“If you have no choice but to dance a silly dance, then dance.” Career Tech celebrates Class of 2024

Career and Technical High School marked its graduation on May 14 with different speakers’ perspectives, all drawing on individual experiences as they shared their insights for the next milestones.

“Our journey has been marked by academic trials and personal triumphs, countless hours of hard work, as well as late night study sessions that will forever haunt us,” said Ben Kolendo, representing the Transportation Pathway, who said that each person holds immense power within “The power to shape our own destinies, defy expectations, and carve our own legacies.”

“As we stand on the brink of our future, let us embrace one profound truth-our destinies are not dictated by the names we inherit, but the choices we make and the actions we take in our lives,” he said, reminding the graduates that they are the ones who write their own narratives and are in control of their fates. He also said that he hopes that others will carry on what his fellow graduates have begun-a spirit of unity and empowerment, integrity and persistence. “With integrity and persistence as our allies, there is no limit to what we can achieve together.”

“Our journey has just begun and I am filled with boundless excitement and anticipation for the extraordinary chapter that awaits us.”

Gideon Salmans, also representing the Transportation Pathway and is headed into the Air Force, said that he is excited for the next chapter, saying:

“Today is the day of excitement for what’s coming next. We’re about to stride into our new lives as independents, making a new life for ourselves,” then added that while it is a time of excitement, it is also a time of anxiety and perhaps even fear. “I for one am utterly terrified to leave the doors of this building tonight. And to also start paying for my own cell phone bill.” Salmans then spoke about regret, doubt, and failure and encouraged everyone to embrace them, while not allowing them to become burdens.

“Doubt is a word I am all too familiar with, and one I’m sure some of you are familiar with, too. To me, doubt is the uncertainty or inability to make a decision based on the fear of failure,” he said, and that for him, that sense of doubt held him back from trying new sports, applying for scholarships, and even applying for his dream college. “It took me too long to realize that my own mind was my greatest enemy. To find out that it was the doubt in myself that was guaranteeing my failure.” He encouraged his fellow graduates to accept that doubt and failure will happen to everyone.

“Accept the idea that we will all fall short in some way. We must embrace it…it will unlock your dreams. Do not forfeit your passions and goals in life to doubt and failure.”

Wyatt Perkins, representing the Human Services Pathway, told his fellow seniors that he had always despised school, finding it to be boring and finding most other things to be more engaging to him. He says that instead, he was pushed into the TAG program for Talented and Gifted students and found his motivation to go to school.

“I got to challenge myself and learn new things, whether I like the or not.” He says that eventually, he found more opportunities at school and was able to change his perspective.

“What I’m trying to say here is that life is entirely about perspective. You get to decide how you interpret your circumstances…we have to remember how much power we have as individuals. For all our lives, we’re told how we are supposed to feel about experiences like school or work. How we should think, what we should care about, and even who we are as people.” Perkins said that in a world with so much information and oversharing, so much time spent learning about everyone else’s thoughts and feelings, it is important to determine one’s own responses to the world around them.

“I challenge you to reconsider, to question the origin of your thoughts, to take a genuine look into the eyes of the people around you when you’re having a conversation with them, and to realize your position as a painter on the canvas of life.”

Meika Lee, the CTHS Salutatorian, representing the Health Pathway, kicked off her speech by thanking her twin brother London, for providing her with a goal.

“Without him, I never would have had the motivation to follow through with my primary academic goal-beating him,” Lee said, adding that perhaps being born minutes before him gave her the extra edge she needed to best his GPA by 2/100 of a point.

She then focused her speech on the importance of tolerance.

“It is no secret that our country, and in fact the world, is about as divided as it’s ever been. From overseas conflict to what is likely to be a contentious 2024 presidential election, opinions have never been so polarized. As we venture out into this frenzy, I hope we can all remember one thing-tolerance,” Lee said, saying that tolerance is about accepting people, even in the face of disagreement, and to remember that everyone brings different life experiences, and that is not a bad thing.

“It’s easy to discount other’s opinions, so I encourage you when confronted with controversy to really consider the other side of the argument.”

CTHS Valedictorian Killian Fogarty, representing the Building Pathway, promised that while his speech may not be memorable, he would keep it short, unlike his commute time to school, recalling his journey that lead to him attending a school at the end of a dead end road that came with a lot of sitting in traffic.

“By the time I got to Tech, I had the expectation that staff would send traffic just to help students create the very best school they could.” He said that while he has spent countless hours sitting in traffic getting to and from CTHS, he recognizes that the staff spends many more hours not just in traffic, but in also ensuring lesson plans are made, meetings are attended, or being there for students who might need a little extra help.

Fogarty then took a moment to thank the person he owes the most to-his mother.

“I owe you so much for all the sacrifices you made, your unending optimism for me, even when I’ve just done the dumbest things, and all the time you invested in me,” he said, then asked his fellow graduates to help give her a big round of applause, which they happily provided.

After thanking the teachers, coaches, peers, and everybody who has helped everyone reach this milestone, Fogarty left his classmates with one final thought:

“Don’t drive slowly in the left lane, books are for reading, not banning, and always remember to help others the same way they helped you get here today.”

Keynote speaker for the night was Robotics teacher Greg Danner, who recalled the tie he worked as a zookeeper in Florida, and a moment when he learned more than he imagined he would when he had to go into a dark, murky swamp after a wayward alligator. After bumping into the alligator in the muddy water, Danner says that he was left wondering where the gator had gotten to, trying to corral the 11-foot creature with no help from those who were watching, not that they could see anything was moot. And when he bumped into the alligator, the only thing he could think to do was dance, which Danner says earned him nothing but laughter from those around him and mimicry from his boss, who was trying to help wrangle the gator when it swam between his legs, all while they were trying to wrest the animal from its natural habitat. He went on to say that after minutes spent ridiculously trying to get the animal to bend to their will and be escorted to its habitat, the gator up and decided to return on his own.

The point being?

“None of us can see what’s in front of us, and none of us know when out of the darkness something terrible will come right at us. When it does, we can only do what we can do, and even if that seems comical and pointless,” he said of the takeaway lesson from his alligator experience. “Importantly, we will learn from those moments so that when we join together we may force that terrible thing into the light.”

He told the graduates to believe in themselves and each other because some days, the alligators will be right where they should, and others they will not.

“If you have no choice but to dance a silly dance, then dance. Alligators and humans succeed first by surviving. I wish you all the success you desire and I hope that you don’t have to chase an alligator in a swamp…unless you’re into that.”