Perhaps to the chagrin of Manhasset salutatorians Christopher DiPreta and Matthew Tam, last year’s Doomsday prophecy centered around the mysterious end of the ancient Mayan calendar did not come to fruition.
In their collaborated graduation address Friday at Manhasset High School, spoken over Hans Zimmer’s score from the film “Inception,” DiPreta joked that in preparation for the latest threat of end times, he sold all of his belongings and told many of his teachers to “shove it,” while Tam said he got three tattoos his parents didn’t know about until he announced it to the 264 members of the Class of 2013 and their families, teachers and administrators.
But the possibility of the apocalypse changed their outlook on life, they lamented in tongue-in-cheek fashion, giving them the impetus to live every day like it was their last and live in the moment, and they implored their fellow graduates do the same as they awaited their diplomas and the transition to college life and early adulthood.
“Classmates, we beg you all to live in the moment right now,” Tam said. “If the world ended tomorrow, you’d be spending with the closest people you’ve had your whole life.”
Manhasset principal Dean Schlanger said he’s always had a close relationship with the Class of 2013 because it entered the Manhasset Secondary School, comprised of the district’s middle and high schools, as seventh graders the same year he became principal.
“I have been most fortunate to get to know many of you, and hopefully assisted in your educational path leading to this special day,” Schlanger said. “It has been a sheer joy watching all of you blossom beautifully.”
The Class of 2013’s five valedictorians – Jennifer Juliano, Eva Lewandowski, Emily Markham, Alexandra Lynn and Nicholas Fiacco – each gave brief speeches to their classmates reflecting on how they grew as people while in school and how they will benefit beyond the Manhasset High School campus.
Juliano, who will attend Cornell University, said she and her classmates connected with F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic “The Great Gatsby,” learning the novel’s lesson that “the past may be a comfortable place to visit, but certainly not a place to stay” and embracing the idea that they are different people than they were as seventh graders and will continue to grow in life.
“We can learn from ‘Gatsby’ the vitality of rising above the pressure to conform to the people that others perceive us to be,” Juliano said. “Be yourself and if at any point in your life you realize that you are not proud of that person, have the courage to change. It is never too late to discover who you are meant to be. A safe life leaves little room for the natural development of our characters, so quiet the insecurities and take chances.”
Lewandowski, a star runner at Manhasset who will attend Princeton University, said races and meets helped her overcome her perceived limitations and have the confidence to succeed in life.
That confidence, she said, appearing at times in the face of insurmountable odds, is what leads to the cultural advancements and successes had by the likes of Apple’s Steve Jobs and President Barack Obama.
“I beseech you, Class of 2013, to value your power to be the next Steve Jobs, to find a cure for cancer, to start your own company, to be the president of the United States,” Lewandowski said. “Value your potential to invent, to create, to improve, to progress, to change. Push yourself beyond your boundaries, because it is not who you are that holds you back, but rather who you think you are not. Most of all, value yourself.”
Markham, who will attend Yale University, remembered the late P.J. Furlong, a classmate who died of a brain aneurysm in 2006 and who, Markham said, never failed to put a smile on her face and those with whom he came into contact.
“In his passing, I have learned that life is a gift that is best shared with others,” Markham said. “By starting every day with a smile, P.J. was able to spread his infectious happiness. He was a remarkable young boy that taught us a valuable lesson.”
Lynn reminded her classmates of the importance of appreciating their friends, which she called a major component of not just high school, but life itself.
Lynn, who will attend the University of Chicago, said that even though she cannot predict where her life or those of her classmates will lead, she can lean on the friendships she has formed over the years for comfort.
“From our childhood playing in the sandbox to sitting in a rocking chair in our Florida retirement homes, our friends will always be our companions and enrich our lives,” Lynn said.
Fiacco, who will attend Dartmouth College, compared life to the stories he’s read in books, but lamented that the tribulations that lead to a tale’s heartwarming conclusion are even more rewarding than the conclusion itself.
“As a child I could never resist skipping to the end of a book I was reading to find out how everything ended,” Fiacco said. “But I soon realized that this took away from the overall effect of the narrative. Indeed simply jumping to the end will not provide the same pleasure as understanding the entire plot.”
Fiacco reflected on the time he was hit by a car crossing Plandome Road prior to an important baseball game. Though it was a negative occurrence, he said, it made his journey to graduation all the more memorable and unique .
“But we should remember the bad as well as the good,” Fiacco said. “It isn’t simply a matter of learning from our previous blunders, because these moments not only shape our future actions but set each story apart from the rest.”
Richard Bennett, president of the Silver M Society, which honors students and administrators for their dedication to Manhasset High School, inducted graduates Stephen J. Bourguet, Kade Charles Kenlon, Juliet Theresa Paterek and Kelsey N. Quackenbush and art teacher Michael Sansone as this year’s honorees.
The graduates also presented the district’s board of education with its class gift, a new scoreboard for the High School’s athletic field, whose turf is being replaced.
