BYFIELD — The Governor’s Academy held its 262nd Commencement exercises Sunday morning on the lawn of the Mansion House. Ninety-seven members of the Class of 2025 received their diplomas before a crowd of faculty, family, friends, and underclass students.
Delivering this year’s commencement address was Dr. Jonathan Holloway, the 21st president of Rutgers University.
Holloway opened his remarks with the poem “The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver, which closes with the question, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
He invited graduates to celebrate their many accomplishments and friendships today while also devoting time to giving thanks.
“Do not remain only in the bubble of your own design,” Holloway said.
Holloway encouraged them to honor the complexity of our world by seeking out diverse perspectives and reminded them that the United States was “born out of an argument, rooted in descent, and emerged united.”
After receiving their diplomas, graduates followed the faculty to the Little Red Schoolhouse to say “goodbye for now” and then walked to Mansion House together to take a metaphoric leap into the next chapter of their lives. The jumping of the wall, when graduates literally jump over the stone wall behind the Mansion House, has been a tradition since the 1950s and continues to be a treasured and significant ritual for each graduating class.
The commencement processional was led by the two members of the Class of 2025 who won awards voted on by the academy’s entire faculty.
Gracie Augustine of Wilmington was awarded the Morse Flag, which is presented each year “to a senior whose record in all respects meets the highest approval of the faculty.”
Eva Bockoff of Newburyport won the Academy Prize, which is “awarded to a senior whose unselfishness and sportsmanship have best exemplified the spirit of the school.”
Local award winners included Cece Batchelder of Newburyport, Avery Colgate of Amesbury, Maggie Delay of Byfield, Freddy Kniker and Sammy Kniker of Georgetown, and William Wertz of Ipswich.
Batchelder won the Anne Marie Murphy Athletic Award, which is awarded “to the senior girl who, by her example and achievements in athletics, has brought the greatest honor to her school during her playing career at the academy.”
Colgate won the Thespian Award, which is awarded “for meritorious work in the field of dramatics, for inspiring participation, providing leadership, and developing theatrical knowledge and abilities.”
Delay won the Peter Marshall French Memorial Trophy, which is awarded “to a student at any level whose perseverance, sportsmanship, and generous spirit on the playing field, regardless of distinction as an athlete, represents the highest standards of committed participation and fair play.”
Freddy Kniker won the Moody Kent Prize in History, which is given annually to a student for outstanding achievement in history.
Sammy Kniker and Wertz won special prizes, which are “awarded to members of The Governor’s Academy senior class, whose perseverance, courage, initiative, sense of responsibility, loyalty, and concern for others have contributed to the strength of the academy.”