Red and white caps and gowns were the center of attention in Masuk High School’s gymnasium on June 23, 2011 as 376 seniors graduated. Yet, school was still in session as technology and mathematics reigned supreme as a theme of each speech as student speakers remembered their attempt at a world record, and Superintendent Colleen Palmer gave a lesson in technology CSI.
Asher Cherian, who was elected to speak by his classmates, gave a speech about his time at Masuk emphasizing the impact the class made. Among these memories was the school’s attempt to set a world record by constructing the longest pi paper chain consisting of 75,000 links.
Math continued to be a theme of the night as the four class valedictorians used arithmetic as comedy for their joint speech. The four young ladies decided to bid high school a farewell with kooky equations like: “A six hour shift times $8.25 an hour equals very sore feet.”
The theme of pi repeated itself as class president Natalie Ciancetta announced that a statue of pi was going to be placed in the garden in honor of the class of 2011.
Following the students was Principal John Battista, who honored the class’s commitment to helping others with 24,000 cumulative hours of community service they logged.
“Every class has a personality. Sure the class is made up of individuals, but together they form a class personality,” said Battista, who went on to urge the students to continue helping others as they went on to other walks of life.
Battista also honored six teachers leaving Masuk to go on to retirement or new positions and Palmer and Assistant Supt. Richard Canfield, who will move on next year to become superintendents in other districts.
The final speech before the seniors got their diplomas was Superintendent Dr. Colleen Palmer who gave a chilling speech about the repercussions of technology.
“Think of the information that has been linked to your name,” said Palmer. She went on to discuss a senior of an untagged facebook photo put through facial recognition software. “As citizens of the 21st century you need to be vigilant about protecting your online identity,” she said.
After emphasizing the importance of filtering what is put online, Palmer then noted the skills that the students have developed in their four years of high school that they would find invaluable as the class moved onward.
Before the seniors got their diplomas, Dr. Palmer ended with a quote from Einstein, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”
