At Baccalaureate, Graduates Encouraged to “Be Kind to Yourself and One Another”
June 07, 2023
Surrounded by close family and friends, Thetford Academy’s Class of 2023 gathered on Sunday for one of their last events before Friday’s graduation. Baccalaureate at TA is a time to reflect on and celebrate the milestones, achievements, and challenges overcome that mark the high school years. This year, TA hosted the event for the first time in the timber-framed outdoor classroom on the south campus – with views of Mt. Ascutney in the distance.
Students entered to the processional song, “Let There Be Peace on Earth,” before hearing from a choral trio of seniors, Emma Willens, Alex Fein, and Marshall Melancon, who sang “Carry the Light” by Andy Beck and “We’ll Meet Again” by Ross Parker and Huggies Charles, inviting families to join in the chorus.
Faculty speakers Betsy Pond and Dawn Deibler, elected by students to make the address, focused their remarks on the unique personality of the class. With famous movie quotes, like Ferris Bueller’s classic “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it,” they spoke to the attributes of perseverance, kindness and service, humor, and passion they saw in the class.
Few outdoor events in Vermont are able to avoid a weather interruption, and for Sunday’s event, it was a bit of rain. Like the Class of 2023, though, participants persevered, showing good humor, kindness, and caring throughout, knowing a bright future was ahead.