By Audrey Anderson
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Westwood celebrated the Class of 2024 on June 2nd with music, cheers, speeches, applause, green caps and gowns, and lots of smiling faces. The warm words of school officials and fellow students set the graduating seniors on the path to confident, exciting futures.
The seniors processed into the stadium to the traditional strains of “Pomp and Circumstance.” After they were seated, Class President Kiernan Wang welcomed the students to the ceremony with a heartfelt and entertaining speech. He spoke about the beginning of the class’s high school career, when they studied at home by computer during the COVID-19 pandemic. He suggested to the class that they may have played video games and watched Netflix shows, while muting the teacher. When the class did go back to school in person, they were quieter than normal for freshmen. By sophomore year, they started to get their spirit back.
Wang thanked classmates, teachers, and relatives for their help and encouragement during the class’s high school years. He counseled his class to “go into life with your best attitude. Pursue your dreams until you can look into the mirror and tell yourselves that you gave it your best shot, and begin every new day with a smile and some optimism.”
Next, Principal Amy Davenport led the class in the Pledge of Allegiance, and classmates came forward to sign the national anthem. She then took students back to recess in elementary school and the Buddy Bench that students could use to meet a friend. She told the class that the next phase of their lives will be filled with “wonder, creativity, collaboration, chaos, and sometimes loneliness.” Davenport suggested that they remember the lessons of the Buddy Bench and “take risks, fail, and enjoy every second. Say hello to people in the halls or the quad, learn your neighbors’ names and use them, put people before phones and apps, and if you miss someone tell them.” She told them to notice if people need help and offer support and invite others to join in new experiences.
When Davenport concluded her speech, the talented a cappella group Passing Notes sang “You’re Going to Go Far,” as the class reflected on the moment.
Seowon Lucy Park gave the Honor Address next. She noted that she has two names, her Korean name, Seowon, and her American name, Lucy. Like her, everyone has different-sounding versions of their names that are used in different contexts, with parents, friends, others. She told the class to embrace each of their identities. “Instead of being torn by your identities, I encourage you to embrace each and every one of them with pride. You are not lost, fragmented identities, but a firm root, a core that is able to coalesce these identities into a cohesive singular being.” She noted that the class will add many identities as they move along to their future goals and wished everyone well.
After Park’s remarks, Superintendent of Schools Timothy Piwowar certified that the class had satisfied the requirements for graduation. Class President Wang called the seniors’ names as they walked across the stage to shake hands with school officials and receive their diplomas.
Once the class returned to their seats and were declared to be graduates of Westwood High School, the graduates threw their caps into the air in an excited celebration of all they had achieved and everything that was to come. Congratulations to the Westwood Class of 2024 from the Hometown Weekly!
