Congratulations BHS Class of 2011!

By Lisa E. Crowley
BrocktonPost
BROCKTON—Brockton High senior Ashley Mendes couldn’t wait until her more than 900 fellow classmates received their diplomas and tossed their mortar boards into the air.
“We’re finally finished,” Mendes shouted moments before she and her fellow students became official graduates.
Mendes and friends Dan Offley and Amy Van celebrated the 145th graduation exercises at Brockton High School Friday, June 3—ceremonies that noted the many successes and firsts for the Class of 2011.
Principal Susan Szachowicz said the class was the first to be featured in an article by The New York Times, a program on CBS news and another on PBS in Boston. The class is the first to have held its prom at Gillete Stadium in Foxboro, a Friday night graduation and to have four members of its Boxer Buddies program join in festivities with state Gov. Deval Patrick and President Barack Obama.
Szachowicz offered three lesson her father taught her as she headed off into the next phase of her life including that life isn’t fair and don’t expect it to be, deal with victories with humility and defeats with class and dignity and you can do whatever you want in life as long as you work hard and are passionate about it.
During ceremonies Ashley Leighton, the Class of 2011 valedictorian who will attend Harvard University in the fall, was given a plaque commemorating her achievement as first in the class.
Szachowicz said Leighton is not only a standout in the classroom, but is involved in the school community in the Key Club, Northeastern Young Scholars program and science club.
“She is kind and thoughtful—and from what I hear she is an awesome big sister,” Szachowicz said. “Harvard is lucky to have her,” she said.
Jacob Stetson, chosen to give the student address by a committee of students and faculty after submitting his speech and presenting it to the committee, told fellow graduates that freshman year he weighed over 200 pounds, lacked self-confidence, reached a new low when he earned a “D” in English and was so shy he was afraid of his own shadow.
He said he was so shy he would have preferred to sit alone at lunch, however, because of the many teachers and mentors who would not let him fail he began to run one mile and than 2 during the summer and eventually pared off more than 40 pounds and now as a senior he has the confidence to give a speech in front of thousands of students and parents.
He thanked every member of the school staff, including the janitors and lunch ladies—one being his mom—who helped him adjust to high school and prepare him for the next phase of his life—a drive toward becoming a general.
“Brockton High School is the best high school in the universe,” Stetson said.
Ceremonies also included a remembrance of Robert Leon Boss, a graduate from the Class of 1963, who died in Vietnam on May 6, 1966.
The American flag flown during ceremonies Friday and by vote of the School Committee at all future graduations was the flag draped on his casket during Boss' funeral.
The Boss family has donated the flag for future use.


BELOW IS A LIST OF BROCKTON HIGH'S CLASS OF 2011 GRADUATES AND AWARD WINNERS--AND MORE PHOTOS: