fulkerson
- Valedictorian Alecia Rokes
- Guest speaker and class advisor Melissa Palmer
- GM Small Ensemble sings ‘For Good’ and Samantha Wood signs it using American Sign Language.
- Class officers Kristina Knockenhauer, Tessa Bushey, Emily McNamara and Casie Walton present the class gift.
Filed Under: Chester • Education News • Latest News
About the Author:
It’s heartening to those of us who attended the first GMUHS graduation ceremony back in 1971 to see that the school’s commitments to excellence and community continue.