GOFFSTOWN -- Manchester's Trinity High School graduated 119 students in a ceremony at Sullivan Arena at St. Anselm College yesterday. As they prepared to set out on their own, they were assured they would not get outside their alma mater.
"Graduates, remember this if nothing else. You will never lose your way, you will never forget that you are here on earth for a higher purpose, if you remember that you are on a mission from God," Principal Denis Mailloux told students, adapting a line from the movie "The Blues Brothers." The graduates, dressed in bright blue robes, were the school's 39th graduating class.
Valedictorian Ellen Connell spoke about how she had longed to attend Trinity--nine years since her older sister was accepted as a freshman, and how she listened to her older siblings talk about attending the school.
"For years, I had yearned to join in on those dinner conversations," she said. "After waiting for nine years for admission, I'm not sure I'm ready to end my time on the inside."
She also spoke of growing close to other students and to the faculty over the four years spent in high school, and moving from worried freshmen to confident seniors.
"Although many of us have looked to this day with varying degrees of anticipation, it is both scary and exciting to be teetering over the edge of what we know we are familiar with, and what we are yet to discover," said.
In his farewell address, Mailloux told students that their high school commencement was one of the few moments in life he was sure they would never forget.
"Unfortunately, it's probably the last time that all of you will be together, something that was easy to take for granted for four years," he said.
In addition to "The Blues Brothers," Mailloux, who said he loves movies, also cited "Next," a film in which Nicolas Cage plays a man who can see ahead into his own immediate future, to emphasize what the students were capable of.
"You have the power to make the world a better place. It starts right here, and it starts right now," he said.
After students walked across the stage to receive their diplomas, to often boisterous applause and many flashing cameras, Mathew Myers, senior class president, presented the graduating class.
Myers spoke of finding acceptance and friendship at Trinity.
"My dream when entering Trinity High School was to be accepted for who I am, not who I stand for, or how tall I stand," said Myers, who stood on a chair to address the audience. "I fulfilled my dream by accepting myself first before ever letting anyone else accept me."
