NORTH SMITHFIELD – At a courtyard ceremony on Friday, June 7, members of the North Smithfield High School Class of 2024 celebrated a myriad of achievements, with students and administrators pointing to challenges met and obstacles overcome as the graduates received their diplomas.
Principal Amy Burns laid out the stats: 20 students in the class earned academic scholarships and 16 finished with a GPA of 4.0 or higher. North Smithfield High School athletic teams won six state championship titles over 2023/2024 school year, and six athletes set new school sports records.
“It has been an exceptional year,” Burns said.
But Burns said this year’s class of graduating seniors has been extraordinary in ways that go beyond the numbers.
“This class has actualized our vision of graduate,” she said.
The, “vision,” a set of standards the school has aimed to help students achieve for the past several years, includes attributes such as effective communication, lifelong learning and responsible citizenry.
With many headed off to pursue careers in medicine, law, engineering and more – and more than $25,000 raised for various causes in their time at the school – Burns said this year’s class of seniors certainly hit the mark.
School Committee Chairman James Lombardi noted that he personally knew many of this year’s graduates
“Graduation is one of my proudest days each year,” Lombardi said, offering some advice to the students before him. “If you fail, get back up. I encourage you to follow your dreams.”
Salutatorian Grace Lane described the daunting task of writing a speech to deliver to the crowd.
“I don’t have any enlightening advice for my fellow classmates, because we are all in the same boat,” Lane said. “Excited for the future, while being unsure of what it will bring.”
Lane compared her four years of high school with running a race in track and field, with freshman year marked by nervous excitement, exacerbated in their case by the pandemic.
“The Class of 2024 had a rocky start to our high school career,” Lane said. We never had a middle school graduation. We never had a chance to ask our eighth grade crushes to the step-up dance, or even take tours of the high school. We were brought to the starting line, nervous, unprepared, but, fellow graduates, we certainly exceeded anyone’s expectations. We took off in a sprint, and did not look back.”
Sophomore and junior years, Lane said, were the middle of the race, when the hard work is done. Those days were marked late nights of studying for exams and “feeling dumb after takings the math portion of the SAT,” she explained.
“The final stretch of the race is the most fun, while also being the most painful. You feel so close to the finish line, everyone is cheering you on, and you want nothing more than the race to be over,” said Lane. “I’m going to be honest, throughout most of senior year I wanted to be out of high school, and the finish line felt miles away, not just a few meters.”
“All I can say is, I’m proud of all of us for crossing the finish line,” Lane said.
Valedictorian Kaiden Dalby pointed to the perserverance it took to overcome the many obstacles they faced as a class.
“Already nervous about the new experiences to come, we entered the doors of high school on our first day as freshmen, in the midst of a global pandemic,” Dalby said, recalling masked school days and Google Meets where teachers made, “that horrible screeching noise when trying to log in with multiple devices.”
“We must also take the time to realize that despite it all, we are all still here,” said Dalby. “The storm passed and we held strong, ready to face more challenges ahead.”
“On music trips, we had to persevere through impossibly long bus rides, less-than-ideal hotels, late nights, and early mornings, but despite these difficult circumstances, we still gave stunning performances, sweeping the competition every time,” he said. “We all sat through many tests, some of which we should have studied more for, but we persevered. Receiving a bad grade, which I assure you I experienced as well, never stopped us from reaching our goals. Many of us sat through hours-long standardized tests, and while they were definitely grueling at times, we made it through.”
That perseverance, Dalby noted, was particularly displayed by the Class of 2024’s sports teams.
“Year after year, the boys’ soccer team came within arm’s reach of the championship title yet disappointingly failed to meet the mark; but the team never gave up,” Dalby said. “This year, win after win the team steamrolled their competition all season eventually reaching the formidable state championship, whose win had alluded them the past few years.”
The soccer team won, Dalby noted, adding that Northman boys’ tennis, girls’ lacrosse and boys’ lacrosse teams also deserved praise.
“Without giving up these teams finished historic seasons, two of which ran undefeated, and all three just last weekend, capping the year with championship titles,” said Dalby.
He advised his classmates to take that determination to their endeavors beyond high school.
“Whether you’re taking that fateful step away from home, or challenging yourself in pursuing a rigorous career path, perseverance is necessary,” he said. “I urge you to always set your mind to a goal and don’t stop until you get there. Never let your failures prevent you from moving forward, because I assure you that if you don’t give up, your life will lead you to great places.”
