Gilbert celebrates its graduates

WINSTED — Ninety-five students graduated from The GIlbert School in a commencement ceremony held on Friday, June 10, at the school’s auditorium.

As noted by several speakers at the ceremony, the Class of 2016 is the first class from Gilbert that started at the school’s first year of its eighth-grade program.

The Winchester School District started sending seventh and eighth graders to Gilbert during the 2011-2012 school year.

Student memories

Salutatorian Qiyi Vivian Qian said she will always have fond memories of her time at Gilbert.

“When I think about high school, which ends today, I will think about the sugar cookies they have down at the cafeteria,” Qian said. “I will remember all the days strolling in front of the snack station staring at the delicious, yet malicious sugar cookies. To me, those cookies are a metaphor for high school: An epic struggle between pleasure or hardship, Netflix or homework, a night out partying or a night in studying. All roads lead to one of two places.” 

Qian reflected on the changes students went through at Gilbert.

“We, every single one of us, have changed for the better,” Qian said. “Apart from the braces that we took off and the pimples we grew out of, not only did we learn how to pull off an AP essay the night before it was due, we learned how to march through this jungle called high school.”

Valedictorian Cassius Pac also shared his memories of school.

“When I was young, in first grade, I didn’t like the idea of school,” Pac said. “I didn’t want to go, to the point where my parents had to carry me, as I was yelling and crying, on to the bus. My grandmother recognized this as a problem, and realized that I needed some way to be motivated to go to school. She offered me a deal: Instead of a standard allowance, my grandmother offered me one dollar for every day I got on the bus. If I didn’t, not only did I not get the dollar, but my younger brother, Gus, did. Let me tell you, I was getting that dollar.”

Pac said that his grandmother motivated him to work hard at school, which, in turn, got him to graduate.

“Money can be a strong motivator, but you also need to be motivated internally,” Pac said. “Figure out what will make you happy and do it in the best way it can be done. In the end, this is what truly matters.”

Principal Strauss’ remarks

In his remarks to the audience and class of 2016, Principal Alan Strauss said that he started in the same school year, 2011-2012, as the graduating class.

In his speech, Strauss thanked parents, faculty and staff for helping the graduates along their journey.

“Sometimes you made the right decisions and sometimes you did not,” Strauss told the graduating class. “But what I know is that each of you, every time it mattered most, made the right choice. This graduation is one of those choices. This class has spent much of its time laughing, joking and forgetting what time first period begins. Yet, you were always there for each other.”

Strauss continued to talk to the graduates about choices.

“We as a society must choose peace, we must choose kindness, and we must choose forgiveness,” Strauss said. “While never allowing the powerful to hurt the weak, the loud to take over for those without a voice, and that those with personal vendettas can never taint what is right for others. Our souls and our future will not be fulfilled simply by choosing the easy path. Instead, we must choose to appreciate our journey, look deeply at our lessons and continue to lead the way to changing this beautiful world.”