POLAND — Poland Regional High School awarded diplomas Saturday afternoon to 95 new graduates, who also received some blunt advice from valedictorian Holly Young.

“We are taking off our training wheels and going full force into the future — whether we want to or not,” Young said.

Families and friends packed the PRHS gymnasium to cheer for the graduates as they completed their high school journey. Some students are entering the workforce, others are off to trade schools or four-year colleges.

“We are about to enter the real world,” Young said. “Wherever we go, we will always have something in common: This place, which isn’t just a school, it’s a community.”

Young advised her classmates to “create something new and enjoy every second of it.”

All of the speakers at Saturday’s graduation ceremony shared a common message: Poland Regional High School is not just a school. It is a community that has been built since opening 20 years ago.

Keynote Speaker Carolyn Hricko, a 2004 graduate of PRHS and a research program manager at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, shared her journey and how important it was to trust her own voice.

“Trust your gut,” she said. “Trust yourself and trust your voice, even when it’s scary, even when you’re unsure and when it’s scary. Embrace where your voice leads you.”

Hricko said when she found more comfort and confidence in her voice, she began to recapture her PRHS spirit.

Salutatorian Sarah Parent said she has been waiting for graduation since pre-school, and could not asks to be graduating with “stranger or better people.”

“Where each of us goes, we will all take with us powerful lessons from seemingly endless days at this school,” Parent said. “It is time to move forward, and I have nothing by excitement.”

Copy the Story Link