Quincy High grads told to take their shot
QUINCY − Nothing happens unless you take the shot, Caroline Tracey told her classmates at Quincy High School's graduation ceremony Monday evening.
The salutatorian of the Class of 2023, Tracey said she used to be shy and care too much about what other people thought. She overcame that, and advised her classmates to do the same.
"Try the new food, meet the new people and explore the new places," she said. "Do all of this without an ounce of shame or embarrassment."
The 404 graduates in the school's Class of 2023 received their diplomas on the field at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Valedictorian Christiana Nguyen talked about the home her family found on Post Island, a neighborhood with a culture of taking care of each other. She encouraged her classmates to treat everyone with kindness.
"In whatever you do, ask yourself, 'Have I left things better than I found them?'" she said.
Class President Deekshita Madhalam said the class formed a community during their four years at the school.
"We made it, and there was a multitude of people who got us here," she said.
Mayor Thomas Koch gave the graduates the congratulations of the city along with eight words of advice.
"Find your passion, work hard and be kind," the mayor said.
School committee Vice Chair Frank Santoro said that while he doesn't remember anyone who spoke at his high school graduation, he found a way to guarantee that one member of the class would remember his speech. He taped a $100 bill to the bottom of the seat of one of the graduates.
Santoro told the graduates to use the tools they gained in their years in the Quincy school system "and go and solve those challenges that lie ahead."
City Council President Noel DiBona said that while the graduates are ending one chapter of their lives, they are writing their own book.
"Class of 2023, go and make a difference in the world," DiBona said.
The Class of 2023
National Honor Society graduates: Amira Aitsaid, Onuchi Alamba, Sarah Alberione, Zaila Alves, Jason Au-Duong, Matthew Bartkus, Madeline Baryza, Victoria Bentley, Jayda Berry, Kayla Blatcher, Marissa Cakuli, Caroline Campbell, Audrey Capone, Vanessa Chan, Aliciana Charbonier, Kenny Chen, Charles Coffey, Rebekah Dang, Catharine Demopoulos, Xingwen Deng, Mary Doherty, Amber Doyle, Jouri Elsadek, Kloee Gora, Kaitlyn Gough, Brandon Hibbard, Huy Ho, Paige Holleman, Bonnie Huang, Sophia Huang, Ronak Jahangirian, Sarah Kabay, Alexandria Kane, Brianna Keddy, Shubham Kumar, Aden Le, Tiffany Le, Josephine Leung, Ruby Levine, Tess Louzan, Meidong Ma, Deekshita Madhalam, William McCoy, Yu Mei, Ariel Nguyen, Casey Nguyen, Dante Nguyen, Emily Nguyen, Katherine Nguyen, Lena Nguyen, Nhi Nguyen, Sophia Nguyen, Trang Nhu, Delia Nichol, Thomas O'Neil, Angela Pham, Kelly Phu, Dheeraj Viswanath, Victoria Rak, Jaimie Sansouci, Annika Schmitt, Elham Shah, Sadeq Shareef, Reese Smith, Max Spendlove, Sam Spendlove, Brynn Toler, Caroline Tracey, Anna Tran, Katrina Tran, Steven Tran, Samuel Traynor, Kaitlyn Vo, Almona Vojkollari, Skylá Whelan, William Wismar, Anna Zheng.
Graduates: Mohammed Abdulameer, Ava Adams, Mukhtar Adan, Melani Aguerre, Marta Aguiar-Perello, Angelica Aikens, Charlindo Alexis, Jeanior Alexis, Ahmed Alfetlawi, Yaseen Ali, Maha Al-Ibrahimy, Mahdi Alkhalidy, Zainab Alnasiri, Kimberly Alves, Ali Alzubaidy, Sachie Amado, Angela Anderson, Skyler Antonowicz, Mariely Aracena, Dilan Arda, Saidy Arias Guerrero, Laisha Pimentel, Edwin Astronomo.
Brianna Backman, Joshward Baez, Anass Bahri, Brian Baker, Mathews Barbosa, Michail Barros Abakoumov, Johnnie Baskin, Jonathan Batista-Perez, Kristi Becka, Juan Bengoa Croxatto, Lea Bergin, Caroline Bertrand, Bellanicia Bertulli, Anthony Bina-Rodriguez, Nicholas Bina-Rodriguez, Jose Luis Binet Gomez, Blenny Blanc, Julie Blois, Jesse Bollinger, Dejan Boskovic, J'Wan Bowden, Emily Bowers, Kaniya Braithwaite, Maerlande Bregard, Christian Brennan, Angel Bresnahan, William Britt, Gabriella Buchanan, Vivian Burke, Morgyn Butler.
Adriana Campbell, Gregory Campbell, Kayron Campos, Kyle Cao, Dynasty Cardoso, Isabella Carinci, Mallory Carlson, Alex Carmona Montufar, Marco Carvalho, Harun Chaani, Edison Chan, Corey Chaparro, Ruben Charles, Andy Chen, Anni Chen, Calvin Chen, Haobin Chen, Nick Chen, Elizabeth Chetwynd, Devon Churbuck, Kyleigh Cipriano, Samuel Civiello, Clowvens Clerveau, Megan Cobb, Deanna Cobb, Patrick Coleman, Hailey Concannon, Hanna Concannon, Brian Conley, Ava Cook, Peter Cooney, Jonathan Cooper, Brandan Cooper, Matthew Copp, Yancelis Cordero, Joseph Corson, Geovana Silva, Jeremy Costigan, Serena Crane, Kyle Cruz, Joseph Cugini.
Rebecca Da Silva, Amy Dang, Shaina Daphnis, Lillie-Mae Davis, Nicholas Day, Gultieri De Souza, Hicaro De Oliveira Simoes, Carlos De Oliveira Trindade, Luis Dean-Moreira, Jeremy DeMore, Evan Devine, Juliana DiBlasi, Nadia Dickerson, Kamryn DiSisto, Lauren Donahue, James Donofrio, Ado Doru, Selena Dos Santos, Jack Downey, Charles Doyle, Brianna Dunbar, Robert Dunbar, Kendry Duran, Alexis Dussault, Julia Dwyer, James Dye.
Ethan Earnest, Quiara Ellis, Jazmin Elysse, Brendan Errico, Eleon Fenelus, Joy Ferreira, Camila Ferreira De Costro, Michael Ferrigno, Chloe Fitzgerald, Mairead Folan, Nicholas Fontaine, Carolyna Francisca De Moura, Stephen Gallant, Steven Gao, Angel Garcia, Stacy Garcia, Mattea Garrett, Collin Gates, Daniel Gedutis, Sarah George, Logan Goins, Beatriz Goncalves Bras, Fionn Gorham, Ruari Gorham, Nestajah Graham, Lana Gullins.
Jennaya Haley, Rebekah Hall, Sean Halley, Jacey Ham, Rajan Hamzallari, Reyahanna Hanson, Shanta Harriott, Kwame Harvey, Ivan Hassan, Joshua Henderson, Bridget Hoare, Andrew Hodgdon, Tyler Holmes, Jason Huang, Nicholas Hughes, Mia Irion, Ismayil Ismayilov, Cameron Jacobs, Ramauni Jenkins, Angelina Jewell, Brian Johnson, Coco Johnson, Janai Johnson, Justin Jones, Ford Ju, John Kabay, Lauren Kabilian, Shawn Kozlowski.
Christian Las, Huong Le, Sonny Le, Thomas Lebo, Sadie Lee, Alex Lei, Madison Leuchte, Stanley Li, Sean Libby, Arianny Lima da Silva, Edward Lo, Eric Lomanno, Leo Lombardi, Kyane Lopes Teixeira, Ruper Lopez, Elysha Louis, Grayden Louissaint, Monique Lu, Carmel Luc, Grace Lukelo.
Shane MacNeil, Phil Mai, Attila Marquez, Joseph Martin, Syan Martin, William Martin, Hailey Maslauskas, Desiree Masone, Jace Mauriello, Andrew Mazzini, Shannen McCarthy, Grace McDonald, Mason McDonough, Sean McInnis, Lilly McKeon, Brianna McKinney-Roman, Colin McPherson, Eric Mei, Marielis Mejia Fabian, Helena Middleton, Porter Miller, Mya Millette, Angelica Molina, Christian Monteiro-Spagnolo, Christopher Moon, Chase Morales, Romeo Morales, Brenda Moura, Samuel Mulyanga, Luke Murphy, Jakari Murphy-LaGrant.
Endrick Nacier, Arisa Nakanishi, Ty Neal, Devin Nellany, Christiana Nguyen, Hong Nguyen, Lillian Nguyen, Lyvvie Nguyen, Nicole Nguyen, Thi Nguyen, John Nigro, Dhriti Nijhawan, Andrew Novak, Danielle O'Brien, Brendan O'Connor, Madison O'Connor, Joshua Ocheltree, Igor Oliviera Matoso, Jake Ollmann, Keneth Orellana Caballero, Anthony Paccioretti, Brianna Paiva, Luis Perez Tum, Desiree Petion, Logan Pham, Andrew Philibert, Kiet Phu, Darlyo Pierre, Avery Pitta, Robert Pitts, Sapphire Polynice, Theodore Porter, Jocelyn Pray, Marjus Proko, Connor Putnam, Uyen Quang, Cullen Quilty.
Kenneth Reale, Rose Reale, Jeffrey Reese, Kyle Reynolds, Alexander Rheault, Mallory Rimovitz, Caitlynn Ripley, Andrew Riva, Madison Roberson, Jayden Robles Vazquez, Marissa Rodriguez-Davis, Tatiana Rojas-Cruz, Lily Rong, Madison Rose, Aiden Rossi, Julia Rue, Lydia Saavedra Rodríguez, Janna Salbibia, Valeria Salis Neta, Adner Sanchez Llano, Daynoris Sanders Alvarez, Hanna Souza Santos, Dean Schaaf, Ethan Sheng-Clarke, Emmaleigh Shiner, Kayllon Siqueira Botelho, Joy Skeen, Brendan Smith, Ana Soares, Vasiliana Sota, Caelyn Soule, Jordan Souza, Kayo Souza Moraes, Cheyenne Spiller, Katelyn Stirling, Samantha Sumner, Arunee Sundosd, Meghan Sweeney.
Mary Tan, Shuzhen Tan, Ronae Tavares, Allison Thiha-Wong, Christopher Tice, Christian Tineo, Jonathan Tirado, Nhu Tran, Andy Truong, Jimmy Truong, Liam Van Gestel, Gabrielle Vazquez, Jazzira Vicente Ramirez, Dylan Viola, Mai Vo, Lena Waldron, Brandon White, Jakai Whitfield, Jacorey Wiggins, Kayla Withem-Pesantes, Evonne Woodfin, Stephen Wright, Xiaohua Wu, Haixiang Yu, Luis Zabala Rodriguez, Jesse Zheng, Jiaxin Zhu.