‘You were the masters of your fate’: Norwell High School senior class moves on
NORWELL – English teacher Jessica Johnston was chosen by Norwell High School's Class of 2023 to be a speaker at Saturday's graduation ceremony, and her message was clear: Forget fate.
“Forget what you can’t control, focus on what you can,” Johnston said.
Johnston said the boys hockey team this year felt cursed and came up with the slogan "forget fate" after struggling.
“Forget that bad call, forget that bad bounce, forget that it rained on your graduation day. … When our hockey team faced a sudden-death overtime in the biggest game of their life, they returned to their yearlong mantra: Forget fate. You were the masters of your fate ... and you, Class of 2023, you have had some bad calls and some bad bounces, but you constantly found the light,” Johnston said.
She said she has been watching this graduating class for 13 years.
“At elementary school, I chaperoned your field trips. I came to your middle school plays, and I clapped in the audience. And then I met you as my students in ninth grade. … In 12th grade I met you again, these beautiful people in front of me. But my earliest memory is 13 years old. You were in kindergarten, and it is gingerbread cookie decorating day,” Johnston said.
“I can’t believe those little cookie decorators are donning gowns and caps and are ready to take on the real world,” Johnston said.
Class President Maeve Ross polled the graduates about the top five things they won't miss:
Traffic at 2:37 p.m.
Lack of windows throughout the school.
Lack of soap in bathrooms.
Chicken patties at lunchtime.
Schoolwork.
“Although we will not miss all five of these things, the irony is that we will miss most. We spend so much time wishing to grow up and get out of this town, and now that the time is here, we try to hold on to every last memory, the good and the bad,” Ross said.
The Class of 2023
Alexandra Abruzzese, Tess Adams, Ava Alex, Matthew Allen, Callie Baker, Maddox Bedford, Jack Birtwell, Michael Borelli, Samantha Boyle, Patrick Brennan, Jaimi Brown, Grace Campbell, Harrison Carr, Nora Carroll-Millins, Owen Casagrande, Sara Cashin, Natasha Christensen, Owen Christou, Matthew Ciampa, Ellie Commesso, Casey Connors, Gianna Costa, Brigid Costello, Tayla Coutu.
Olivia Dalia, Ryan Daly, Matthew Dassatti, Ava DeCouto, Quinn DelCore, Hannah Devaney, Grace DiLoreto, Margaret Donovan, Sean Donovan, Darcy Driscoll, James Durka-Soderlind, Ruby Dwyer, Catherine Faherty, John Fettuccia, Garrett Fisher, Derek Fitzgerald, Maxwell Flanders, Allison Ford, Samuel Foster, Faith Gagnon, Anthony Geagea, Julia Gordon, Emma Greene.
Mallory Hahn, Alexis Hayes, Gracyn Higgins, Olivia Hines, Robert Hodges-Falcone, Sofia Hollander, Ridge Homer, Hilary Howell, Conor Jennings, Ella Johnston, Aidan Kane, Norah Kennedy, Leila Kielhorn, Kaylee King, Chloe Kirchner, Rory Kitterick, Caroline Koch, Abigail Kohler.
Natalie Lacy, Sarah Lacy, Nicholas Lamparelli, Conner Landry, Eleni Landry, Mark Laura, Kevin Leary, Matthew Leaver, Luke Lederer, Hannah Leff, Charlize Lestage, Madeline Lievi, Margaret Lievi, Griffin Link, Adam Long, Holden MacAvoy, Jonathan Maescher, Matthew Marsicano, Allison Martin, Milicent McCabe, Molly McCullough, Arieana McDonald, Madeline McDonald, Dylan McGuirk, Ella McLaughlin, Anna Milevskaya, Julia Molinari, Emily Mullahy, John Mullen, Cormac Murphy, Heidi Murphy, John Murray.
Kyra Neumann, John O'Connell, Leo O'Day, Brendan Opdyke, Thomas O'Toole, Skylar Page, Bindi Patel, Mia Pearce, Cole Peden, Sarah Pegurri, Michael Petraske, Chloe Petrelluzzi, Scott Pietroski, Kendall Poulin, Nicole Prescott, Bayleigh Rabuffo, Deming Randolph, Riley Randolph, Dianna Regan, Connor Reidy, Dylan Reilly, Avery Rice, Chloe Richardson, Catrina Riker, Maeve Ross, Nicholas Sadowski, Caroline Scalzulli, Carson Scarinci, Charlotte Sekerak, Austin Shea, Lilah Sillah, Darrey Smith, Monica Smith, Ryan Snow, Reese Stoddard.
Natalie Teahan, Alexa Terranova, Hadley Timmermann, Julia Toland, Alyson Topor, Teegan Troy, Alissa Vivona, Olivia Wall, Sophia Walsh, Timothy Ward, Michael Weimann, Jason Weitz, Malia Welch, Caleb White, Connor Williams, Samarie Williams, David Won.
Reach Joel Barnes at jkbarnes@patriotledger.com.
Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Patriot Ledger subscription. Here is our latest offer.
This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Norwell High School Class of 2023
