The Gloucester High School Class of 2026 turned their tassels and completed their high school journey as 182 students received their diploma during graduation ceremonies Sunday.
The high school’s culminating event was held in Newell Stadium at the high school in front of bleachers packed with friends and family supporting the graduates.
“It’s been a long four years of hard work and dedication and to finally cross the finish line, it’s nice,” said Manny Carrapichosa whose daughter Emma Rae Carrapichosa was one of the graduates. Rae Carrapichosa was a member of the National Honor Society, four-year softball starter and three-year all-star who plans on attending Merrimack College to study nursing.
Supporting her niece Jasmine Healey was Jennifer Severino who said the day felt extra special because Healey was among the first of her siblings to graduate high school.
“We’re just excited that she got this far and it’s a good beginning to a new journey,” Severino said.
Severino said Healy will be heading to North Shore Community College and begin taking a variety of classes to help her narrow down a major.
the Prior to the ceremony beginning, a member of the Gloucester High School color guard suffered an apparent medical event which Gloucester Acting Police Chief Michael Williams said was likely caused by the heat. Williams said the student will be okay after they stayed on the ground for several minutes. The student was carted off the field on a stretcher as a precautionary measure by a Gloucester ambulance.
Messages of love, the importance of being a lifelong learner and perceiving the moments for what they really are were among many of the themes expressed by the students and school leaders, including Valedictorian Sean Buckley.
During his address, Buckley encouraged his classmates to not let perceptions of others who may appear to be better-off deter them from growing.
“Challenge yourself, challenge your thoughts, ask yourself what causes you to think a certain way and whether or not your thinking is productive or true to yourself. Move beyond the image and try to find what is real,” Buckley said. “Accept the fact that your mind wants to take the easy route at times, but the hard route is the path that leads to real growth.”
While closing his address Buckley congratulated his peers and said when reflecting on their time in the high school, they should perceive it for what it was.
“Remember the reality you lived in, a community, tight-knit and fierce, humble and grounded, kind and understanding, creative and passionate, beautiful outside and full of people who show up and care for each other in ways that matter,” he said. “As you move forward in your future I urge you to think actively about your perceptions, be in the moment … and work towards becoming the most complete and fulfilled version of yourself.”
Salutatorian Lyall Cunningham compared the hard, oftentimes unseen work he and his peers completed to that of a lemon tree spending years preparing the fruits of its labor.
“The world notices the fruit and rarely notices your labor but growth is what matters,” Cunningham said.
He also encouraged his peers to continue growing because “one of the great temptations of success is to believe that arrival is the same thing as understanding.”
“Wisdom begins when certainty loses its grip and the more closely you look at life, the stranger and more astonishing it becomes,” he said. “A city you have passed through a hundred times contains stories you’ve never heard, a friend you’ve known for years carries fears and hopes you cannot yet name … the world is far larger than your assumptions about it, so remain teachable.”
School officials also addressed the graduating seniors with outgoing Superintendent of Schools Ben Lummis and first-year Gloucester High School Principal John Perella echoing similar messages of living lives with love.
Perella referenced two quotes he scited as sources of inspiration for him and encouraged the Class of 2026 to “be good and do good.”
“What you put out there will determine what you get back, maybe that’s karma, maybe it’s you get what you deserve but whatever you call it, it’s random and you direct it,” Perella said.
During his final address to a Gloucester High School graduating class, Lummis encouraged the students build a full life and keep showing up, treat people well and live a life filled with love.
“Graduates, your actions, your love can be a catalyst for change, transform lives and make the world better for all of us,” Lummis said.
Staff Writer Bobby Grady may be contacted at 978-675-2714 or bgrady@gloucestertimes.com.