North Reading High School’s Class of 2025 graduates at Arthur Kenney Field on Friday, June 6, beginning at 6:15 p.m.
The commencement ceremony is the culmination of a lot of hard work, some of which was done during an historic pandemic.
It has been a complicated time for seniors as they navigate their way through the various decisions about their futures. Friday night, however, is about celebrating what they have accomplished.
No one needs to be told that a lot has changed since many of them were born. Eighteen years go by in a flash.
Here is are some of the things that happened in 2007, when many in this year’s class were born:
Apple launched the first iPhone, marking a turning point in the smartphone industry.
Nancy Pelosi became the first female Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Two entertainment giants — Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and General Electric’s NBC Universal — announced a high stakes internet venture designed to challenge sites like YouTube.
The result of the deal was the online video site Hulu, launched to a selected group of users in the fall of 2007 and to the general public in the spring of 2008.
“The Simpsons” aired its 400th episode.
Almost 12 million people tuned in for the series finale of HBO’s critically acclaimed, multi-award-winning mob-family drama “The Sopranos” on June 10, 2007.
The first drive-through McDonald’s restaurant opened in Beijing, China, the capital city of the planet’s most populous nation.
Tony Dungy became the first Black NFL head coach to win a Super Bowl as his Indianapolis Colts beat the Chicago Bears 29-17. The head coach of the Bears — Lovie Smith — was also
Black. The Iraq War continued, and a troop surge was sent to Iraq.
Benazir Bhutto, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, was assassinated.
The South Korean hostages held by the Taliban in Afghanistan were released.
The Virginia Tech shooting resulted in the tragic loss of 32 lives. An Indonesian passenger jet crash also resulted in 102 deaths.
The subprime mortgage crisis in the United States triggered a global financial crisis.
The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest man-made structure, was completed.
Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work on climate change.
The bald eagle was removed from the list of threatened species.
The last Harry Potter novel was released.
The NFL nabbed the New England Patriots in the “Spygate” scandal, which dealt with videotaping coaching signals of the New York Jets from an unauthorized location in an away game in East Rutherford, NJ.
A writers strike stalled production of TV shows and movies.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted a new class: Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, R.E.M., The Ronettes, Patti Smith and Van Halen.
LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell was the first pick in the NFL draft, and headed to Oakland.
A new Northern Ireland Executive is formed with Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party) as First Minister and Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin) as Deputy First Minister.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian novelist and historian, is awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation for his humanitarian work by President Vladimir Putin.
As you can see, a lot has changed since 2007 and a lot will change in the next 18 years. We congratulate all graduating seniors; they have earned this moment and stand poised to achieve much as their journey continues.