Schools
CB East Graduates Every Single Senior
The Class of 2011 includes accomplished students from the Central Bucks area.
After receiving his diploma, 21-year-old Ryan Dalton Taylor stopped atop the hill outside Central Bucks East High School to smile and take in the view of the crowd before him.
Walking him back to the seats, Lauren Spiece, Taylor’s autistic support group teacher, grinned from ear to ear like a proud parent.
Taylor graduated from on Thursday, and although he couldn’t say it or type it on the iTouch he uses to communicate, he expressed clear excitement when greeting his parents after the ceremony.
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“Just like every other kid, today’s not an ending, but a beginning for him,” said beaming mother Mary Beth Dalton, of Warrington. Ryan will be attending a vocational day school for students with creative gifts in the fall.
Set to the orchestral sounds of “Pomp and Circumstance,” CB East’s 41st commencement ceremony was filled with wishful thinking – for friends, for the future, and for the impending rain to hold off.
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“My wish for you is that you’ll never want,” said Principal Abram Lucabaugh, telling the graduates donned in blue and white to make their dreams a reality.
“Hope alone is insufficient,” he said. “Hope paired with decision is very powerful.”
Lucabaugh praised the Class of 2011, noting that for the first time he can remember, every single senior - 100 percent of the class - graduated. And 30 percent of them obtained a 3.7 GPA or higher.
The crowd applauded Valedictorian Yishan Liu and Salutatorian Jennifer Ann Guidera, along with seven National Merit Scholar finalists and 113 Presidential Excellence awardees.
Most CB East students – 511, or 94 percent of the class – will further their educations at 158 different colleges and universities in the fall; the busy guidance office at CB East processed a mesmerizing 2,794 college applications this year.
In addition, 28 students will join the workforce and four will begin or continue active service in the U.S. military.
Lucabaugh also commended the way students rallied support for the community and the world, congratulating the 119 members of the National Honors Society, who together logged more than 6,000 hours of community service.
Senior class speaker Nicholas Careghini stressed journey over destination, conjuring up memories the seniors gathered over the past three years – sitting in homeroom with Ms. Benson, storming the football field covered in red body paint, volunteering for the Midway Fire Company and performing in the spring show, Les Miserables.
“Class of 2011, let’s go our separate ways with smiles on our faces, eager to thrive on new experiences,” Careghini said. “And may you never forget where you came from.”
More wishes came in the form of a musical tribute from senior Zachary Kramer.
Mirroring the eternally hopeful character of Jean Valjean, a part Kramer recently played in Les Miserables, he played his guitar and sang the Rascal Flatts hit, “My Wish.”
“More than anything, my wish for you is that this life becomes all that you want it to. Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small,” Kramer sang.
After the awarding of diplomas, the students eagerly flipped their red, white and blue tassels to the left side of their mortarboards, and after a final “Congratulations!” tossed the hats high into the air as proud families and faculty snapped photographs and cheered.
As a long line of cars drove off into the late afternoon, a message from Lucabaugh seemed fitting.
“Your diploma is your passport to a world of tremendous opportunities.”
Stay tuned for a photo gallery of CB East's graduation, coming soon.
