Taconic High Grads Have 'Strength to Meet Any Challenge'
Salutatorian Mohammed Ahmed exhorts his classmates to be brave as they head into the future.
It started at the old Taconic, which had its charms when it wasn't falling apart, said valedictorian Alexander Currie.
"We spent two years there, long enough to get to know the place inside and out, then everything got turned on its head," he said. "We got a brand-new building, brand-new schedule and a largely new administration to boot."
They thought they'd have two years there — until a pandemic arrived.
"Despite what you may be thinking, I didn't come here just to complain," Currie said in his recorded speech at the school. "I came here to say after these four years of high school, I've seen time and time, the class of 2020 has the courage and the strength to meet any challenge head on and rise from it."
Like so many other high schools, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced schools to consider alternative graduation scenarios. School officials have pledged that Taconic and Pittsfield High School will have a celebration later in the summer when circumstances safely permit.
For now, they both had prerecorded graduation ceremonies with speakers, a listing of graduates and congratulatory comments from U.S. Rep. Richie Neal and actress Elizabeth Banks, who graduated from PHS in 1992. In a bit of a flip, PHS' video was shown first Sunday on Pittsfield Community Television, followed by Taconic's.
Principal Matthew Bishop said he admired how the 167 graduates had managed the difficult switch from classroom and shop to remote learning.
"While you've had every reason to feel sorry for yourself, overall, I'm not seeing that," he said. "I found inspiration and thinking about all you've done at Taconic and how you've handled these last few months, and it reminded me of some really important life lessons."
It reminded him that situations are an opportunity for leadership, and creativity and innovation are a necessity in a crisis. And the class of 2020 exceed expectations and took responsbility.
"I see a class that, so far, life has been their greatest teacher, and most difficult final exam. I believe the situation has made you stronger, and more," Bishop said. "And because of that, I feel you are more prepared than any other senior class to face your future challenges and milestones. ... Most importantly, I know each of you will seek to make the world a more compassionate, just and equitable place, a place where the color of your skin does not determine the quality of life you want to live."
The future was much on the mind of salutatorian Mohammed Ahmed, who told his classmates to be brave as they faced their newfound freedoms and responsibilities.
"We now find ourselves once again cast into a sea of obscurity, seemingly burdened by the breadth of our responsibilities and scope of our decisiosn," he said. "It may seem like the end but it is merely an end. Our time may have concluded with an anticlimax but we are not despondent as we look only forward. our past is beind us our memr wisodm beside and our fuature awaits us.
High school has passed quickly, perhaps more quickly for the class of 2020, leaving memories of exciting, stressful and occasionally confusing adventures. Now they are heading down new paths and unaware of what lies ahead.
"The only hindrance to our course is fear, and the doubt that disseminates, we should sustain the courage to be brave and seek the knowledge to be wise," Ahmed said. "I wish you all good luck."
Ahmed was also the recipient of the Karl Boyer McEachron Award, which is given to a city graduate who has shown high academic standards, community involvement, worth ethic and who plans a career in engineering or science.
Mayor Linda Tyer also spoke, telling the graduates this video was not what they had expected or deserved.
"We can't be together to celebrate your accomplishments, but your hard work has not been in vain. Each moment in your classroom, each period of hands-on training, and all of your extracurricular activities have equipped you with oustanding skills as you prepare to make your mark in the world," the mayor said. "Life
has shown us that out of the most difficult moments lies the opportunities for innovation, creativity, and excellence.
"Our collective strength as a society is forged when each of us taps into our unique abilities, talents and treasures. This is your time to think about and to find the impat that you'd like to have in the world."
She asked the graduates to think about who they wanted to be and what impact they wanted to make on the world. Some of the 167 seniors were already embarking on their diverse paths of knowledge and personal growth.
PHS graduate Elizabeth Banks said her advice to the class was to be kind — including to themselves.
It had been a year when speeches were going to be eliminated, but School Committee Chairwoman Katherine Yon this wasn't the right time.
"But this is clearly not the year not to address our graduating seniors. This is a year not like any other year. You are a class not like any other class. This year is the year everything has been turned upside down," she said. "My message is one that applies equally to all of you, West Side or East Side."
They had learned the meaning of sacrifice — "the ultimate illustration of selflessness, the stuff of which heroes are made" — by giving up much so others could survive the pandemic.
The experience has taught them the importance of community, Yon said. "It was only by working together ... that we will be able to save our community. A community that now wants to come together to honor you and celebrate you in the way you so richly deserve."
Superintendent Jason "Jake" McCandless joked that some students had been affronted by the institution of pass/fail while others found it a lifeline. But he also spoke about the pain the school community had felt not only from the pandemic but the loss of Kevin Harrington, "a friend, a mentor, a coach, and a bright light of this city."
The suffering brought this class that had seen so much change in its four years closer together, he said, will allow them "to move forward as a group wiser, and better prepared to work and lead in our community, nation, and the world for the next 60 or 70 years."
Through suffering comes wisdom, McCandless said, echoing Robert Kennedy's quoting of Aeschylus in eulogy of Martin Luther King Jr.
"The wisdom you earned will lead you to help build a more just world, a more fair world, a more peaceful world as you become the leaders you were destined to be," he said. All of you have enriched us and enriched our community. We are all so grateful for every one of you. You make us grateful, you make us glad, and you give us hope."
PHS graduate Elizabeth Banks said her advice to the class was to be kind — including to themselves.
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