Jun. 8—GLASTONBURY — The Glastonbury High School Class of 2021 may be remembered as the class that felt the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic but that doesn't define its members.
Many graduating seniors, like Greg Perry, turned adversity into opportunities when their days and routines were abruptly upended by quarantine. Perry started a digital art business, called Athleta Sketch, for which he turns pictures people send him into cartoons and animations.
"It's how I got through the pandemic," he said Monday shortly before the graduation ceremony got underway on the athletic field at the high school.
While Perry will miss his classmates, teachers and high school sports, he's looking forward to attending Western New England University where he will major in business and marketing.
No one has more reason for optimism than the Class of 2021, Board of Education Chairman Douglas C. Foyle told the nearly 500 graduates. Their senior year was certainly difficult but they are now well equipped and more than ready to face many challenges that lay ahead, he said.
Senior Nathan Maleski said he's ready and happy to leave high school.
"Now I'm one step closer to my future," he said.
The pandemic was disruptive and, as it wore on, a bit difficult for Maleski because he missed being able to speak in person with his teachers and get their support. Now, he's getting ready to attend Manchester Community College in the fall and pursue further study of computer science.
"I just get it," he said of the field. "It gives me a niche."
STUDENT SPEAKERS
Class President: Abigail Furey
Class Vice President: Oluwatobi Bakre
Class Secretary: Alexis Soucy
Address: Anmol Chowdhary
Senior Emily Loscialpo marveled at how the school administration and a parents' group did such a good job of getting everything she and her classmates needed during the pandemic, including monthly events to stay connected to one another.
She said her experience at the high school remained good, even during the difficulties of quarantine during her senior year, due to the sense of community she felt singing in choirs and participating in the Drama Club.
Loscialpo is headed for Monmouth University in New Jersey this fall, where she will study Spanish communication.
"Today, we celebrate the journey each and every one of us took to get here," Abigail Furey, class president, told her classmates.
"When you hold your diploma, think about how proud your freshman self would be and what you went through to get here."
Class scholar awards, for maintaining a grade point average of 4.75 or higher, were presented by Principal Nancy E. Bean to seniors Leonard Liu, Eric Ma, Jacob Schwartz, Saachi Shah, Ryan Thurz, Kai Vestergaard, and Luke Vredenburg.
Oluwatobi Bakre, class vice president, and Alexis Soucy, class secretary, announced to the crowd that the Class of 2021 created the Diverse Voices in Scholarships that, beginning in the next school year, will recognize students of color who will pursue careers in education.
Glastonbury High School has meant something different to every member of the Class of 2021, said senior Anmol Chowdhary in her keynote address. "If any class has gone through highs and lows, it's us. Our class has truly learned to enjoy the good times and make the best of the worst times.
"The last couple of weeks have been about 'lasts,' " she said, "and now we're facing a world of 'firsts.' "
These students graduated from Glastonbury High School on June 7:
Isabella Acosta, Alyissa Adkins, Abena Adzenyah, Priyanshu Agrawal, Asirva Alahari, Leena Alam, Xabian Alarcon, Rim Albukaai, Clayton Alix, Sonny Allabaugh, Thomas Aloise, Nabila Alqadumi, Colin Amato, Roman Amodeo, Savanah Angelillo, Jacob Aselton, Malcolm Ash, Amaia Astiasaran, Mitra Atighechi, Molly auBuchon, Delaney Augeri, Emitayo Awofala, Spencer Azzara.
Charlotte Babich, Brian Bae, Oluwatobi Bakre, Charlotte Bassett, Dylan Bassette, Jenna Bazow, Caroline Beattie, Sara Beckwith, Jacob Benedict, Samuel Benedict, Christopher Bengtson, Bryanna Bermani, Jaymie Berquist, Atharva Bhatnagar, Samuel Biancardi, Abigail Bidwell, Jordyn Bisi, Ryan Bisi, Zachary Booth, Sean Borden, Autumn Bordieri, Kelly Borsotti, Alexander Boucher, Chloe Bourdoulous, Richard Bowman, Alexandra Boyce, Adam Brainerd, Jonathan Bramanti, Patrick Breen, Hannah Breiner, Daniel Bronstein, Isabella Bruno, Sara Buck, Jaci Budaj, Cavan Bunce, Jessica Burns, Sharon Bustamante.
Erin Cabana, Trent Calibo, Angel Campos III, Adonis Canada, Olivia Canevari, Gabrielle Canning, Bernard Cano, James Carpenter, Eric Carreiro, Aidan Carter, Aidan Caruso, Taylor Caruso, Daniela Castaño, Caroline Cermignani, Anthony Cesana, Viren Chainani, Reshma Chandy, Risha Chawla, Jeffrey Chen, Rebecca Chernovetz, Evan Chow, Anmol Chowdhary, Joshua Christensen, Eliza Ciarcia, Arnel Cirikovic, James Clark, Aaliyah Claudio, Mikayla Clemens, Aaron Cohen, Tyrese Collins, Natalie Colucci, Keegan Combs, Holden Conroy, Keara Conroy, Elena Cooper, Bridget Corey, Juliana Corsa, Mathieu Cote, Graham Cotthaus, Paige Cox, William Croce, Colin Cubberly, Da Cheng Cui, Benjamin Curcio, Gabriela Curto, Kara Czapiga.
Isabella D'Alessandro, Steve Daigle Jr., Steven DaMotta, Alyssa Davis, Jeremy Davis, Sarah Day, Anthony Delgado, Monet Delmadge, Catherine DeLucia, Alexis Demircan, Zachary Desmarais, Yareth Diaz-Gomez, Anabella DiNatale, Katarina Dominguez, Natalie Donovan, Sarah Downey, Emma Drouin, Paige Drury, Angalena DuBaldo, Margaret Dunn, Aidan Dwyer.
Kayla Edelheit, Michael Edelwich, Jenna Emery, Natalie Enriquez, Cameron Entezarian, Macy Evans, Nathan Fay, Bryan Feery, Gabriella Fernandez, Benjamin Ferrari, William Finn, Jacob Fishman, Jake Flad, Patrick Flaherty, Shannon Flock, Aidan Flynn, Madeline Fonda, Andrew Fontaine, Samantha Forrest, Grace Forrey, Akira Fu, Kevin f*cksman, Abigail Furey.
Verina Gabriel, Caitlin Gallagher, Zachary Gardner, Aleia Garfinkel, Ryan Gasior, Christopher Geaslin, Cody Giaccone, Kevin Giesow, Oliver Ginnett, Katharine Girard, Alexander Godfrey, Jazlyn Gonzalez, Noah Goodwin, Lauren Gracey, Abigail Graef, Jagger Gray, Christian Grikas, Emily Grote, Matthew Guasta, Peter Guastamachio, Christian Guerra, Paris Guerrero, Alexandra Guy.
Alexander Haaf, Neeko Haas, Emma Harbec-Gavry, Hannah Hardy, Nora Harkins, Carsyn Hartung, Joseph Hassan, James Hecker, Brendan Heller, Erik Hendrickson, Michelle Heredia, Julia Wednesday Herrick, Abigail Hicks, Zachary Hill, Charlotte Hilliard, Mila Hipsky, Phi Hoang, Emily Horton, Justin Howe, Sydney Huff.
Amra Ibrahimovic, Julia Im, Abigail Infante, William Jackson, John Jacques, Abigail Janssen, Joshua Jin, Cathy Johnson, Destiny Johnson, Jacob Johnson, Alyssa Jonas, Jennifer Jones, Jovana Jovanovic.
Dhanush Kalangi, Ethan Kalk, Theodore Karabetsos, Samuel Kasper, Hailey Keel, Owen Keenan, Brooke Keeney, Audrey Kefor, Liam Kelleher, Claire Kenny, Jason Keum, Hannah Kim, Lucas Kim, Morgan Kim, Randy King, Kyle Kirshen, Sara Klompus, Anna Kolasinski, Jadyn Koning, Nicole Koppy, Adam Kos, Paraskevi Kousournas, Alexandria Kretzmer, Lenka Kristinova, Matthew Krusinski, Tate Kuiper, Grace Kukulka, Nish*ta Kumar, Maya Kuzma.
Joseph LaChance, Kate LaChance, Rosemarie LaChance, Damini Lakshmipathy, Daniel LaManna, Connor Landon, Hannah Lang, Andre LaPanne, Molly Lataille, Emily Lauro, Erik Lavallee, Paul Leahy, Simon LeBlanc, Shayna Lebowitz, Brittany LeClair, Leah Lefebvre, Kailyn Lentocha, Gabrielle Lessard, Hunter Lewis, Addison Li, Walson Li, Olivia Liistro, Anna Liu, Emma Liu, Leonard Liu, Margaret Long, Jasmine Lopez, Joseph LoPresti, Logan LoPresti, Emily Loscialpo, Hanna Lushing, Frank Luzzi, Logan Lynch.
Eric Ma, Casey MacElhiney, Grace Maclean, Jake Maglio, Nathan Maleski, Mallory Malz, Zoe Manto, Hannah Marchant, Jillian Margaglione, Shelby Markey, Matthew Marquis, Kylie Martin, Nicholas Martini, Ana Paula Masias Lino, Juliana Mastroianni, Levin Mathew, Owen Matson, Brian McGill, Rylie McGill, Sean McGill, Jack McGraw, Elijah McHugh, Graham McLaughlin, Brendan McManus, Aiden Meister, Lauren Melocowsky, Liam Merrill, Emily Messier, Arianna Michaud, Marley Milne, Kate Minoudis, Kara Mitchell, Jessica Mitlehner, Tanisha Mitra, Zachary Molusis, Molly Monzeglio, Margaret Mooney, Jasmine Morris, Jared Mozeleski, Ahona Mukherjee, Amogh Mukherjee, Marcus Murano, Daniel Murdoch, Jirmani Muth, Charlotte Mysliwiec.
Ngoc Nguyen, Tiffany Nguyen, Cassandra Nocera, Jaclyn Noel, Mary Norman, Hanna O'Leary, Meghan O'Neil, Samira Obbu, Megan Oros.
Ariana Pagel, Jonathan Pantojas, Julia Paperny, Anica Park, Andrew Parkany, Benjamin Parzych, Julia Paskale, Shyam Patel, Kyra Patenaude, Mary Patrick, Maria Paulino, Lyvia Pavano, Seth Pavano, Krystian Pawlowski, Anthony Pecorelli, Joseph Pellegatto, Aaron Pelletier, Seraiah Peña, Catherine Peng, Mark Peoples, Evan Pericolosi, Angelina Perretta, Gregory Perry, Abigail Peterson, Katherine Petzold, Jordan Phan, Madison Phillips, Ellis Pizzoferrato, Jack Pizzoferrato, Augustino Placido, Jonathan Pohorylo, Ari Poliner, Jason Porter, Sydney Porter, Keith Poteat, Grant Powers, Bryn Protheroe, Anthony Pugliese, Eric Putre.
Edward Quinn, Andréa Quintana-Jacobs, Kaci Radican, Ron Radney, Rontha Radney, Anna Radulescu, Delaney Rafferty, Vedavarshini Raghavan, Boston Rasmussen, Hamza Rayyashi, Liana Rego, Aida Reilly, Laura Reyes, Owen Riley, Monica Robinson, Mathew Rodriguez, Thilo Roelofs, Rachel Roman, Kara Rondinelli, Gwenyth Ross, Kelsie Ross, Kayden Rua, Armando Ruiz, Madison Ryan, Margaret Ryan.
Omar Saad, Sarah Sabourin, Antonio Sacco, Delaney Sadak, Gabrielle Salsgiver, Olivia Salvatore, Camden Salzarulo, Jasmyn Sams, Annie Samuel, Morgan Sanders, Amanda Sang, Isabella Sanzo, Allison Savinelli, Cara Sawyers-Abbott, Liam Scales, Jacob Schneider, Karah Schulman, Jacob Schwartz, Joshua Segal, Megan Sevigny, Saachi Shah, Juliana Sharon, Capers Shaw, Norah Shea, Danielle Shumway, Nicole Shumway, Sydney Simon, Alexander Sinnott, Emma Smith, Keane Smith, Claire Soisson, Joelle Solecki, Alexis Soucy, Molly Sowa, Peter Sposito, Joshua St. Laurent, Adian Stanbury, Kayleigh Starr, Mackenzie Steady, Emily Steckler, Colby Stephenson, Bradley Stepule, Samuel Sternhagen, Isabella Stomberg, Grayson Stranko, Vicente Suárez, Samuel Sugerman, Patrick Sullivan, William Sutton, Leah Suydam, Julia Symonds.
Shannon Talbot, Gabrielle Tardif, Owen Tardif, Brad Tavano, Ethan Taylor, Nikolai Tchekmarev, Colin Thomas, Jake Thomas, Ryan Thurz, Rebecca Trailor, Orion Troche, Hollister Tryon, Tess Tuhy, Astrid Turmeque, Anana Turner, Julia Tuttle, Kellie Tyler.
Prasham Vachhani, Tyler Van Riper, Lucas Vartenigian, Dana Vatafu, Nicholas Verdone, Kai Vestergaard, Kyle Vigeant, Nicholas Villamizar, Deven Vincelette, Tatiana Viruet, Cody Vojick, Luke Vredenburg.
Piper Wainscoat, Colby Walker, Cole Wallace, Julia Walsh, Michael Walsh, Ashley Waltz, Alex Watson, Kylee Webster, Aoife Weischedel, Ariana Welsh, Ryleigh Welsh, Madison Werner, Greta Westergren, Maya Wieckowska, Eric Wiedemer, Shawn Williams, Matteo Wong, Annabel Wood.
Faye Yacka, Giulia Zaccardelli, Leo Zanyk-Dittenhoffer, Constantine Zariphes, Georgios Zervantaridis, Evan Zhao, Amanda Zimmerman, Eduart Zumbuli.
For more coverage of Somers and Ellington, follow Susan Danseyar on Twitter: @susandanseyar, Facebook: Susan Danseyar.
