Love and tears, pride and joy dominated at today’s Bridgeport High School graduation as members of the class of 2019 flipped the tassels on their graduation caps, signifying they had transitioned from high school seniors to graduates.

 

Each of the 207 class members emerged from the infamous tunnel at Wayne Jamison Field and as the BHS Band played “Pomp and Circumstance,” they completed their processional, taking their seats on the football field.

 

Senior Class President AJ Goodwin was the first to address his graduating peers, reminding them that BHS and the city of Bridgeport will forever be part of a past they all share; a tradition on which to base their perspective futures.

 

Miss BHS Kristen Crowder thanked her parents, friends, teachers, administrators and her coaches.

 

“You have taught me so much more than the game of volleyball and how to run and jump. You showed me how to be the best version of myself,” she said.

 

No matter where life takes this year's graduates, they collectively will always be the class of 2019 and always be united, Crowder said.

 

“Our roots will always take us to Bridgeport and the things we’ve learned at this school will be with us forever. The days and hours of work we put into shaping ourselves doesn’t end once we exit the walls of high school,” she said. “What we learned will be carried with us throughout the rest of our lives.”

 

Crowder reminded her audience of a phrase once spoken by Winnie the Pooh: “How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

 

“It’s hard to imagine not seeing people I’ve grown up with every day from now on,” Crowder said. “But this is not good-bye. It’s ‘See you later.’”

 

Mr. BHS Vincent Pinti presented a stirring speech; one which resulted in a standing ovation.

A common difficult question often asked, he said, is “Who do you look up to?”

 

“We could always answer something cliché or name off a figure from history or the media – a short, sweet little soundbite that starts to define us,” he said. “However, there is not one person that can define who you are internally, spiritually or mentally and that is because not a single person on earth is quite as imperfectly perfect as you are.”

 

Pinti, who has since birth lived with spinal muscular atrophy type II, sent a message to his graduating friends. 

 

“I can speak first-handedly that I am made up of all of you in one way or another. It’s only through the strength, love and courage of every single one of you and doing all the little things like picking up my pencil, unzipping my lunchbox, pressing the elevator button – all those random acts of kindness – that I survived and my dream persists,” he said.

 

Senior class members Erica Cottrill and Callia Byard provided special music, singing “We Are The Champions” and “Landslide,” respectively.

 

BHS Junior/Senior Counselor Jenna Edwards recognized each graduating senior who had received awards and scholarships at Tuesday’s Senior Assembly. Those awards, she said, totaled $5,032,365.

 

After BHS Assistant Principal Mark Jones presented the graduating class, and each member was presented with a diploma by Principal Matt DeMotto as Assistant Principal Renee Mathews read his or her name. Random cheers from the crowd were heard as graduates walked across the stage.

 

Senior Class Vice President Hailie Davis provided the farewell.

 

She admitted that the uncertainty of their future is quite frightening. She also shared that the phrase “Complacency and growth never coexist” has impacted her life.

“It has allowed me to seek opportunities I wouldn’t have otherwise pursued,” she said. “…I challenge each of you to examine how you are living: Are you comfortable or are you seeking growth? Up to this point, many of our lives have looked quite similar, but what is to come is significantly different.”

 

Some will go on to college; others will enter the workforce or go to trade school. Still others will marry and start a family.

 

“And that thought is so strange to me,” Davis said. “Our lives from this point forward will most likely be independent of one another. We’ll no longer have the routine of public school life, but rather learn to sufficiently – or not so sufficiently – live on our own.”

 

No matter how prepared she and her classmates feel they are, there will always unexpected events, she said.

 

“But through those unpredicted circumstances, I’ve learned to find joy in knowing that God’s wisdom is abundantly more extensive than I can comprehend and therefore, He is in control.”

 

As has become a BHS graduation tradition - one started by former BHS Principal Mark DeFazio - Tim McGraw’s “Humble and Kind” echoed throughout Wayne Jamison Field. The song, DeMotto said, has a message that everyone needs to hear.

 

Other graduating seniors taking an active role in Saturday morning’s commencement ceremony were Student Body President Kirstin George who led the Pledge of Allegiance; Drum Major Paislee Adlington who led the BHS Band in playing the National Anthem and BHS Show Choir member Mason Miller who sang the Alma Mater. BHS Junior Class President Carson Winkie assisted Principal Matt DeMotto in presenting diplomas. Several members of the junior class ushered the graduating seniors onto the field.

 

Editor's Note: Photos by Julie Perine. See photos by Ben Queen Photography HERE.