As the school band performed “Pomp and Circumstance,” the graduating seniors of Paul D. Schreiber High School made their way to the seats, waving to audience members along the way and preparing to end this chapter of their lives. Schreiber High’s 2025 Graduation Ceremony took place on Thursday, June 26, at Seeber Field.
The two-hour-long ceremony ceremoniously began with two graduating seniors, Lucas Derasmo and Julian Kimble, leading the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance before welcoming the senior choir students to sing “The Star Spangled Banner” and the school’s alma mater. The choir was led by Amanda Johnson.
Derasmo and Kimble continued to spew fun facts, welcoming remarks and weather updates to the audience before leaving the stage in the hands of Adam Smith, president of the Port Washington Board of Education.
“Schreiber Class of 2025, you did it. You reached your high school graduation,” Smith said. “You followed the course, met the challenges and accomplished everything needed to arrive at this moment.”
Smith urged the graduating class to thank their families and friends who have helped them get to this moment, thank their teachers for their guidance over the years and thank their classmates for the friendships and shared experiences.
“Wherever your path leads next, on behalf of the Board of Education,” Smith said, “we wish you nothing but success and fulfillment in whatever comes next.”
By poking fun and reminiscing about old and new habits, Craig Weiss, assistant principal for the Class of 2025, said goodbye to the class he has supported and grown with over the past four years.
“As the sun begins to set, it reminds us that even endings could be beautiful. And it’s time for us to look back on the time we spent together and also look forward to the time that lies ahead,” Weiss said. “Our great journey together has come to an end … This has been an incredible four years.”
There was one student speaker at this year’s commencement ceremony: Isabella Didriksen. She was appointed by her fellow students to speak on the class’s collective feelings of excitement, anxiety, nostalgia and fear. She equated all those feelings to an episode of the TV sitcom “Friends,” when one of the main characters, despite facing a great sofa-related challenge, found the good in the situation.
“I think we can all learn from Ross and that scene to remind us to live presently, not fear failure and not obsess over an end result that might change along the way,” Didriksen said before handing the microphone over to Interim Superintendent Christopher Shields.
Shields used his time at the podium to ask the graduation class to keep in mind three ideas no matter where life leads them. The first idea is to never forget the feeling of community in Port Washington, as it is “special and doesn’t exist everywhere.” The second idea is to remain optimistic and view hardships as learning opportunities or temporary setbacks.
“It is up to you what mindset you wish to live by,” Shields said. “It is your journey, and I would encourage you to embrace it with optimism.”
The final piece of advice from Shields before welcoming Principal Kathryn Behr to the stage was for the class to maintain their physical and mental wellbeing while never underestimating the power of stress and emotions.
Before welcoming the graduating class to walk across the stage, Behr affectionately recalled the class’s nickname, the Bubble Class, reminisced on the class’ growth over the past few years and expressed her sadness at seeing them go.
“When your name is called tonight and you walk across the stage, I’ll get one last moment with each of you. And that brief exchange will mean more to me than you’ll ever know because this is not just a ceremony, this is what it means to rise. Not just to move forward, but to step fully into who you are with clarity, courage and conviction,” Behr said.
“Tonight, you are not just walking across the stage,” Behr said, “you are rising into who you are becoming. On behalf of the entire faculty and staff, it has been our honor to be a part of your life for this very brief time. Congratulations and best wishes to the Class of 2025.”
After each graduating student was awarded their diploma, the ceremony concluded with applause, a slew of thank you’s to those who contributed to the success of the graduation and caps tossed into the air.
