Smith Voc grads lauded for resilience amid setbacks

NORTHAMPTON — Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School graduates were praised for their resilience through tumultuous times and encouraged to take pride in their accomplishments in a ceremony Thursday night that conferred 105 diplomas.

During the ceremony on the Smith Voc football field, speakers including Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra marveled at the unique obstacles that the Class of 2022 had to overcome to reach their graduation day, including dual disasters last month that damaged one building and devastated another.

“Perfect moments do happen, when everything comes together and works out,” Principal Joseph Bianca said to the graduates and their families, taking a moment to highlight the Vikings baseball team for winning the first vocational state championship in school history the previous night.

“It’s the challenges we overcome that lead to a sense of accomplishment, self-worth and wisdom,” Bianca said. “The reality is that, throughout most of our life, like the past two years, we are faced with challenges, distractions and unexpected setbacks on our way to those perfect moments.”

Two such setbacks occurred at the tail end of the school year, when on May 22, high winds tore off a section of a classroom and shop building’s roof, and the next day, a fire destroyed the forestry education building. No one was harmed in either incident.

Students who graduate this year also endured pandemic-related restrictions on their school and social lives since early 2020 and started taking their academic theory courses remotely. Last year, the school held two back-to-back graduation ceremonies to allow for social distancing.

“Bruce Lee said, ‘Do not pray for an easy life. Pray for the strength to endure a difficult one,’” Bianca said. “Your goal should be to be resilient and strong. Your goal should be to be resourceful, even when you believe that you are without resources.”

Sciarra, who’s on the school’s board of trustees, said the graduates have taken on the kind of challenges that would shape the world for generations to come, and the staff and administrators showed heroism is their determination to educate students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Graduates, you have literally blown the roof off of high school,” Sciarra said to laughter, “and I know you’re going to go forward and set the world on fire.”

Trustees chair Michael Cahillane offered remarks as well, advising that “knowledge equals power” and promoting the virtues of a skills-based education. He graduated from Smith Vocational in the Collision Repair Department in 1964.

Class salutatorian Jordan Dunham, a graduate of the criminal justice program and captain of the volleyball team, interned for the Wilbraham regional 911 dispatch center. She plans to attend Western New England University to study law.

“Smith Voc has offered us all an amazing and unique way of learning,” Dunham said. “We’ve been able to take a hands-on, real-world approach to our high school careers and, truly, it’s an opportunity that we should all be thankful for. … You should all be proud of yourselves.”

Smith Voc Superintendent Andrew Linkenhoker said that he used to tell incoming freshmen and their families that the four years of high school are 2 million minutes that “would fly by.”

“We discussed how important it was to get involved, work hard, show up on time, be respectful, build positive relationships and give back to your community,” Linkenhoker said. “Each decision builds on the previous decision and determines which doors are opened upon graduation. Graduates, your past 2 million minutes are unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.”

He said the pandemic has forced students to become more nimble and adapt to constantly changing circumstances. He thanked the Class of 2022 for teaching older people an important life lesson: to be resilient while caring for one another.

Ella Poudrier, the class valedictorian and a graduate of the cosmetology program, plans to attend Greenfield Community College and then transfer to the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. She said she “decided to fully commit” to earning the title of valedictorian in freshman year.

“Think big. Create goals for yourself and really try to surpass your limits,” Poudrier said. “As Qui-Gon Jinn said in Star Wars, ‘Your focus determines your reality.’”