There’s a time for joy,

A time for tears,

A time we’ll treasure through the years,

We’ll remember always

Graduation day

(The Four Freshmen, recorded in 1956)

I am always fascinated by the advice and observations that our area graduate speakers give to their classmates and others assembled for this rite of passage at this special time of year.

I am also curious by the process that occurs that brings these words to life. Are they truly the words of the speakers? Did a class adviser or administrator write them? Was it a collaborative process? How much editing and censoring went on?

As a reporter back in the turbulent late 1960s and early ’70s, I remember covering two commencement exercises where student speakers let society have it with both barrels, and it created a firestorm of controversy, angering parents, grandparents and administrators while the speakers’ classmates cheered them on.

As class president and our school’s orator, I was one of the speakers during the 1957 commencement ceremony at Summit Hill High School. I wrote my own speech, but it had to be cleared by Principal Kenneth Forrest and class adviser Arlene Hollar. I remember starting off the speech with the opening lines of a stirring and patriotic Longfellow poem.

Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State!

Sail on, O Union, strong and great!

Humanity with all its fears,

With all the hopes of future years,

Is hanging breathless on thy fate!

(It strikes me that these words, written by Longfellow in 1849, are equally relevant today.) I can’t remember a word of the rest of my speech, and, by the way, neither can they. (I asked three of them just to make sure.)

During these 2023 ceremonies, there were many references to COVID-19 disruptions and how students navigated through it and fought back. Northern Lehigh co-valedictorian Delia Quier noted that the pandemic altered her life and everyone else’s in every imaginable way. “I hope we never have to experience anything like that again,” she said.

Here is what some of the other speakers of the Class of 2023 had to say at recently held commencement exercises at our local high schools:

?Ethan Jones, valedictorian at Palmerton Area High School: “We all dream of success, great lives and great careers. We will reach our dreams and be successful because we’ll never give up and never stop trying.”

River Knoblauch, valedictorian of Panther Valley High School: “Remember, we have one life and one future, and it’s ours to create.”

?Jonathan Ulicny, class president at Tamaqua Area High School: “We are a class of dreamers, dreamers who can’t wait to see the future, who can’t wait to begin a life of their own.”

?Angela Pan, valedictorian at Marian Catholic High School: “Being underconfident shows people that you don’t have faith in yourself. Overconfidence gives off a sense of arrogance. We want to radiate the perfect amount of confidence.”

?Michael Berger, valedictorian and class president at Weatherly High School: “During a race, you will experience many different setbacks, which are just like the different setbacks that we experience in our lives.”

Samuel Mauro, selected student speaker at Northwestern Lehigh High School: “Our years in high school shaped us into young adults. Through all of this, we have learned to laugh, to cry, to persevere and to celebrate.”

Aicha Saith, class vice president at Northern Lehigh High School: “The sky is the limit, and the sky has no limit.”

Julia Gower, salutatorian at Pleasant Valley High School: “We need to stop waiting for life to happen and start living it.”

Ashley Little, valedictorian of Carbon Career and Technical Institute: “No matter what you choose to do, it’s yours. It’s officially our time to step up and take our rightful place in society.”

Megan Hoffman, valedictorian at Lehighton Area High School: “Failure is necessary for success, because without failure we find comfort, laziness, mediocrity. Failure makes us stronger.”

James Taddei, valedictorian at Jim Thorpe Area High School: “As we navigate through the complexities of life, a delicate balance must be struck between confidence and anxiety.”

Congratulations to all of the graduates of the Class of 2023.

By BRUCE FRASSINELLI| tneditor@tnonline.com

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