Class of '13 Encouraged To 'Dream On'

The stars aligned for the Lucky ’13: baby blue skies, cool early summer air -- no wind, no humidity and they were, after all, in a spectacular location overlooking the Thames River at the home of the Coast Guard Bears, so these Stonington High School Bears felt welcome; an unforgettable night to say goodbye to their high school careers and hello to their new lives.

And like commencement speaker Allison Van Etten, director of special services suggested, the class should take some advice form Aerosmith.

“Dream on, dream on, dream on. Dream until your dreams come true.”

For the next couple of hours, music and speeches, poetry and presentations and hundreds of beaming, and some weeping, family and friends, tested the bleachers with the weight of their hearts: screams for their graduates, cheers, whistles and even a bull horn for one.

Co-class advisor Ann-Marie Crowley Houle described it this way: “The night couldn't have gone any better. The Coast Guard really went above and beyond to help us host it there,” she said.

Salutatorian Lindsay Michelle Gimple received rousing applause for her remarks encouraging and challenging her classmates as did Valedictorian Audrey Marie Jones who used fireflies as metaphor for holding captive memories. 

But it may have been the poem of Mackenzie duPont Crowley that stirred collective hearts; the kids went wild:

Pause for Moonrise

The moon is constant

but ever-changing.

Its shape may shift

but it’s always somewhere

illuminated.

Our pasts are constant.

Our memories may change

but their lessons are always

somewhere

illuminated.

Our education, our teachers--

the groundwork of thoughts

and ideas from which

we grow our future knowledge.

Our friends—linked by memories,

stories to pass on

to the strangers who

become our future comrades.

And our families--

the love and support that forms

our very core

and launches us

into the universe of our future lives.

So when you get the chance

Pause for the moonrise—

watch its shifting form climb

off the horizon and remember--

like our school, like our friends,

like our families-

no matter what its form,

the moon is always there.

“They are a great class who have left their mark on SHS. I will miss them tremendously. Both as individuals and as whole... they certainly have successful lives ahead of them,” Houle said. 

Related SHS graduation stories: 

How To Congratulate Your Grad on Patch!

How Awesome Are They? A List of Scholarships and Awards for the Class of 2013

Where's Lucky '13 Headed? No Crystal Ball Required

Who Are The Grads?