SHENANDOAH — While leading the Shenandoah Valley High School Class of 2016 on a walk from the high school to Veterans Memorial Stadium on Thursday night, the valedictorian had to remind herself what was happening was really true.
“It started. It’s happening right now,” Alaina C. Demalis said to herself while crossing Stadium Road.
Indeed it was. It was graduation day, and more than 450 people were gathered at the stadium for commencement exercises.
“I am both tremendously honored and humbled to stand before you today in front of such a remarkable class. I have never meet a more incredible group of young adults, and I am privileged to not only call them my peers, but my best friends,” Demalis said during her valedictory.
“Today marks the beginning of the rest of our lives. It is our first step on our path to achieving our dreams. All our lives, we have been fantasizing about going out into the world and fulfilling our goals, beginning all the way back in kindergarten when we first decided that we wanted to be astronauts or professional football players or teachers or pirates. Sure our goals may have shifted a little bit over time, but nonetheless we have always longed for the day when we could at last be anything our hearts desired. Today is that day,” Demalis said.
Then, before she left the podium, she pulled out her digital camera.
“Now, I have a reputation of being the ‘selfie queen’ of my class. So before I leave you, I’d like to stay true to my name and make sure that we can always reflect back on this moment by taking one last selfie with my Class of 2016 family,” she said.
She snapped a few, just to make sure the image came out just right.
Demalis, 18, is the daughter of Anthony P. Demalis, the school district’s business manager, and Judy Demalis. She has a sister, Emily, who will be a sophomore at Shenandoah Valley in the 2016-17 school year. Alaina plans to study kinesiology at Penn State, State College.
The class salutatorian was Marcella R. Creasy, 18, daughter of Helene M. Creasy, a member of the Shenandoah Valley school board, and Michael Creasy. She has a brother, Matthew, who will be a senior at Shenandoah Valley in the 2016-17 school year. Marcella plans to study mathematics at the University of Scranton.
In her speech, she said she grew up to learn the value of respect. And while respecting others, her classmates have to also respect themselves.
“If there is one thing I learned this year, it is that life is not always fair and not everyone you encounter will always have your back. With that being said, I want to encourage my fellow classmates to never settle for less than you deserve. As Frederick Douglass once said, ‘I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.’ Always respect yourself and stand up for what you believe in. At the end of the day, a strong, positive belief in yourself will always top what others think of you,” Creasy said.
Other student speakers included Meghan Artley, the class speaker, and Emily McAndrew, the Virtual Academy valedictorian.
Anthony P. Demalis opened up Thursday night’s program with a heartfelt tribute to the district’s previous superintendent, Stanley G. Rakowsky, who died Nov. 6. Rakowsky’s successor, Superintendent Brian Waite, was also among the speakers.
A commencement tradition is the presentation of the Wall of Fame inductees for 2016. They included Jane Cebulskie Bokunewicz, Ph.D., Class of 1980; Jocelyn Bolick, Class of 1975; and Theodore “Ted” Twardzik, Class of 1945.