Nearly 1,200 seniors of the Adlai E. Stevenson Excessive Faculty Class of 2025 graduated on the sixtieth annual graduation at NOW Area in Hoffman Estates on Friday, Could 23.
The Class of 2025 started their highschool trajectory as Stevenson Patriots after their center college years, which had been marked by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“If these years taught us something, it was adaptability,” mentioned Ryan Dong of Buffalo Grove, one among two college students who supplied a senior tackle from the stage and podium.
Dong’s speech mirrored on the journey.
“Now, right here we’re, on the ultimate sentence of this ultimate chapter, bookmarks in hand,” Dong mentioned. “In order we stroll throughout this stage, do not forget that we’re not simply closing a ebook, we’re beginning the sequel.
“Irrespective of the place life takes us, we stock these recollections, one another, and the knowledge we’ve gathered alongside the way in which,” Dong mentioned. “Each ending is a starting in disguise, as a result of the longer term is yours to write down.”
Providing the second senior tackle was Maya Heller of Buffalo Grove, whose speech centered on the longer term.
“We don’t know what comes subsequent,” Heller mentioned. “However I look ahead to our 10-year reunion, once we will have a look at one another and know that every part is understanding.
“Till then,” Heller mentioned. “Belief within the course of.
“Our futures are unfolding completely.”
Amy Neault of Kildeer, president of the District 125 Board of Schooling and the mother or father of two Stevenson graduates, welcomed the viewers from the stage and ended her remarks with a message to graduates.
“As you graduate and go away Stevenson to start your subsequent journey, I ask you to please bear in mind the foundations you realized right here, dedication to self, dedication to others and dedication to studying,” Neault mentioned.
“Wherever you go and no matter you do subsequent, please bear in mind, as a group, we are going to all the time be right here holding you up and cheering you on.
“Always remember, you’re astounding,” Nealt mentioned.
Ready within the queue with different seniors behind the scenes earlier than the ceremony had been Buffalo Grove seniors Pritha Biswas and Nicolett Tarnorutskaya.
“I’m so excited to go away however I’m going to overlook the entire recollections that I made,” mentioned Tarnorutskaya, who’s going to school to check biochemistry.
Biswas is attending faculty to pursue veterinary sciences.
“Stevenson provides a bigger number of packages,” Biswas mentioned.
“Our household really moved right here and picked this particular district for Stevenson as a result of we’ve heard such superb issues about it.
“They offer a lot faculty help,” Biswas mentioned. “My counselors and help group have been superb right here.”
Tarnorutskaya mentioned about Stevenson, “Being a Patriot means attaining success with the assistance of others, working in a group and sustaining sturdy relationships with everybody and striving to be the very best individual you could be.”
Additionally, earlier than graduation, Ruina Liu of Vernon Hills stood alongside graduates ready to file into the sector.
“It’s prefer it’s not actual, I can’t imagine I’m graduating,” Liu mentioned with fun.
Liu goes to school to check laptop science.
To Stevenson, Liu mentioned, “Thanks for offering such a surreal expertise in highschool and giving me alternatives.”
Karie Angell Luc is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.
