'Be the Change': The Haddonfield Memorial High School Graduation

Jayson Sockett almost had to pinch himself after the tassels were turned and the mortarboard caps were tossed into the air.

“This is surreal,” said Sockett, 35, an information technology technician who had just watched his son, Anthony Parenti, graduate from Haddonfield Memorial High School on Thursday evening. “These are the same pipsqueaks who were just running around in Pampers and now they’re giving speeches at graduation and getting scholarships opportunities. I feel numb.”

As so it was at the 201st commencement ceremony Thursday at Haddonfield Memorial High School. Two-hundred-twelve students marched into the high school football stadium behind the school on Kings Highway East to the familiar cadence of "Pomp and Circumstance" as parents fought back tears and students grinned from ear to ear.

The stadium scoreboard had 20:11 on the clock and the quarter marked at No.1. Perhaps it was a metaphor. 

The ceremony opened with the graduates marching onto the middle of the stadium field, entering from opposite directions and meeting in a procession to the middle. The boys wore black robes and caps and the girls wore red, many with blue sashes to denote honors received.  

Salutatorian, Anna Victoria Payne, was the first student to speak.  She was ranked second academically in the class of 214 students. Payne reflected on her 10-hour effort to craft her speech before the ceremony began.

“My big point is about being an individual and giving kindness that will eventually even bumps in the road in the future,” said Anna, who plans to attend Wellesley College in Massachusetts.

Katherine Elizabeth Smith was the valedictorian, finishing at the top of a class in which 170 of 212 students graduated with honors. She had a simple message for her classmates.

“Keep your head up, your eyes open and enjoy the dream,” said Katherine, who plans to attend Princeton in the fall. 

Principal Mike Wilson, who was among several local officials to hand diplomas to their children Thursday, said the graduation also marked another personal milestone for him. He said has been the only principal a select group of the graduates have known.

“They were in my first kindergarten class at Lizzie Haddon,” he said before the ceremony. “Then when they graduated, I went on to become the principal of the middle school and then the high school.”

Wilson handed a diploma to his daughter, Sarah Ann Wilson. Other parent and child diploma handoffs included Board of Education President Steve Weinstein and his twins Asher and Lara; board member Marsha Marshall and her daughter Alexandra, the class president; borough Commissioner Ed Borden and his daughter Margaret Guo-Jia Borden; Assistant Principal Chuck Klaus and his son Kyle Joseph Klaus.

Bruce Silver, a retired IBM project executive, wasn’t on stage to hand a diploma to his son Sam, but he was just as proud as any parent Thursday.

“It’s absolutely a milestone,” said Silver, whose son will attend Richard Stockton College in the fall. “I think there will be a lot of surprises for them. They’re going to have to work very hard through college and hopefully the economy will be back by the time they get out.”

The senior class video on the HMHS website adds closure to this chapter of the class of 2011. It’s set to the retro tune of Bill Withers’ 1972 hit "Lean on Me." The three words emphasized in the video are: "Be the Change."