BUCKLAND — “The world needs you,” Chelsea Kline told Mohawk Trail Regional High School’s 59 graduating seniors.
It was a bright and breezy Sunday, and the seniors — now alumni — sat smiling up at their families and friends from their seats on Mohawk’s athletic field.
On that clearing, nestled next to the school they are leaving, they listened to Kline, a Bay Path College administrator and progressive activist — and their graduation speaker.
“The world needs you to question the way things have always been done,” Kline said.
And, judging by the words of some student speakers, including salutatorian Violet Rawlings, it seems the Class of 2018 is ready to take Kline’s advice as they move on from Mohawk.
Rawlings started her speech by telling the crowd climate change is real and ‘no’ really does mean ‘no.’”
While she is excited to make her mark on the world, Rawlings also couldn’t help feeling the graduation was slightly bittersweet.
“I don’t like finality,” Rawlings said. “In about a half of an hour, I will never be able to be a high school student again. I don’t really want to be a high school student again, but the fact that I can’t didn’t really sink in until now.”
Valedictorian Emma Poplawski had similar feelings leading up to her graduation. She said her freshman-aged self would never believe that she would cry at her last calculus exam — and tears of sadness, not joy.
“Somehow, four years went by and here we are,” Poplawski said to her classmates, also acknowledging the finality of the event.
But there also was, undeniably, a sense of accomplishment among the seniors, who smiled as they whipped their blue caps into the air only a second after turning their tassels.
They hugged, smiled and laughed. They did it.
“’For the rest of our lives,’ this statement is both exciting and terrifying, but don’t forget there’s a reason we’re all here today,” Poplawski said.
They left the field with their families and friends, some still humming the tune of Mohawk’s alma mater.
“May the memory of our days with you fill our hearts, our whole life through,” the anthem goes. “Oh Mohawk, be our strength and guide, a stalwart to your youth. Oh, Alma Mater, praise to thee, we light your lamp of truth.”
Scholarships Doug Turner Memorial Scholarship - $1000: Brianne Cousineau, Ashley Walker
Mohawk Athletic Association Scholarship in Memory of Samuel Howell Sylvester - $500: James Harrison
Mohawk Athletic Association Scholarship in Memory of Terri Scott Ferraguto - $500: Haley Rode, Ashley Walker
Mohawk Athletic Association Scholarship in Memory of Chuck Miner - $500: Emma Poplawski
Phillip C. Toy Memorial Scholarship - $250: Jonathan Schuetze
William C. Pollard Memorial Scholarship - $250: Seth Hoynoski, Ashley Walker
Clifford “Chuck” MacAdam Memorial Scholarship - $725: Seth Hoynoski, Mary Monohon
Shelburne Falls Kiwanis Club Stan Smithers Scholarship - $500: Matthew Taylor
Shelburne Falls Kiwanis Club Memorial Scholarship - $500: Emma Poplawski
Shelburne Falls Kiwanis Club Allan Willis Memorial Scholarship - $500: Adrienne Harris-Fried
Shelburne Falls Kiwanis Club Philip R. Joyce Scholarship - $500: Ashley Walker
Shelburne Falls Kiwanis Key Club Scholarship - $500: Violet Rawlings
Shelburne Falls Kiwanis Rolland Gifford Memorial Scholarship - $500: Haley Rode
Griffin Joseph Kearney Scholarship: Jordyn Corliss, Ashley Walker
Ian Fletcher Lynch Spirit of the River Scholarship: Violet Rawlings
The Friends of Robert Strong Woodward Inc., Scholarship - $300: Lassandra McLaughlin-Padua
Cohn & Company Real Estate Agency Scholarship - $500: Branddon Tobin
Francis R. Crosier Memorial Scholarship - $5000: Elizabeth Herzig
Dennis Bushey Memorial Scholarship - $500: Matthew Taylor
Edgar Walter Martin II Memorial Scholarship - $1000: Luke Viens, $500: Brianne Cousineau, Benjamin Cox
Robert Bruffee Athletic Memorial Scholarship - $1000: Andrew Hicks, Ashley Walker
Larry Rancourt Scholarship - $1000: Emma Poplawski
Dr. John B. and Lillian C. Temple Memorial Scholarship - $2000: Brianne Cousineau
Keith G. Billiel Memorial Scholarship - $250: Adrienne Harris-Fried
Deane Jones Memorial Award from Trinity Church in Shelburne Falls: $500: James Harrison, Ashley Walker
Earl L. Valiton Memorial Scholarship - $500: Ashley Walker
The Ashfield Rod & Gun Club Scholarship - $500: Elizabeth Herzig
The Buckland Shelburne Elementary School PTO Scholarship - $250: Mikayla Bompastore, Ashley Walker
Nina Noga Memorial Scholarship - $300: Lilly Seaver
Arms Academy Class of 1963 Scholarship - $1000: Brian Allen, Morgan Young
Greenfield Community College Mary Stuart Rogers Foundation Scholarship - $1000: Mikayla Bompastore
Greenfield Community College/Rotary Club of Franklin County Scholarship - $1000: Ashley Walker
The Kelly M. Broughan Memorial Scholarship - $225: Ashley Walker
Trustees of Arms Academy Scholarship - $3500: Mikayla Bompastore, Adrienne Harris-Fried, Matthew Taylor, $3200: Brian Allen, Andrew Hicks, Ashley Walker, Morgan Young
Charles White Scholarship - $1000: Alexis Mazza
Trustees of Sanderson Academy Scholarship - $500: Chloe Doyle, Rosalie Kinsey, Dominic Rachmaciej, Violet Rawlings
Trustees of Sanderson Academy Scholarship/Wayne Phillips Memorial Scholarship - $500: Mary Monohon
Buckland and Shelburne Police Department Scholarship - $500: Branddon Tobin, $250: Ben Warger
Colrain P.T.O. Scholarship - $500: Elizabeth Herzig, Morgan Young
Cowell Fund Award - $900: Seth Hoynoski
Mohawk District Education Association Scholarship - $200: Brianne Cousineau, Violet Rawlings, Hayley Rode, $100: Luke Viens
Mohawk District Education Association/Mohawk Building Scholarship - $200: Morgan Young
Mohawk District Education Association/Warren Davenport Memorial Scholarship - $100: Luke Viens
Arms Academy Scholarship Fund Trust Scholarship - $1200: Mikayla Bompastore, Brianne Cousineau, Adrienne Harris-Fried, Violet Rawlings, Hayley Rode, Matthew Taylor, Ashley Walker, $900: Chloe Doyle, James Harrison, Andrew Hicks, Mary Monohon, Emma Poplawski, Dominic Rachmaciej, Lilly Seaver, $500: Brian Allen, Morgan Young
Charlemont Alumni Scholarship- $500: Hayley Rode
Heath Ladies Aid Scholarship - $200: Alicia Johnston, Haley Rode
Helen E. Long Memorial Scholarship - $2000: Rosalie Kinsey
Class of 1959 Scholarship - $200: Ashley Walker
Colrain Community Church Scholarship - $100: Luke Viens, Morgan Young
Carl H. Nilman Scholarship - $600: Mikayla Bompastore, Brianne Cousineau, Rosalie Kinsey, Lassandra McLaughlin-Padua, Violet Rawlings, Haley Rode, Lilly Seaver, Matthew Taylor, Ashley Walker, $500: Adrienne Harris-Fried, David Hobbs, Emma Poplawski, $400: Andrew Hicks, Branddon Tobin, Luke Viens, $250: Benjamin Cox, Noah Cunningham, Alexis Mazza, Morgan Young
Women of the Moose, Chapter #316 Scholarship - $100: Brianne Cousineau, Noah Cunningham, Seth Hoynoski
Mohawk Music Association Scholarship - $500: Adrienne Harris-Fried, Anna Morin, Hayley Rode, Matthew Taylor
Retired Educators Association of Massachusetts Franklin County Chapter/Ethel Raymond Orcutt Scholarship - $1000: Brianne Cousineau, Adrienne Harris-Fried
Franklin County Chapter REAM $500 Scholarship - $500: Brianne Cousineau
Shelburne Falls Women’s Club Scholarship- $400: Chloe Doyle, Adrienne Harris-Fried, Matthew Taylor, $300: Mikayla Bompastore, Dominic Rachmaciej, Violet Rawlings, Ashley Walker
Shelburne Falls Fraternal Order of Eagles Scholarship - $1000: Seth Hoynoski, Violet Rawlings, Ashley Walker
Shelburne Falls Eagles Auxiliary Scholarship - $250: Ashley Walker
The Dr. Sarah Kemble Scholarship Award - $1000: Brianne Cousineau
Greenfield Lodge of Elks A.R. Sandri, C.E. Ulrich, Whitman Russell Memorial Scholarship – $1000: Ashley Walker
Ashfield Citizen’s Scholarship and Community Fund “Fall Festival Fund” - $900: Violet Rawlings, $500: Noah Cunningham, Rosalie Kinsey, Dominic Rachmaciej
Ashfield Citizen’s Scholarship and Community Fund “Van Valkenburg Scholarship Fund” - $1000: Rosalie Kinsey, Mary Monohon, Violet Rawlings
Hillside Agricultural Society Scholarship - $500: Elizabeth Herzig, Ashley Walker
Jeffrey Mason Memorial Award - $500: Ashley Walker
Fred W. Wells Fund Scholarship – Benjamin Cox, Brianne Cousineau, Heidi Kmetz, Lassandra McLaughlin-Padua, Emma Poplawski, Lilly Seaver, Violet Rawlings, Haley Rode, Matthew Taylor, Morgan Young
John and Abigail Adams Scholarship – Brian Allen, Dawson Clark, Brianne Cousineau, Benjamin Cox, Chloe Doyle, Adrienne Harris-Fried, Heidi Kmetz, Emma Poplawski, Dominic Rachmaciej, Violet Rawlings, Jonathan Schuetze, Lilly Seaver, Matthew Taylor, Luke Viens, Sarah Vight, Morgan Young
D.A.R. Good Citizens Award – Dominic Rachmaciej
Pratt Prize Award - $900: Noah Cunningham, Dominic Rachmaciej
GraduatesTommaso Accornero, Brian Ryker Allen, Cooper M. Bliven, Mikayla Elizabeth Bompastore, Gabriel D. Bower, Bianca Rose Cavanaugh-Green, Dawson Clark, Jordyn M. Corliss, Mackenzi Brown Coulombe, Brianne Morgan Cousineau, Benjamin Draves Cox, Andrew Johnathan Culver, Noah David Cunningham, Jameson S. Dailey-Pecor, Alexis L. Deane, Lydia Erin Donahue, Chloe D. Doyle, Kaleb M. Fitzgerald, Samantha Coleman Forton, Corinne M. Freeman, Michael J. Gabaree, Alex Richard Girard, Ethan A. Glover, Emma Jean Gougeon, Adrienne Harris-Fried, James P. Harrison, Elizabeth G. Herzig, Andrew T. Hicks, David Elton Ledanielle Hobbs, Geneva Evette Hobbs, Kamron Hoff, Seth Michael Hoynoski, Alicia Marie Johnston, Rosalie Andrea Kinsey, Heidi Marie Kmetz, Sadie Anne Kudlay, Alexis M. Mazza, Brady P. McCloud, Zachary D. McCloud, Lassandra Janea Padua, Avery J. Miraglia, Mary J. Monohon, Anna Faye Morin, Colby A. Orcutt, Cassandra Ann Pippos, Edward D. Pollard, Emma Corey Poplawski, Dominic Bruno Rachmaciej, Oshen C. Ramirez, Violet Jharsten Twist Rawlings, Emmarae Savanna Reid, Haley Marie Rode, Michaela Celia Sarage, Jonathan D. Schuetze, Lilly Viola Seaver, Matthew Elliot Taylor, Branddon M. Tobin, Luke Thomas Viens, Sarah Rose Vight, Ashley Nicole Walker, Ben L. Warger, Morgan Jane Young