NCHS Class of 2021 Graduates [VIDEO]

Alexandra Kurz, student body president for the New Canaan High School class of 2021, on Wednesday morning recalled memories she made throughout her public school career here, from West School Care Conventions to seventh-grade mat ball with Frank Arcamone and freshman year English with Maggie Hamill.

“Our paths have all crossed at one point and that’s what makes us a family,” she told more than 370 fellow classmates gathered at Dunning Stadium on a sunny, clear day for their graduation ceremony.

“Maybe I’m speaking for myself, but these past 13 years have flown by and I have learned so much from each and every one of you. I’ve also learned to see everything with an open mind and a full heart. You could argue that we had lots of things stripped from us in the past 14 months but frankly, I think it has brought us so much closer together.”

Families filled the stands on both sides of Dunning for the graduation of what district officials called the largest class in NCHS history, students that saw their school close with just a few months left in their junior year, and then navigated the college application process remotely and in many cases missed out on highly anticipated sports and other extracurricular activities their senior year. 

“First-semester junior year, we were finally upperclassmen and counted down the days until we became seniors,” Kurz recalled. “Then everything shut down, the world was put on pause, and there was no way to measure time because time didn’t exist. Now here we are in our cap and gowns. It’s hard not to have high school memories blurred by the pandemic but the memories made post quarantine are what I am going to remember and cherish forever. Coming back to school this fall and seeing everyone’s face was a serotonin rush that nothing will ever compare to. And while that feels like yesterday, there is no tomorrow in this school for the class of 2021. It is officially time for us to all take the next step in our lives but after growing up with each other since age five, I have no doubt in my mind that every future here is a bright one and I can’t wait to watch us all grow even more.”

The day’s events included a processional to “Pomp and Circumstance,” Pledge of Allegiance, remarks from Ian Nicholas, president of the class of 2021, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan, NCHS Principal Bill Egan, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi, playing of The Beatles’ “Yesterday” by a school string nonet, singing of James E. Moore Jr.’s “An Irish Blessing” by NCHS Choir members and a recessional of “From Lambs to Rams: Tribute to the Class of 2021” composed by William Haddad and mixed by Ian Rocha.

Several of the speakers offered praise to Luizzi, Moynihan and other district and town leaders for the job they’ve done in navigating New Canaan and the public schools through the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Life is a journey full of circumstances, situations, and experiences,” Egan said. “We all experience a mix of joy and sorrow, elation and disappointment, and good and bad, the expected and unexpected. This unexpected experience won’t be the last one in our lifetime. We’ve all heard the cliche, ‘Tough times don’t last, tough people, do.’ But what does that even mean? How do we get through the tough times and come out on the other side? And why do some people seem to weather the storms of life better than others?” 

Citing the research of scholars in the field of psychology, Egan said the answer is gratitude.

“Seniors, being grateful is a choice— it  isn’t something that necessarily comes naturally,” he said. “We need to develop gratitude like a muscle. It can be something as simple as thankfulness for the sun shining over your head, enjoying the smell of fresh-cut grass after a long cold winter, or something as amazing and life-changing as celebrating your graduation day with your loved ones.”

Luizzi thanked fellow administrators, school principals, staff and faculty members, the Board of Education and Moynihan.

“We know that it takes a village to raise a child,” he said. “This year, every member of the New Canaan Public Schools showed that our village is founded on trust, courage, professionalism and love, and I thank you.”

Moynihan congratulated the graduating seniors on reaching “this milestone in your lives after enduring the most disruptive of times with an historic health pandemic.”

“And ‘endure’ is the right word—you suffered great difficulties patiently and with grace due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said. “Over the last year, you lost the opportunity for a normal senior year high school experience. Some of you lost opportunities for achievements and memories in athletics, in the performing arts, in internships, and other activities special to each of you. Some of you lost loved ones to a novel virus that affected the entire world.  Everyone lost something. But one very important thing you did not lose – you did not lose your opportunity for a near-normal senior year education. Thanks to a courageous and brilliant superintendent, and his dedicated team of administrators, teachers and school nurses, you learned effectively—mostly in the classroom, and only on occasion remotely.”

Nicholas, known to many throughout NCHS and the wider community as a highly capable sports commentator on NCTV Channel 78, offered thanks to “the loving, tight-knit family that is the town of New Canaan.”

“I moved here in 8th grade thanks to my caring parents Janice and Frank, who realized two years into my youth football career that I was finally starting to be accepted into a community, right here in New Canaan,” Nicholas said. “Hard to believe for any of you who’ve watched my work with NCTV 78 over the years, but I was a reserved middle school student who never felt like he belonged.” 

That changed “instantly” when Nicholas got to NCHS, he said.

“This school has helped me find my passion for sports broadcasting, and has also helped me grow tremendously as a communicator and a leader,” he said. “This town has always had my back, from my first broadcast to my last, as a lot of you have realized how much hard work I put into my craft. Your constant encouragement has kept pushing me to do my very best, and I thank you for that.”

Nicholas encouraged his classmates and those still working up through the school system to “always be curious and never complacent in this town.”

“Find what you love to do, or just something you are passionate about, and then, find an outlet or a mentor who will help you to achieve your goals at NCHS,” he said. “Mr. Roman Cebulski has been that mentor for me here at New Canaan with TV Broadcasting, but there are so many more like him in this school in different areas as well. Dedicated teachers in the arts, in writing, in history, in math, in science,  in athletics; any field you could think of. All of them at NCHS will push you to do your best, and achieve things you didn’t think possible in your high school career. And if you do something noteworthy, it will not go unnoticed in this town.”

He continued, “Don’t treat high school as the next step toward college, because NCHS is so much more than that. Use the resources this institution has to offer to the fullest. Use it as a launching pad toward the future you want for yourself. Most of all, have fun, keep your friends close, and your aspirations closer. And never take yourself too seriously, learn to laugh in the craziest of situations.”