Lindsay Marrone, the valedictorian of St. Mary’s High School’s Class of 2014, said in her commencement address on Saturday to classmates that life is like a sailboat, and the current has led them to the Manhasset Catholic school.
“We clearly didn’t know what we were in for,” she said. “As cliché as it sounds, we had no idea St. Mary’s would become our home away from home.”
Marrone and the 151 other graduates in St. Mary’s Class of 2014 received their diplomas and threw their caps into the air during a ceremony at the Tilles Center at LIU Post.
In her address, Marrone, who plans to study international relations this fall at Princeton University, recalled going into the gym on her first day of high school and looking around at the classmates and teachers with whom she’d make memories.
Now their ships are about to sail once again, and “the past is behind us but far from forgotten,” she said. “The future is the horizon.”
“In a few short months, we will be entering college, and although we may not have our friends or the teachers we have grown to love, we do have the valuable lessons they have taught us,” Marrone said. “We have learned to sail.”
“Now it is our time to take our place as the next leaders in a world with too many problems left unsolved. As you journey on the sailboats of your lives, be sure to laugh much and smile often,” she said. “Because a simple show of optimism makes the world a better place.”
Marrone had a 104.55 weighted average and was a member of the National Honor Society, the captain of the mock trial team and was also involved with the Scholar Service Institute and Science Olympiad team. She was a lector and Eucharistic minister and was on the St. Mary’s swim team.
Marrone spoke during the latter portion of the ceremony, prior to a brief academic awards presentation during which several students were commended for their accomplishments in the classroom.
In her salutatorian address, Manhasset resident Kristina Magas implored her classmates to appreciate the days they had together at St. Mary’s and mature into adulthood using the educational and spiritual foundation formed in high school.
“Take these memories and the many more you’ve created and hold onto them,” she said. “Dr. Seuss once said you will never know the value of something until it becomes a memory. Indeed, he was right.”
Magas had a 103.97 weighted average and was a member of the National Honor Society, the president of the school’s Scholar Service Institute, captain of the Science Olympiad team and editor-in-chief of the school’s literary magazine. She also played badminton and volleyball and participated in the school’s mock trial team.
Magas, who plans to study biology at Fordham University this fall, told the graduates to “look back and smile” as they move forward in life, and to “do what scares you” as they “find your purpose.”
“If you’ve found happiness, you’ve found success,” she said.
Grace Cavallo, the president of St. Mary’s elementary and high schools, congratulated the graduates and their families but said commencement services also recognize the faculty and staff members who often dedicate long hours to help the students maximize their potential.
“They have a remarkable ability to take ordinary days and make them extraordinary opportunities,” she said.
