By the end of this month, hundreds of thousands of high school students will have gone through the time-honored ritual of commencement, accompanied by a certain amount of pomp and circumstance. The word “commencement” might seem to be an oxymoron. Why do we call it “commencement” when it denotes the completion of 13 years of schooling?

My Summit Hill High School Class of 1957 motto explains why perfectly, “Not finished, just begun.” It’s the “commencement” of the rest of a graduate’s life.

Forty-one of my classmates and I graduated from Summit Hill High 65 years ago this week. I was one of the three student speakers. My topic was “What Is This I Hear?” I must confess that I do not remember one word of my “oration,” as it was called back in the day. Our salutatorian Margaret Ellen Henry’s topic was “A Teenager’s Plea,” whose title sounds infinitely more interesting than mine, but I can’t remember her words either. (Sorry, Peggy.)

Along with speaking at my own high school commencement, I also was keynote speaker at three college commencements. I started each with a quote from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address: “The world will little note nor long remember what we say here.” Little did Lincoln know when he said this in 1863 that he was wrong. In fact, I heard Lincoln’s words as recently as May 30 at Memorial Day services in Summit Hill, read by a Panther Valley student. I, on the other hand, was right: I had no illusions that my pearls of wisdom would be remembered by graduates, and I am sure that they weren’t.

Selected members of the graduating class - usually honor students and class presidents - school officials and sometimes guest speakers have spent enormous amounts of time trying to come up with just the right words that they hoped would inspire members of the Class of 2022.

The messages this year frequently centered on the completion of students’ educational journey during the era of COVID-19 despite the many obstacles they encountered and had to overcome.

Northern Lehigh’s class Vice President Kendall Heiney acknowledged their “weird high school experience” associated with the pandemic. “We are all tired of hearing that word, so I will not dwell on the topic; the important thing is we did it.”

Palmerton Area High School’s salutatorian Christopher Walkowiak detailed not only COVID-related impacts but those of weather on the prom, senior skip day and other key senior class events. “We have had an invaluable test in perseverance; we adapted readily as we transitioned to online and hybrid learning and, despite the challenges, we stand here before this crowd,” he said.

As many speakers over the years have advised, students must accommodate change in their lives. While acknowledging that change can often be intensely frightening, Marian High School valedictorian Lauren Reaman summed it up this way: “Sometimes it may feel like we’re being pushed down a never-ending hallway, having no control over where we are going, getting thrown through new doors, both good and bad, and starting new chapters of our lives when we don’t feel ready.” She said she hoped that she and her classmates can accentuate the positive throughout these challenging periods of change.

Marian’s salutatorian Walter Pavlik said that the graduates’ high school experience has been “defined by our resilience and our ability to overcome obstacles.”

A frequent theme among student speakers was the warning that missteps are inevitable. Palmerton’s valedictorian Kyle Sebelin said the real test is how we react to these temporary setbacks “Personal success is not about accumulating wealth or achieving fame; it’s about leaving a positive impact on those around you,’’ he said.

Another recurring theme was to live in the here and now as opposed to being overly stressed and obsessed with the future. Pleasant Valley salutatorian Jacob O’Neil advised his classmates to experience new things, participate in new activities and meet new people.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.