Wellington High School’s Class of 2014 graduated at commencement exercises held Thursday, May 22 at the South Florida Fairgrounds Expo Center.
Principal Mario Crocetti thanked the thousands of parents, relatives and friends attending for their support in helping the 543 seniors receive their diplomas.
“You and all the educators present are to be commended for the amount of support you have provided these students,” he said. “Without your help and support, you and they would not be seated before us today.”
VIDEO SLIDESHOW FROM WHS GRADUATION
Student Government Association President Molly Triggs, who will be attending Florida State University, gave a message of inspiration. “We may not be able to change the entire world, but we can maybe change part of it for someone,” she said.
Superintendent E. Wayne Gent congratulated the more than 11,500 students who graduated from schools in the Palm Beach County School District this year.
He told the graduating seniors that they have made their parents proud. “Today, they see you as an individual standing there in your own right,” Gent said. “Today, you have earned the satisfaction of achievement.”
Some will head to college, some into the work force and some into the military, he said, but Gent reminded the graduates to always think of others. “Always take time to practice charity,” he said. “Charity is just another word for love. All the riches in the world are of no use to us if we don’t see value to love others. Have you ever noticed that the happiest people in the world are those who do acts of kindness and charity for others? Make no mistake, the journey you take is all yours, and the choices you have are now limitless.”
Salutatorian Sabrina Abesamis, who will attend St. John’s University to major in actuarial science, said she regretted that she did not know all her fellow graduates by name.
“Although some of us have known each other since elementary school, some of you probably appeared just last year,” she said. “Even though I don’t know all of you personally, I can say without a single doubt in my mind that we will all form our own individual destinies.”
Valedictorian Yourui Ruan, who will attend the University of Florida to major in biochemistry, said graduation was not only a level of accomplishment, but an entry to something more impactful.
“What I have to say I hope you will hear not as your valedictorian, but as your peer,” he said. “We have all completed the first linkage in our lives as young adults.”
Ruan said the next few years will contain some of the most crucial moments in their lives. He urged his fellow graduates to make things go their way.
“Number one is having a vision, and the way you do that is to set a goal, and step into that goal so you can touch it and feel it,” he said.
Ruan advised his fellow graduates that society will not always sustain their goals and that they must do what is best for themselves.
“If we follow society’s game and fail to achieve what we want, then we will have nothing,” Ruan said. “If we fail what we’re after, then we need to be happy with what we have achieved. But, if you succeed and have done things the way you would have wanted to do them, then you have every obligation and every reason to be happy. We alone determine the next step, we alone determine the progress and we alone determine the results.”
Senior Class President Scott Meskin, who will attend Florida State University to study political science, said they all share high school memories, but he wanted to talk about what is to come.
“I want to talk about something none of us share — our future, a place where none of us have been,” Meskin said. “I want to propose a word that I believe this class needs to be successful, ‘perseverance.’ … All of you sitting before me have proven you can persevere.”
A man is not judged by how many times he falls but by how many times he stands back up, Meskin said. “It’s how you deal with these obstacles — that is what defines us as people,” he said.
Meskin pointed out that not only in high school, but throughout life they all will have failures. “We may be denied a job after preparing tediously for the interview,” he said. “We may break up with a significant other, or we may just plain old have a bad day, but this class has taught me something. Life goes on. The sun rises the next day, and things do get better.”
Crocetti quoted Yoda from Star Wars, who told Luke Skywalker to levitate his ship from the mire using only the Force. “Luke said, ‘I tried,’ and Yoda replied, ‘Do or do not. There is no try,’” he said.
Crocetti added that he disagreed with Yoda’s comment because there is value in trying, even when one is not successful. “Trying is important,” he said. “Success does not happen without trying.”
Crocetti pointed out that inventor Thomas Edison was successful only after a long string of failures. “Learning from our problems is so important that major companies bring their employees together not to share their success stories but to share their failure stories,” he said. “There is much more to learn from the failure stories. They were failures, but they were near wins, near successes. By celebrating near wins, they let their employees know that it’s OK to take chances, it’s OK to be creative, it’s OK to think outside the box.”
