Katherine Barnes
2016 Class Valedictorian
Good afternoon. Wow. Congrats, guys! Beyond proud describes how I feel about us today. Drake said it best: “We started from the bottom, now we here.” The Chelsea High School class of 2016 sits before you now, having worked extremely hard to occupy these seats and walk across this stage. Our class is by far the best, I’ll admit my bias. We have weathered so many challenges together. Celebration and mourning have both marked our journey. Through loss, happiness, and change alike, we have repeatedly come out on top.
Bittersweet hardly captures today. Some of us are leaving behind our friends, our family and our home. Others are starting journeys that keep us closer to home. Diplomas received on this stage will mark the end of this chapter. Scary and exciting blend together in this moment. What follows is a new chapter, one filled with adventures and anecdotes that will shape us into adults. While sadness colors today, tomorrow brims with opportunity. Each and every one of us will take the world by storm, just as we did in high school. We started from the bottom, but so much more awaits our achievement.
Every person in this room possesses the capability to create waves in the world. I hope you all continue to enact change in college and beyond. Most importantly, I hope that we come back to Chelsea. This school and this city deserve our immense gratitude. To create a better place for the next generation of Chelsea High School students, many opportunities exist. We cannot forget that we were once devils, too. We cannot forget that we will always be devils.
Looking out into the crowd, I see those who got us here: parents, siblings, grandparents, teachers. The families and friends of the graduates deserve congratulation as well. Many of us, including myself, would not be sitting here today without your constant love and support. All the teachers and guidance counselors merit a big shoutout for supporting us, for always being there when we needed help, for becoming more like friends than teachers. Knowledge stands as the best gift you could have given us.
Being here today with all of you fills me with happiness. I couldn’t ask for a better class. I hope you are all proud of what you have accomplished! Good luck on your future endeavors! Go B16 or Go Home, 2016!
George Hernandez
2016 Class President
This is unreal. Finally the day has come when we receive a piece of paper we’ve all been working so hard to get. A diploma that says we are Chelsea High graduates. Class of 2016, I want to start off by saying thank you. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be your Class President over the past two years. If you know me, you know I’m a loud person, usually good at talking to large crowds. But all of you guys gets me extremely nervous in a way I can’t quite describe.
Writing this speech proved difficult because I couldn’t stop shaking. The realization hit me: we are graduating. This ranks as the scariest, most exciting thing I’ve ever had to do in my life. Excitement makes me want to scream and shout, but truthfully, I want to hug Tobar and Almquist and not let them go. On May 27, our last day of school, it became clear to me that we are graduating with the best class Chelsea High has ever seen! What other class gets their senior prank ruined then decides to throw the craziest 20 minute block party during 3rd period to make up for it? What other class, denied the chance to watch their senior video, decides instead to get up and dance with one another to enjoy themselves and make the best of time? NO other class, I repeat! No other class will ever compete with 2016!
To everyone who awaits a diploma, I wish the best of luck in the future. Whether you’re going to college, to serve the country, or whatever it is you choose to do in life after today, I wish you all luck my friends. Serious challenges await in the real world, and readiness may elude us. But it’s like hide n seek. Ready or not, here it comes. I want you guys to leave here with something that I found very inspiring. In the movie, Big Hero 6, Hero’s older brother created Baymax. He did not get Baymax on the first try. He tried over and over again but nothing, frustration visible on his face. He never once gave up because he knew Baymax would make a difference in life.
Finally, after 84 tries, Baymax was created. The excitement and joy Hero’s brother experienced reached another level entirely. He knew he had finally done it. This message I hope you guys get out of this is: Life will get frustrating, but never give up. Sooner or later great things will come and you will impact this world for the better.
My fellow classmates. Seniors. Class of 2016. It’s been real. Congratulations to each and every one of you. To all the teachers and admin, thank you guys for not giving up on us but it’s time for us to go, we want our diplomas! CLASS OF 2016! WE DID IT!
William Dario
2016 Class Salutatorian
Good Afternoon Everybody. Before I start, I would like to thank everyone in the crowd, because one way or another you have helped at least one of these graduates make it here. My parents merit specific thanks for telling me nearly everyday and encouraging me to be the best I can be. Special gratitude goes to the teachers that did more than just teach. Whether it’s for writing a caring letter to a student that did not get accepted to their dream school, or taking a group of students out to eat brunch, your actions are appreciated, but now I would like to address the following to the graduating class of 2016.
Since I was about 6 years old, I asked myself the same question: Would I rather be the best player on the worst team or the worst player on the best team? For over 10 years I never had a definite answer. It wasn’t until this year that clarity came and the latter option proved correct. This year, as part of the Chelsea High School Varsity Soccer Team, I spent most of my time on the bench. Every pass I attempted came with caution, and the few times I had the opportunity to play a game, I nearly wet my pants. So why would I think this was the best option?
I found my purpose on the team, that’s why. I filled the water bottles, helped teammates with homework assignments and Performance Assessments, and best of all, I was there to support and hug my best friend the night we got eliminated from States. Why is this story even relevant? Because this is how life will be from now on. We will interact with people that have done things that we never dreamed we would be able to do, and we may feel intimidated, maybe even insignificant, but we can’t let these thoughts consume us. We cannot start off wanting to be the very best like no one ever was, because that will be overwhelming. Instead we must start off wanting to be the best individuals we can be, and the rest will follow.
I know that we can push ourselves to do it because I have seen it happen. Our passion led to two AP Bio classes for the first time at CHS. Our passion caused our class to break many school records. But why stop there? Because of our passion, we can become professional athletes, lifesaving doctors, great authors, artists, actors anything we dream of. But don’t let your dreams be dreams. I want you guys to promise me that everyday you will wake up and work hard at it. Make your dreams come true. I’m not telling you it will be easy, because it won’t. Some days we’ll cry and some days we’ll cry even more. But remember, Albus Dumbledore once said, and turn on the light we shall.
Class of 2016, we’ve had a great four years, creating memories that will last a lifetime. Good luck to everyone and remember, only you can control your future.
Priti Johari
Chelsea High School Principal
Welcome to the Chelsea High School graduating class of 2016, along with parents and family members, Faculty, Superintendent Mary Bourque and other members of the Chelsea Public Schools. Our esteemed School Committee and City Council members, as well as our many valued community partners, I thank for attending today. I am truly thrilled to present to you Chelsea’s graduating class of 2016; they are a talented and motivated group.
Graduates: This fall, as many of you know, I become a mother. I know this sounds like a strange place to start a commencement speech for high school students. But every day I think about the kind of world I want my daughter to grow up in and what she might do with her life. My husband and I brought our daughter, Mira, home from the hospital the very same day as the attacks in Paris. I keep a little notebook for Mira in which I try to jot down at least one thought or moment from the day. On November 15th, I wrote, “The Paris attacks have left me anxious for the world you will grow up in. But we will raise you to be strong and to make the world a better place in your own way.”
Young leaders, with this sentiment in mind I’ll begin with the same advice I heard President Obama recently impart to a group of college students:
Embrace your authentic self as you journey forward. Each and every one of us is different than the other. Not only are we from different cultures and traditions, but in Chelsea all of these cultures and traditions blend together in a different way. In the words of Dr. Bourque we Chelsea-ify everything! Dance class revealed students choreographing an original piece with hip hop, Bollywood and Honduran moves. Every day at lunch I hear students seamlessly move between English, Spanish and Chelsea slang. On multicultural night you’ll find papusas, pizza and fried chicken all on the same plate. The most important lesson I have learned in Chelsea is that there is no ONE way to be. The way to fit in, at least in Chelsea, is not to be one way, but to be yourself. Carry this lesson with you as you move forward and spread this message.
Yet we also share experiences despite our differences. Walking across this stage, in this gym, in this city represents a shared experience between us. Being nervous about presenting your Capstone project and asking a friend how theirs went, walking on tiny sidewalks piled high with mountains of snow and growing up in urban microcosm are all experiences you share. These shared experiences help us build empathy. But we must also have empathy for people with whom we do not have as many shared experiences. You are going out into the world – to college, to serve our country, to work – and you will encounter people with very different backgrounds or different core beliefs and it is our role to try our best to understand them and their perspectives. Being open to differences and divergent perspectives can help you to live a fuller life.
Incredibly passionate and enthusiastic describes this senior class, I know. But passion merely fuels the road to change. Change is in fact incremental – requiring a plan, patience and perseverance. It does not happen overnight. And as a result, sometimes people lose focus or don’t see it. BUT the people sitting in this room have changed this school. You are leaving Chelsea High School a different place than it was four years ago. Members of this class created a new student leadership class, shaped and defined our capstone project, led sports teams to shatter school records, sat down with administration to revise the school dress code policy to reflect greater gender equity. These are all changes – changes that will live beyond your time at CHS and whose impact future students will both feel and build upon. I tell you this not so that you think your work is done, but to keep you in action. There is so much more to be done.
I hope that your time at Chelsea High School has made you strong – strong of mind, strong of character and strong of will. As you go into the world bring Chelsea with you and make the world a better place in your own way. Thank you and good luck.