001[Music] welcome graduates guests to our 2020 commencement exercises commencement is the culmination of four years of hard work and dedication to academic and career technical studies it is an exciting time for families and friends who have contributed to the achievements signified by this tradition that all gathered here sharing this happy moment let this day be one remembered for the joy and for the accomplishments that bring us together this evening thank you to our faculty and staff who have been an instrumental part of these graduates lives and today we're sending a special thank you to this year's teacher of the year for his outstanding service to our school and students let's have a big round of applause for teacher of the year mr jim mckinley at this time please rise for the playing of the national
002anthem [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you you may be seated i now call upon the superintendent of the cape may county technical school district dr nancy pudanic thank you principal vitello graduates this is your time to shine you the class of 2020 are ready for the next phase of your journey use your energy and skills to focus on making a positive impact and being a problem solver you have already demonstrated this by overcoming the hurdles we are all experiencing today remember the bigger the challenge the more rewarding the sense of accomplishment be proud of your accomplishments to date you are indeed tech's unique first graduating class to ever celebrate your graduation outdoors after three months of online learning plus a virtual graduation however these changes emphasize the
003need for you to become lifelong learners as you continue to navigate through the quick silver environment of the technology and the demands of our fluid global economy and society congratulations class of 2020 it is now time for you to fly you are senior hawks you must go into your own personal journey of success and thank you parents for choosing the technical school district and allowing us to learn and grow with your students and before i end i would be very remiss if i didn't also say wow are we here at cape may tech is this not exciting in this setting take a look at this and i want to complement our whole administrative team our staff and our very indeed dedicated people who helped to make this innovative celebration for you the class of twenty
004twenty thank you [Applause] thank you dr whodanic i now call upon board president mr alan gould [Applause] good morning what a lovely day class of 2020 of the cape may county technical high school parents grandparents brothers sisters and friends that might have been able to get into this festivity we are so happy to be here outdoors aren't we i heard from some students that they did not care much for the virtual graduations since it wasn't authentic well here we are this is authentic we must thank dr whodanic principal obagillo and the administration for organizing this day and it's like being it's like being in a the sports event we got this telethon we also would like to take this opportunity to thank the teachers who have been very helpful in getting you all through the
005last sp the last four years and certainly the last three months of difficulty now once again i speak for the school board of the district and they have asked me to tell you what a special class you are now i'm not saying that the other classes aren't special i don't want to get any letters from anybody but you're special you did not sign up four years ago to be in the middle of a covet 19 pandemic be known as the pandemic generation i was going to say the corona generation but you might take that wrong and this caused you to be at home missing classes attending classes remotely missing your friends by other than by phone text email or other methods of communication that i'm not familiar with no sports but you took those lemons
006and you made lemonade you have our appreciation of the board for the wonderful manner in which you dealt with this epidemic as i said in my previous statement before you stayed with the plan despite the uncertainty now all the parents have watched the last three months passed by they watched the last four years passed by and the last three months were probably like the as long as the last four years having to deal with the at home atmosphere but look how much stronger you are all today class you take with you your technical training for one or more of our numerous courses and or you're going to go to college or some other advanced training i can only say we wish you good health good luck and be safe thank you president it is now
007time for the valedictory addresses from our co-valedictorians up a resident of wildwood crest he held a concentration in our allied medical program exhibiting academic excellence through his time at tech he has contributed to our school community in many ways including serving as treasurer of the national honor society coordinator of the american red cross school blood drive member of the swim team and weightlifting clubs as well as many others in his free time he enjoys playing the guitar and violin running going to the beach and spending time with his family planning to study nursing at the college of new jersey and eventually go on to become an advanced practice nurse anesthetist i called to the podium co-valedictorian of the class of 2020 gerardo d'antonio greetings board of education dr daniel mr patel all teachers and staff
008parents and especially kate may tech class of 2020. first and foremost i'd like to congratulate my co-valedictorian eddie oakley i know we have both worked extremely hard for the past 12 years to be standing here today we as the class of 2020 would like to thank dr danish for providing us with a learning environment that has always put the students best interests first especially during these hard times and the board of education for their continued support there are countless number of people who have helped me along this journey with whom i want to thank first off i want to thank all the teachers who i've had over the years starting in my elementary and middle school years at crest memorial school and ending with the teachers of kate maytech they have all provided me with
009a stable learning environment and they have taught and have taught me not only the skills of their disciplines but also have always pushed and inspired me to be the best that i could be i especially want to thank skyles for all she has done for me over the past three years for the countless from the countless hours she spends preparing and giving her students what they need to succeed to going above and beyond to help all of her students with college searches applications scholarships she always manages to make me laugh and put a smile on my face during the most stressful times secondly i want to thank all of my friends in and out of this school for always giving me support and words of encouragement especially during the most challenging times that helped me
010helped enable me to succeed lastly i want to thank my family for always rooting me on and being my biggest supporters throughout all of these years i especially want to thank my parents for the constant love and support always pushing me to be the best that i could be in everything i do and for instilling me instilling in me since i was very young the importance of learning and excelling in education i wouldn't leave be where i am today without you and i am forever grateful the times that we are living in today are truly unprecedented due to the covet 19 pandemic and we as the class of 2020 are making history it has greatly affected all of our lives in some way whether it be the small business owners in our communities parents managing
011job losses as they supervise their children's online educations or all of us simply managing to stay healthy and alive while following the recommendations of our government leaders the pandemic has also caused us as seniors to miss out on events that many of us have been looking forward to for at least the past four years or maybe even longer these include the annual senior picnic and senior prom we also are the first class to have two unconventional graduations one virtual and one in person outdoors with social distancing of course none of these changes are ideal however looking into the future this pandemic and all the challenges we have faced will make us stronger than ever and it has taught us invaluable life lessons the first lesson that this pandemic has taught us is to take a
012pause in our everyday lives evaluate ourselves and undergo personal growth discover your interests priorities and maybe even your life purpose in the process do the work and when the quantity measures or lists are lifted you might just emerge into the real world with a clear understanding of who you are and where you want to go another lesson learned is that life can change in an instant we now realize drastic changes in our lives can occur at the blink of an eye due to a global virus however this is not the only thing that can cause changes in this way things such as major illnesses like cancer accidents and natural disasters all the capabilities of changing our lives we as humans must be able to adapt to these changes and persevere through them the effect who
013have been 19 has had on our lives is just temporary but i believe the lessons we are learning will last for generations thank you also co-valedictorian this year a resident of north wildwood he held a concentration in our engineering program exhibiting academic excellence throughout his time at tech he has been an integral part of our school community serving as president of the national honor society member of the academic competition team skills usa and robotics club he represented his class as a senior senator and captain of the cross-country team he also found the time to volunteer with 4-h and the opioid task force in his free time he enjoys playing the piano surfing reading and board games planning to study engineering at villanova i called to the podium co-valedictorian of the class of 2020 edward oakley
014hey everybody so i'm sorry you guys have had to listen to four valedictorian speeches now i'm sure you're getting so sick of it by now so i'm just going to keep mine just a little bit but i just like to thank each and every one of you for being here and making this possible because it definitely is better to actually be here in person like come on it's not even close but apart from that i just wanted to say a few short words to most of you who might be a little scared moving on it's just important to remember that each and every one of you guys is going to make a difference in this world no matter what you do how poor how much you fail how much you succeed and where you go
015you will change this world in some way somehow remember that it is so important no matter how far you go on in your life to remember how important your difference is going to make this world apart from that i mean it's been a great four years here at cape may tech i've had some great friends great teachers my family's been here to support me all the way even though they've heard me complain about coming to the ceremony and giving another speech for god knows how long now i'm happy to be up here anyways and apart from that i hope you guys have a great day it's a beautiful day have a great summer and thank you all for being here class of 2020 take this in this commencement signifies that you are now prepared to
016join the many men and women who have graduated from our school and have become contributors to our society i do want to repeat one thing that i said on the virtual graduation because i believe it's important while the last two months have brought you unprecedented challenges you have risen above those challenges and still found ways to bring positivity to your school your families and your communities as we all try to follow your example of courage through this test we also recognize that these past months do not define you or your time here at tech for the past four years your lives have have been woven into the fabric of the kate maytech family and please remember once a hawk always a hawk [Applause] it is now time to begin the presentations mr president i now
017certify that each of the following students has successfully completed the prescribed course of study and the state of new jersey requirements to merit diploma graduates as i call your names we have staff members that are going to help you help you come up and as you cross the stage please feel free to stop for a second to wave to your family and friends before continuing down the opposite side of the stage all graduates are going to follow the white line behind mr jones our cameraman and come up on this side of the stage and process across the other side brianna r adamson olivia j albrecht jared j bailey gavin m barber [Applause] alan bautista [Applause] alexandria paige babel alexandria marie baine [Applause] timothy g broadband alice m bruner jack bunker [Applause] jamie a butler ian
018j kardasi matthew j carrion [Applause] brendan j carter [Applause] yay etsy katana olivia m carnoso maxwell william chambers marisa m serino [Applause] emily karis clark [Applause] jack w cleffy [Applause] jada e kakuzi joseph d conforto sarah a cormackin jonathan m cortez [Applause] alexa e craver andre cruz miranda ray curran [Applause] connor casella gerardo anthony d'antonio kayla davis kimberly k diaz thank you kevin [Applause] gabrielle m g donato mackenzie e doll megan m douglas [Applause] will fullner charles t france cooper wayne gehring mary lynn gibson [Applause] julia rose gilliam [Music] [Applause] kevin gonzalez marice shane michael goodro jessica grant macy j gregory gage haynes trinity marie hammond cassidy june hendy [Applause] isabella jay henny [Applause] connor michael heim anthony hickman [Applause] colin thomas hoffman gloria hope madison haran [Music] [Applause] emily deborah hernowski [Applause] lindsay ray
019hunter jada alexis jefferson alexis brianna jenkins [Applause] angel jiminez zachary charles johnson peyton jones [Applause] diana lynn jones olivia jordan [Applause] eric caramelis [Applause] zachary evan kershaw jenny kirsch [Applause] giannis kosovakis [Applause] eric lamb aaron a larkin [Applause] justin t lee [Applause] roger life the third john matthew lim james t longstreet [Applause] james winston lynn [Applause] macy mangled desiree meadow matthews brinlin marie mcdowell [Applause] kevin c mcnamee [Applause] elizabeth jacqueline marino john j michael cody r miller cameron c muir [Applause] sydney j nelson [Applause] aiden lee myers hannah j newby calvin nugent joseph patrick o'brien iii [Applause] edward patrick oakley [Applause] stephen douglas olsen jr nicholas orsini anthony williams emily yvonne pasheri joseph james jack painter howard j peck [Applause] [Music] alexandria e pellerin robert pennington [Applause] anthony piazza [Applause] chris porto [Applause] samuel price
020the third ruby redmond michael j powers angelina talia reagan gabriel richards sean paul thomas richards devin patrick roach that's all folks kaelin k rodriguez [Applause] naiali a rosado candelaria eddie ruiz bruno kane g rulo luke a rulo sam j scarcely sarah k shaw joseph bernard shuck jane e sites logan r smith kira e sorensen [Applause] demian matthew stauffer [Applause] daniel l steele jr [Applause] lily e steinman jason m stratton jacob a taran britney and fart filling p tyranny trevor a tozer alyssa marie welliever leah a williams khalil williams scott henry wiltshire jr samantha r winters christians see wolf nicole j wright at this time i would like to ask all of our graduates to stand with your caps on we will now be conducting the symbolic changing of the tassel your tassels which are currently
021on the right or should be currently on the right when i give the go ahead we're going to switch those over to the left graduates of the 2020 class of 2020 ready changed hassle [Music] ladies and gentlemen family and friends the cape may county technical high school class of 2020. [Music] [Applause] [Music] evil [Music] hey i wonder if you can take a picture [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] uh [Music] [Applause] [Music] you