By Cameron Small
Hometown Weekly Correspondent
Despite the on and off rain, nothing could dampen the smiles of the Class of 2023 Westwood High School on their graduation this past Sunday. Due to the on and off rain and the overcast clouds threatening to bring a fresh deluge, the ceremony was held inside the Westwood High School gymnasium. Friends, family, and community members packed inside to celebrate the graduates.
Unlike the weather, which could not seem to make up its mind on how it wanted to act, Westwood’s graduation had all the classic trademarks of a graduation ceremony: excited seniors who may or may not have been paying the most attention during practice; minor technical issues where microphones briefly cut out; speeches with themes about time, uncertainty, the uniqueness of the class interlaced with quick jokes to keep the audience engaged; mixing up which hand takes the diploma and which hand shakes; a family that brings an airhorn; and of course, the smiles, hugs, and tears of graduating seniors and their families looking to find each other outside at the end of the ceremony.
While keeping in line with traditional ceremonies, this year’s ceremony was–as highlighted in Class President Bohan Yang’s speech–one with several firsts and some more atypical features. A first mentioned in Yang’s speech includes online learning as the world seemingly shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Another first was centered around class senior Alex Mansour, who made an arrangement of “I Lived” by OneRepublic mashed up with “Home” by Phillip Phillips, and this arrangement was sung by members of the Class of 2023. A third first for the class of 2023 was an elementary school tour, where the class journeyed back to all the Westwood elementary schools to see former teachers, inspire the current elementary students, and where their educational odysseys started twelve years ago.
More typical firsts dot the horizon for the class of 2023: the first day of college; a first “adult” job with a salary and where taxes and health insurance are taken out of paychecks; the first time of having to schedule your own doctor’s appointment. But wherever life takes you, whatever firsts you encounter, you will always have your first high school graduation.
Congratulations Westwood High School Class of 2023.
