NRHS Principal
By ANTHONY J. LOPRETE III
NRHS Principal
Good evening parents, Superintendent Daly, Chairman Buckley and members of the Class of 2023.
As principal I am proud to welcome you to the 66th Commencement Exercises for North Reading High School.
Allow me to offer my sincere thanks to the custodial staff, the cafeteria crew, the administrative assistants’ team, the faculty, the district administration, and our parent community. A special thanks to the class advisors Ms. Gagnon and Mr. McIntosh; I know you were in good hands, and a special thanks to Ms. Boggs, your yearbook advisor, and her yearbook team. They worked very hard; the finished product is a fine example of their dedication.
I’d like to begin this evening by sharing a moment with you that occurred at the start of this school year. In the first week of September I received a letter from the Special Olympics of Massachusetts. The letter was informing me of North Reading High School’s status as a Unified Champion School. A follow up email from Patti Doherty, Vice President of School and Community Development, confirmed this noteworthy recognition which was due to our commitment to the development of our unified programs. This recognition as a Unified Champion School validated the hard work of many students not only in our Student Council but in our athletic programs and beyond. I want to take a moment and acknowledge the commitment of Mr. Hudson, his staff, and of course, the four senior students they work so closely with. Our memories of basketball games and hosting the bocce tournament, I imagine, are still very fresh in our minds. Experiences that I earnestly hope do not easily fade. Heartwarming to say the least, anyway, I quickly ordered some signs to post in the school to recognize this achievement and to honor the commitment of our students to make our school a place where all students feel like they belong.
Little did I know then that the title of champion was going to develop into a consistent theme for the entire school year. The members of the senior class sitting in front of you today can proudly share that in this school year the term champion would be repeated FIVE more times.
There is certainly more to say about the champions sitting in front of you, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
As principal of the high school the obligations are many, the responsibilities equally heavy, but the rewards are immeasurable. One of the things I am most dedicated to and likewise most proud of, is the recruitment and retention of faculty and staff at the high school. I could not be more proud of the educators assembled here behind me, including of course those that were unfortunately not able to attend. Our faculty, English teachers, Math teachers, science teachers, social studies teachers, teachers of business and entrepreneurship, physical education instructors, performing and visual arts teachers, teachers of special education, world language teachers, counselors, psychologists, coaches; in their work they all regularly display a strong commitment to our school’s core values of leadership through service, lifelong learning, and citizenship. This hasn’t just happened overnight; there has been a consistency that has benefitted us all. But if we can go back in time for just a moment…you may recall in varying degrees the early experiences of interviewing for a position at North Reading High School.
Like me, in preparation for your interviews you may have been trying to find a way to effectively balance those essential spheres of knowledge and action. The value of coursework and degrees should not be ignored nor diminished, but it is probably fair to say that when offered a position, any opportunity to work in our chosen field, it may prove too good to pass up. But what about that Master’s program? Knowledge or action? There’s a lot to be said for “learning on the job.” Action or knowledge? We can ask ourselves, how valuable is knowing, without really doing, and how effective or even sensible is action not grounded in knowledge? Knowledge or action? To balance the two is the key to success. Knowledge and action; two immensely powerful terms as they stand alone, each essential as we live our lives. But if we can effectively link the two…
I believe that it is exactly this point that the members of the Class of 2023 have been so adept at demonstrating for us during their four years at the high school. They have done an amazing job of blending knowledge and action, and so many of them have the accolades and hardware to prove it. The symbiosis between knowledge and action should be the goal for us all.
But as I stated earlier, the school year opened with two ideas, two words that are principled and virtuous in their sole existence, and formidable and dynamic when combined; and they are not knowledge and action, but Unified and Champion. How amazing would it be to be able to really synthesize these two words? Talk about a symbiotic relationship. Knowledge and action certainly have their place, one should never make that mistake that we can forgo knowledge or action. But Unified and Champion? And it seems kind of like chicken and egg type stuff. Can we win a championship without the presence of unity, in some form? And when we are truly unified, what are the bounds of our accomplishments? Unified and Champion. The pinnacle of knowledge and action.
And so, I applaud the Class of 2023 for its grace and brilliance in shaping knowledge to action, however, it is your legacy of creating an environment of unified success that in so many ways is the best in our league, in our region, and in the Commonwealth. Champions. Five times over.
And now at this time, please stand, every senior who has been a member of a state champion team this year, both in the arts and athletics. You helped unify us. Please stand, every senior who has been a part of our unified program, both the coaches and the athletes. You helped unify us. Please stand, every senior who has cheered on their classmates, either from the bleachers, the sidelines, seats in the balcony or in the auditorium, or in the hallways of our school. You helped unify us. Please stand, every senior that has been a friend or a lab partner or a classmate to your peers currently standing. You helped unify us. If at this time, you are still seated, you have likely underestimated your role, please stand and know that you helped unify us.
Ladies and gentlemen, family and friends, the Unified and Champion Class of 2023.
Rain showers fail to dampen the resilient spirit of the NRHS Class of 2023