There was no long speech with a ton of clichés when Josiah Kimmel stepped up to the microphone during Lehighton Area High School’s commencement ceremony Friday night.

Kimmel’s message to the 181-member graduating class was clear; don’t take life’s experiences for granted.

Just eight days earlier, Kimmel, class president, wasn’t sure he’d make graduation or do any of life’s simple things again for that matter. The vehicle he was driving was involved in a rollover crash and although he needed to be extricated by emergency personnel, he escaped with minor injuries.

“I thought about how close I had come to this day and how it was almost taken right from me,” Kimmel said.

Only 10 hours before the crash, Kimmel was in a different hospital observing a surgery as part of their volunteer program.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see this procedure, and I genuinely did learn so much from this particular case,” he said. “I have been given so many opportunities to expand my education throughout the hospital volunteer program, as well as extracurriculars like FBLA, Aevidum, and drama club. Many of the volunteer opportunities provided by these organizations have also given me a glimpse into other peoples’ lives and how fortunate many of us are here in Lehighton. We’re all dealt a different set of cards and some people are given some pretty bad cards. Much of our volunteer work helps some of the people who are much less fortunate than us.”

Commencement night is a time when high school graduates hear a lot about the success waiting for them in the “real world.”

While that is true, Lehighton Area High School Class of 2023 valedictorian Megan Hoffman said, failure is also around the corner. Just before the class received diplomas Friday night, Hoffman encouraged the soon-to-be graduates to use failure as a necessary stepping-stone to achieving success.

“Failure is necessary for success, because without failure, we find comfort, laziness, mediocrity,” Hoffman said. “Failure makes us stronger; it shows us that, no matter what goes wrong, if we can handle rock bottom, then surely we can crawl our way out and start new. It makes us better people, humbling us and teaching us to think more creatively.”

Friday marked Lehighton’s 138th commencement. The Class of 2023 includes eight early graduates and 18 combined Lehighton and Lehigh Carbon Community College graduates, who have received their two year associate degree and their high school diploma. The school also honored the Class of 1973, which gathered this weekend for its 50th reunion.

“It is encouraging how public education has evolved and allowed our students to semi customize their education to meet their individual needs,” Principal Sue Howland said. “I encourage and anticipate this trend to continue in the coming years via the enhanced career pathway model.”

A self-professed “theater nerd,” salutatorian Brenna Hunt’s latest career aspiration is to be an actress. Just as dances come in all different varieties, she said, so do the future ventures ahead of Lehighton’s graduates.

“No matter what style of dance you have choreographed for yourself, whether it be to go to college or a trade school, to enter the workforce, or to join the military, take that routine and make it your own,” Hunt told her classmates. “Don’t let the eyes of your audience ever stop you from carrying yourself in the way that makes you happy. It may involve taking a deep breath and a leap of faith, but always dare to dream bigger than you would ever think possible.”

Howland praised the Class of 2023 for its willingness to adapt to different educational environments during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It forced many of you to mature and develop at an accelerated pace,” she told the class on Friday night. “Your growth and maturity during that time was tremendous.”

Superintendent Dr. Christina Fish said graduation is only the beginning of the journey called life.

“Give back to this community who has seen you through these past 13 years of school,” Fish told the class. “Take what you have learned and be the change you want to see in the world.”

At the end of the day, Hoffman said, success of the graduating class won’t be measured by whether someone became a varsity starter or got a solo. Instead, she added, it is the growth you experience between when you set out to meet a goal and when you fulfill it.

“If you are comfortable with doing just enough, you are not growing, you are not learning, you are not improving, and therefore you are not succeeding,” Hoffman said. “Failure is awaiting all of us. It’s how we react to it that truly matters, that truly determines how successful we will be.”