Holyoke grads ready for next chapter

Family, friends, teachers and community members gathered at Max Bernard Field to support the new graduates of Holyoke High School and Holyoke Alternative High School on Sunday, May 16.

JR/SR high counselor Ashley Clayton announced a total of $355,000 in scholarship and grant awards while seniors received their diplomas from school board members Justin Clayton and Pat Wiebers. Individual graduate details can be found on Page 9.

Haley Van Overbeke, who maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout her high school career, was honored as class valedictorian. Joey Beckner, who ended his high school career with a 3.959 GPA, was named salutatorian.

Steve Millage of American Legion Post No. 90 honored Ethan Andersen with the Boys Citizenship Award, and Ashley Clayton presented Kylie Purkeypile with the Girls Citizenship Award on behalf of Susan Roll Walters of American Legion Auxiliary.

Senior members of Sound Check (HHS select choir)Amy Mackay, Jalen Hunter, Kylie Purkeypile, Rylee Schneller and Rylee Oakley performed “American Honey” by Lady A.

Band members Emali Torres, Brooklyn Leonard and Fatima Nuñez performed “Londonderry Air.”

Superintendent Kyle Stumpf pointed out that this year’s graduating seniors have endured an entire school year impacted by the pandemic, but the seniors have persevered through it all with grace and determination.

He added that he’s excited to see what great things they achieve in their future.

In his salutatory address, Beckner said the answer to the question “Why?” has often been “Because I said so,” and that there is an underlying lesson to be learned in that answer.

“Throughout life,” he said, “we are going to be met with a lot of uncertainty, pain and failure, and as troublesome as that sounds, that is what makes our life worth living.”

He pointed out the values that uncertainty, pain and failure have in helping people learn, grow and be successful.

“Really, what I’m trying to say is when your mother says ‘Because I said so,’ listen to her because I mean, come on, she’s always right,” he said.

He challenged his classmates to keep an open mind despite the adversity they meet, to have compassion for others and to understand that everyone has a different story.

Van Overbeke gave a speech focused on the nature of time, which steals the good and sweet moments but also blesses people with irreplaceable moments and days. It also provides people the ability to take the future as their own.

“We can choose to impact people. We can choose to make good memories. We can choose to make our future what we want because time will get us there,” she said.

She encouraged her class to “spend the time you have like the millionaires you are with the millions of seconds you have to spend. Live your life in a way that makes the goodbyes hard, because the hardest goodbyes usually follow the best times.”

In presenting the class of 2021, Holyoke JR/SR High principal Angela Powell asked them to consider the story of the oyster who discovered it had a grain of sand in its shell that caused it pain.

The oyster decided that since it could not remove the sand, it would try to improve it. As time went by, the grain of sand ultimately became a pearl.

Powell acknowledged that the class of 2021 had many grains of sand to deal with in the last year and a half of their time in high school. The pandemic meant changes or cancellations that affected sports, conferences, dances and more.

She added that the class of 2021 persevered and never complained or gave up, but instead worked to transform their grains of sand into pearls. She provided an oyster shell to each graduate so they can always remember to turn any future grains of sand that cause them pain into pearls.

In her farewell address, class president Van Overbeke talked about cookie Thursdays, when she would bring chocolate chip cookies for her classmates. She drew parallels between the steps in making the cookies and the different educational stages they’ve navigated to get where they are now.

The first step, mixing the shortening and sugar, was elementary school.

Next was vanilla, baking soda, salt and eggs, which was junior high, a stage of life that provided a foundation for the people the students will become.

The flour stage represented the shock of moving from junior high to high school, learning lessons, growing from mistakes and becoming young adults.

The final ingredient was the chocolate chips, which is where the graduates are now, savoring the sweet taste of victory that comes with graduation.

She reminded her class that the final step is the shaping and baking of the cookie. “Remember to make decisions in this world that are going to shape you into the cookie you want to be,” she advised her classmates.

She closed by saying, “Thank you all for joining me in this chapter of my life, and I hope when you eat a chocolate chip cookie you’ll think of me, because I’ll be thinking of you.”