SCS students urged to speak their truth

LAKEVILLE — The 27 members of Salisbury Central School’s Class of 2023 received their certificates in an outdoor ceremony in front of the middle school building on Thursday evening, June 15.

The parents and friends sat on folding chairs in the parking lot as the students filed in to the strains of “Pomp and Circumstance.”

Summarizing her SCS experience, Carmela Egan quoted her brother Aman:

“You’ll be happy to leave but sad it’s gone.”

Hadley Casey  said completing middle school is not just about academics, but about growth and friendship.

“Just remember no matter how divided we may feel, deep down we are all one”

Charlie O’Connell said she started at SCS during the COVID-19 pandemic, when instruction was online and everything was disrupted.

She said the transition was easy because “everybody was so friendly.”

Guest speaker Michael Baldwin, who completed his SCS education in 1996, advised the students to do four things.

“Be kind. Kindness is a total superpower that makes people like you.”

“Speak your truth.” Baldwin quoted Oscar Wilde: “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”

“Listen to the truths of others.”

And: “Love yourself.

“This takes time. In 1996 I was intensely self-conscious and desperately insecure.

“Loving yourself is a process. It starts with gratitude.”

An example: “Family and friends who choose to spend their Thursday night in a parking lot.”

Board of Education chair David Valcin handed out the certificates as the crowd cheered.

Afterwards everyone milled about, enjoying refreshments, taking snapshots and talking excitedly about summer plans.