Butler grads set sail for future
Scrappy and adaptive, that's how the leaders of Butler's graduating class of 2019 described themselves at Art Bernardi Stadium Thursday night.
Spectators filled the home-field stands for Butler High School's 129th annual commencement ceremony. This year's graduating class is 495 members strong, but they took the field as one to say goodbye to their school and give a big “hello” to all that awaits them.
“To make things official, on the count of three, let's take those tassels to the left side,” said Sophia Lex, valedictorian and class president. “You've officially graduated, and you now may be seated.”
The class set its theme as, “When you can't change the direction of the wind, adjust your sails.” That idea ran through the many speeches of the night. With nearly 500 members, this class is about to disperse throughout the country in 500 different directions. They sounded confident in their way-finding.
Take it from Eliza Drohan and Chad Meier, a pair of students who spoke about the commencement's theme.
Drohan said she actually looked up how one changes the sails of a sailboat while writing her speech, only to be taken aback by how complicated a process it is.
“None of our sails are going to lead us in the same direction,” she noted.
Meier took the prompt in a literal direction as well, imagining himself and his classmates floating off in their own boats.
“Once we get in a sailboat and are in the middle of the sea, maybe we cannot change the decision to sail,” he said. “But what we can and must do is adjust our sails as the winds change.”
While earlier in the day the skies looked to bring treachery both on land and at sea, weather behaved well for the ceremony. This pleased the crowd, clearly, as the packed stands otherwise would have been split between a ceremony in the gym at the Senior High School and the auditorium, where attendees would watch a livestream.
Instead, the class marched onto the field under a sunny sky to tunes produced by the symphonic band and the cheers of their loved ones.
Superintendent Brian White and John Wyllie Jr., the senior high school principal, both spoke before declaring the class up to snuff and graduated. Wyllie decreed the 495 graduates a friendly and inclusive bunch. He said he watched them learn largely free of typical high school cliques and exclusivity.White said he hoped they gained something aside from book smarts at the district's schools.“Be kind,” White said. “Be kind to everyone.”Both White and Wyllie noted the military ties to the ceremony. Several graduates stood up to be recognized as enlisting in the armed forces. Afterward, much of the crowd stood to be recognized as veterans.“It isn't lost on me today that this is the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion,” White said.The first speaker of the evening was Nathan Ellis, who welcomed his classmates to the ceremony and set the tone for other speakers. This was not a class or town to be trifled with, he declared.“A lot of people have some backward notion that Butler, Pennsylvania, is not a great place to live. But surely, that cannot be true because the welcome sign on Route 8 coming into town clearly reads, 'Welcome to Butler, a great place to live.' Despite some people's criticisms, I truly believe that. And I think that this high school is one of the best places we could've gone.”Zachary Callithen followed him up with talk of the seas ahead.“Some of us are going to a four-year college,” Callithen said. “Some of us starting a job. Some going to a trade school. Others enlisting. Some are going far away, and others are staying close. Regardless of the direction that your wind is changing, we've been preparing for our entire lives to be able to position our sails to go with it.”
