Braintree High School graduates urged to extend a helping hand

Fred Hanson, The Patriot Ledger
·6 min read

BRAINTREE – It was a simple question a teacher asked Evan Braho during Spanish class he was struggling with during freshman year.

"Are you all right?"

The problems Braho was dealing with that day weren't anything special or serious, but the exchange taught him something about the importance of empathy. Speaking at Saturday's graduation ceremony, the valedictorian of the Braintree High School Class of 2022 encouraged his classmates to follow this example.

"We have the power to extend our hand rather than pull it away,'" Braho said.

Valedictorian Evan Braho addresses his classmates during the Braintree High School graduation Saturday, June 4, 2022.
Valedictorian Evan Braho addresses his classmates during the Braintree High School graduation Saturday, June 4, 2022.

Shane Rodgers, the student council president, said the 429 graduates were "a class of leaders." He cited a couple of examples: students selling masks during the coronavirus pandemic as a fundraiser and the environmental club selling saplings to be planted around town to offset the school's paper use.

"We did more than survive" during the pandemic, Rogers said. "We persevered and overcame."

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Class President Sarah Durant said the graduates have overcome so much during their four years of high school.

"All your seemingly small accomplishments have led you to this day," Durant said.

Victoria Vassalli, center, gives the thumbs up during the procession at Braintree High School graduation Saturday, June 4, 2022.
Victoria Vassalli, center, gives the thumbs up during the procession at Braintree High School graduation Saturday, June 4, 2022.

Salutatorian Cooper Emerson told his classmates to write their own story in the years to come, "one that the world has never seen before."

High school Principal Christopher Scully said the class will always be special to him because they started at the school at the same time and were "new kids in a new school" together. He said he is incredibly proud of the students and what they have accomplished.

"You are a class that doesn't quit," Scully said.

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School Superintendent James Lee gave the graduates a preview of the road ahead.

"Nothing will be perfect, but you will learn from the experience," Lee said.

Brennan Loi celebrates receiving a diploma during the Braintree High School graduation Saturday, June 4, 2022.
Brennan Loi celebrates receiving a diploma during the Braintree High School graduation Saturday, June 4, 2022.

Braintree High School Class of 2022 

Derek Adams, Kamryn Adams, Sara Adams, Magda Agwa, Terick Aime, Andrew Akins, Cameron Aldrich, Aman Ali, Kevin Almeida, Ashley Amante, Jaice Arsenault, Mary Asuaje, Aidan Aubertine, Alexander Auger, Charlotte Austin, Olamide Ayeni, Hilliard Baker III, Mennatallah Baraka, Matthew Bardhi, Angelina Barrett, Cole Barry, Jonathan Batchelder, Rayna Bechard, Jordyn Bello, Robert Berry, Grace Berthelot, Jason Blaszkowski, Emma Bosse, Jaylene Boughner, Sarah Boyle, Kendall Bradley, Owen Brady, Evan Braho, Nyla Brandao, Kayleigh Brennan, Isabel Brissenden, Grace Brodette, Jameson Brothers, Michaela Buckley, Briana Bui, Gianna Buonopane, Margaret Burchill, Molly Burnell, Nicole Burton.

Jenna Cahill, Liam Canavan, Lauren Cappabianca, Matthew Carco, Isabel Carrillo, Adrianna Casanova, Kayla Cato, Mia Cefail, Mikayla Cellucci, Ella Chan, Jullian Chan, Ellen Chan, Nicholas Chang, Olivia Charbonnier, Jeffrey Charron Jr., Akshika Chawade, Christopher Chen, Thomas Chenette, Gianna Christiani, Sydney Clements, James Cochrane, Matthew Coe, Elizabeth Collins, Conor Comerford, Liam Connolly, Michael Connolly, Paul Corcoran, Alexander Corrigan, Michael Costello, Danielle Coughlin, Garrett Coughlin, Olivia Crawford, Kyler Cullen, Sunny Cunningham, Trevor Curtis, Tyler Curtis, Esoheoghosa Curtiss.

Adam D'Apice, Karli Danahy, Nhan Dang, Isassiah Davis-Pressey, Michal Dawidzki, Sarah Day, Elizabeth DeLeon, Adriana DelVecchio, Lisa DeMeo, Kevin Devine, James Devlin, Maggie DiCarlo, Jack DiFronzo, Braden Dingee, Keegan Dingee, Gabriel Dinh, Martin Dinh, Meakaela Disanka, Alexandra Dodge, Theodore Doherty, William Donnelly, Joshua Donovan, Ena Downey, Cohan Drainville, Brendan Driscoll, Joseph Driscoll, Eamonn Drury, Nicole Duffy, Thomas Dunford, Brian Dunphy, Lauren Durant, Sarah Durant, Arianna Egan-Duarte, Adrienne Ell, Cooper Emerson, Kyle Erskine, Amy Esselstyn, Emily Evans-Corkery.

Emily Fahey, Katie Fahy, George Fainer, Angela Fang, Carlo Fantasia, Michael Fantucchio, Kendrick Farrell, Jillian Fay, Rua Fay, Makenna Feighery, Manuel Fernandes Suazo, Ali Ferrini, Jaeden Fields, Marissa Findlay, Elyssa Firicano, Maeve Fitzgerald, Margaret Flanders, Margaret Fleming, Andrew Flonory, Owen Flynn, Kayleigh Fowler, Stephen Freel, Colin Gaffney, Brian Gao, Tianyi Gao, Bárbara García Aceytuno, Cameron Garrity, Matthew Garrity, Joseph Giblin, Tionna Gilliard, Rohan Goetz, Mario Goncalves Gomes, Jordan Gorham, Gage Guilford-Lauria, Giada Gulino, Kaiden Gunning.

Grace Halnen, Yara Hamam, Paul Hamilton, Emerson Hannigan, Maeve Hanrahan, Alana Harrold, Omar Hasan, Lea Hegarty, Nayelis Hereaux, Nicholas Hersey, Brian Higgins, Mary Higgins, Brenna Ho, Andrew Hoang, Ellis Hoang, Mariam Hoblos, Maeve Holland, Abigail Hood, Ajvi Hysenaj, Sophia Iannelli, Arif Irma Zalman, Jason Janovsky, Diya Jhamtani, Benjamin Johnson, Nasier Jones, Benjamin Joseph, Maeve Joyce, Samyuktha Karthikeyan, Deeksha Kavalapara, Daniel Keegan, Caroline Kelley, Claire Kelly, Katelyn Kelly, John Kennedy, Christian Kesaris, Niamh Keville, Danish Khan, Peter Killeffer, Kyle Knell, Allison Knox, Aleks Kollcinaku, Mateo Kollcinaku, Ledia Kono, Carolyn Kostas, Beryl Kuang, Kevin Kuang, Christopher Kuja.

Kendal LaGrasso, Megan Lai, Makayla Lam, Joshua Lapham, Nina Lawrence, Helen Lazic, An Le, Hubert Le, James Le, Jeffy Le, Kayla Le, Tu Le, Brenden Lee, Kalvin Lee, Kelvin Lee, Stacey Lee, Sebastian Leib, Matthew Leone, Grace Levie, Meridith Lewis, Ryan Lewis, Lucy Li, Skylar Li, Katie Liang, Brandon Lin, Si Lin, Daniel Linskey, Makenna Lockhart, Brennan Loi, Emma Longworth, Aidan Lopes, Uriah Lopez, Katelyn LoPorto, Yuanxin Lu, Hayley Lucas, Sarah Luu.

Bryant Mac, Barbara MacDonald, Emma MacDonald, Harrison Macdonald, Brendan MacNeil, Ryan Maggiore, Minghao Mai, Joseph Malone, Rachel Man, Sophia Marmai, Jayleen Marquez, Michael Marrero II, Morgan Mastrogiacomo, Thomas Mbrice, Katherine McAuley, Grace McCarthy, Riley McCarthy, Quinn McCray, Elizabeth McDonald, Abigail McGonigle, Emmet McGourty, Olivia McGourty, James McGrath, Michael McGuire, Kevin McGurn, Catherine McIntyre, Shannon McLaughlin, Timothy McLaughlin, Clara McMullin, Matthew Meade, Nathaniel Mede, Amelya Melchione, Kathia Mendes, Alexa Milano, Olivia Minchello, Jack Mitchell, Jenna Molloy, Deirdre Morahan, Michael Morahan, Thomas Morahan, Loliana Morales, Steven Moran, Joshua Morelli, Abrar Morgan, Brynne Morrison, Nicholas Morrissey, Claire Mortimer, James Mortimer, Brenna Mulkerrins, Jacob Murphy, Grace Murray, Julia Murray, Shannon Myron.

Benjamin Najjar, Olivia Nash, Emma Nasr, Nicholas Newman, Brooklynn Nguyen, David Nguyen, Linh Nguyen, Nalyla Nguyen, Rachel Nguyen, Emma Nieters, Michael Nocera, Deion Noel Lara, Mark Noonan, Natalia Norales, Ryan Norton, Arianna Nuvoli, Kyle Nuzzo, James O'Brien, Charles O'Connell, Colin O'Donnell, Delia O'Hara, Liam O'Malley, Michael Olivieri, Tyler Opila, Jillian Oster, Kendrick Pannell, Caroline Parks, Jared Payzant, Chantel Pereira, Gianna Perez, Kevin Pham, Thanh Pham, Justin Pires, Michael Pitts, Trista Pollara, Connor Powers, Rahul Prasad, John Pucillo, Luke Pucillo, Brian Quach, Logan Quinn, Katherine Raffa, Amanda Rebello, Ronan Ridge, Mary Riley, Michael Riley, Shane Rodgers, Fernando Rodriguez, Elias Rodriguez Sanchez, Yazaiya Rodriguez-Porter, Michael Romero, Christian Rosario, Benjamin Ruan, Elysse Rucky, Jacqueline Ruggiero, James Rust, Jacob Ryan, Patricia Ryan.

Justin Sadowski, Nutticha Sakunchotpanit, Jason Saley, MaazAshraf Salimani, Silvi Samowski, Sol Santillan, Megha Saokar, Megan Sass, Donivan Saville, Sophia Scarpa, Joseph Schepis, Maeve Sears, Muhammad Shakeel, Matthew Shaughnessy, Hannah Shaw, Hailey Sherrick, Jared Sims, Audrey Sindor, Johnson Sloane, Abigail Smith, Edward Smith, Kelly Smith, Brooke Spataro, Madison Stark, William Sterling, Jacqueline Sullivan, Ya-Yi Sun, Deni Tabaku, Kalyta Tadino, Jeffery Tam, Sophia Tang, Tyler Tang, Amaya Tavares, Jahsanie Telemaque, Lauren Tempesta, Margo Tenney, Amanuel Teshager, Peter Tomasetta, Khoa Tong, Joseph Torme Jr., Billy Tran, Kaitlyn Tran, Quan Tran, Quynh Tran, Tina Tran, Trang Tran, Dat Trinh, Nolan Tuohey, Jacob Turner.

Aidagh Uftring, Marina Vardaxis, Xavier Vasquez, Victoria Vassalli, Joahnis Vazquez, Aleyna Vieira, Joshua Vo, William Vo, Christine Vu, Xavier Walker, Lauren Walsh, Jerica Wan, Niamh Ward-Molloy, William White, Anna Williams, Jack Witham, Ariana Wong, Connie Wong, Roger Wong, Jack Woods, Breana Wu, Cherise Wu, Michael Wu, Matthew Wuestefeld, Samantha York, Fatima Zehra, Bonnie Zeng, Justin Zhao, Yixuan Zheng, Meiyan Zhou, Amanda Zou.

The graduating seniors' procession passes by their families during the Braintree High School graduation Saturday, June 4, 2022.
The graduating seniors' procession passes by their families during the Braintree High School graduation Saturday, June 4, 2022.

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Fred Hanson can be reached at fhanson@patriotledger.com.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Braintree High School graduates 429 members of Class of 2022