By Ellie Brogan
Wayland Post Contributor
Students laughed, cried, reunited, and shared their accomplishments as celebratory cigar smoke filled the air with haze at Wayland High School’s Class of 2025 graduation on Saturday, June 7. A recent thunderstorm brought a double rainbow to the event, followed by gorgeous skies and a sunset.
The ceremony began at 7:30 p.m. as the procession of teachers and seniors walked from the high school courtyard towards the football field. Participants wore traditional in black robes, many with colorful cords indicating organizations, societies or honors, and many students decorated their caps with the names or colors of their chosen university or college, or a meaningful quote or flag.
After the Senior Chamber Choir sang the national anthem, Class President Armaan Chaudhry spoke about how Wayland has become a home to many because of the quality of the town’s education. Katelyn Chirayath, the Senior Class Representative, talked about how far the senior class has come, touching on lost field trips due to the pandemic and growing up in Wayland. She then thanked support staff of custodians, nurses, cafeteria workers, crossing guards, and bus drivers. METCO Representative Jahdaya Franklin, spoke with refreshing bluntness about what it was like to be in the METCO program, the support she received from teachers, and the importance of being yourself and being proud of it.
School Committee Chair Erin Gibbons, Principal Allyson Mizoguchi and Superintendent of Schools David Fleishman also spoke, with Fleishman quipping about being the last thing standing between the seniors and their diplomas.
Emma Alongi, Tara Sawriker and Santiago Whelton (the vice president, treasurer and secretary of the senior class, respectively) called up their classmates one by one. The 215 student names were met with cheers, shouts, and the occasional passionate air horn from the crowd. When the last name was called, the students who had read the names were called, followed by Chaudry declaring himself and his classmates official graduates.
Caps flew through the air as the new graduates met with friends and family on the football field as the Wayland High School Graduation Honors Band played the “Prince of Denmark’s March.” The diploma ceremony lasted until around 9:00 p.m. as the sun vanished behind the trees and the stadium lights turned on to illuminate the Class of 2025.
