Congratulations to the James A. Garfield High School Class of 2020!
Austin Evan Armstrong
Mandolin Win Arnett £
Austin Paul Babuka »
Camron Ian Hobart Back
Ethan James Baker
Joseph Ryan Ball *~
Kaylie Elizabeth Bates
Alyssa Rae Bell
Hannah Elizabeth Bittence *§+
Kannon Douglas Borrelli
Jesse Edward Bounds £
Preston Allen Chase Brainard £
Maya Nicole Brown ~
Kage William Callahan ~
Mason Michael Cebulla *§+
Hannah Frances Chartier *~
Madison Ann Clark
Lucas Xavier Clemens
Talon Michael-Allen Cline §+
Owen James Cmunt *§+
Brooke-Lyn Madison Collin £
Jenna Ann Conley *~+
Emily Jean Cooper
Christian Robert Coyle
Matthew E Thomas Crawford
Cheyenne Rebecca Cuprak +
Gianna Marie D’Amico
Adam Michael Derthick
Garrett Thomas Eberly
Jacob Edward Eckhardt
Alicia Lynn Emrick
Michael Thomas Englert
Cassandra Marie Finney *£
Ilene Shannon Flaherty ~
Eric Matthew Fonseca
Abigail Skyler Forsythe £
Kya Delaney Fresch
Laina McCaughtry Galayde *§
Aryanna Lyann Gentles *£
Samantha Jane Gilbert *~ +
Joseph Thomas Golgosky £
Ralph Grandizio IV
Kyleigh Ryann Grandon *§
Daniel Richard Grcar Jr
Andreya Nicole Grunder
Evalynne Louise Harrington §
Noah Matthew Hoffmann »
Savannah Jalynn Hopper
Connor Thomas Hrubik »
Karlee Gail Huter *§+
Mark Christopher Jones £
Natalie Elizabeth Kehoe
Alia Kay Kelley
Joshua James Kent £+
Cameron James King ~
Sara Denee Kittle *~+
Colton Pryce Klatik ~
Madison Paige Knispel
Alexandria Riley Konecek £+
Emma Alise Lawrence ~+
Kalon Mark Maddox
Jesse Dean Marderwald »
Michael Clayton Martin *§»
Audra Marie Maschek §+
Zoe Andrew Masga £»
Mary Grace Masters *§
Ryan Anthony Matulewicz §
Courtney Mae Maur *§+
Joshua Arthur McCullough £+»
Meghan L. McDougall ~+»
Kyle Alexander Miller
Heaven Justeen Mills
Jilleena Elizabeth Moore *§
Anna Aileen Morrissey §+
Cora Dawn Noland
Jacob Paul Nottingham
Lillian Elizabeth Oles *§+
Eryn McKenna O’Malley
Cassandra Nicole Painley §+
Isaiah Michael Patton *~
Christopher Anthony Perme II
Jarrod Wayne Peters »
Austin Charles Peterson
Chloe Irene Pfile £+
Gracie Lynn Pignaloso
Nathan Thomas Pitsinger
Corey Allen Pugh
Sandra LeeAnn Rand ~
Riley Sara Rock *§+
Logan Leo Rutherford
Lauren Madison Sanchez
Eric Marshall Schaefer £?
Carli Rose Schuttenberg
Madelyn Elizabeth Scirocco ~
Alexis Nichole Sedivy
Michael Todd Selander »
Cody James Seni
Sarah Alexis Shearer
Jared Paul Simon
Hannah Lin Smith £
Samuel George Taylor
Otto Caleb Trent
Madison Faith Van Kirk ~+
Angela Marie Vanhorn
Bryar Kale Veon
Phillip Howard West *§+
Garrett Michael Paul Williams
Kayleigh Anne Williams
Allison Mae Workman
John Thomas Zieleniewski £
§ Summa Cum Laude—Platinum & White Cord
~ Magna Cum Laude—Platinum Cord
£ Cum Laude—White Cord
* Honors Diploma—Gold Cord
+ National Honor Society—Blue & Gold Cord
» Armed Forces—Red, White & Blue Cord
^ Honorary Diploma
?Eagle Scout—Green Cord
Due to the early publication of this program, senior names printed within should not be considered an official listing of graduates.
Student Addresses
Welcome – Joshua Kent
Hello and welcome to the James A Garfield class of 2020 graduation ceremony. I would like to start with a question. What makes Garfield great? Many of us have been asked this question throughout our years. Up until recently I never gave this question a whole lot of thought. But when I realized that this year was coming to a close sooner than expected it really got me thinking about the life that I and my peers have lived here.
A lot of us started out as wide-eyed kindergarteners at the elementary school, singing our ABC’s, running around the playground, getting stuck in trees, well maybe that was just me. But before we knew it, we were moving on to the intermediate school. There we gained new friends, had new experiences, and really started developing as a person. After two years flew by, we hit the next big steppingstone. Middle school. Scary right? Well not really, the independence we gained made us forget all about that fear. We became more complex. We started becoming who we are now. Then at last, high school.
In high school we were finally becoming adults. We weren’t little kids anymore, we were getting jobs, driving cars, joining clubs, making life decisions. We cemented friendships that will last a lifetime. That little kid who once got stuck in a tree is now an adult, ready to face the world with their head held high. I’m going to miss high school a lot, the football games, great classes, everything. But now we are here we are, experiencing one of the scariest yet most exciting moments of our lives. Graduation.
From here on, the graduating class of 2020 will either part ways with Garrettsville Ohio to start their lives elsewhere, or they’ll stay in the community here that we all know and love. But no matter where we may go, I am confident that the class of 2020 will make an impact on the world, whether it’s in the military, in college, in the workforce, anywhere. I am excited to see what becomes of us and what will become of the world because of us.
I know these times are difficult for all of us and it’s unfortunate that we couldn’t finish out the year like we planned. But to all the seniors don’t think of these times as a setback, we have been given a very unique opportunity. And I think a quote by Tom Willett summed it up. “For the people who are graduating high school, your generation will be the generation that will do whatever is required for the future”. Despite all of the trials we’re being put through right now, once it’s all over we are going to be able to directly impact the world. Stay strong, stay motivated, keep going, keep growing. We can make the world a better place.
Back to my question from earlier, what makes Garfield great? After reminiscing on all of the wonderful experiences I think I know the answer. The profound impact that the school had on our lives is what makes Garfield great. We were given the encouragement and opportunities to become the best we could be. The teachers, staff, and administration inspired us to accomplish our goals and excel in life. Experiences like school trips to Camp Fitch and Niagara Falls, different sporting events, the volleyball tournament, pep rallies, are just a few of the many times our lives were impacted by the school. The memories forged in these halls will never be forgotten. I am proud to have gone to school here at James A. Garfield. I am proud to have grown up in Garrettsville. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. To all of the teachers, staff, administration, parents, grandparents, family members, and anyone who impacted our lives we would all like to say thank you. We truly couldn’t have done it without you.
Commencement Address – Hannah Bittence
When I think of ending my senior year, this is definitely not what I had pictured. I was excited for the upcoming track season, the spring band concert, my last musical, field trips with friends and a whole lot of other things. Instead, I got endless days of pajamas and being a couch bum, zoom meetings and online tests, and an impending sense of doom and gloom about the world as one after another, all the things I was looking forward to as my senior year experiences got canceled.
But after countless hours of Netflix and some pretty intense conversations with my dogs, I came to realize that maybe this whole worldwide pandemic thing was benefitting me in a way I didn’t even begin to realize until recently. I now appreciate the effort it takes to get dressed in the morning, especially because it’s something I don’t manage every day. I realize that I took for granted the number of things I was able to accomplish in one school day, because now, two things on my schedule for the day means life is getting pretty crazy. I have almost become comfortable with this social distancing and the quarantine state we are in. But sometimes, when I drive by the school, or my phone lights up with a reminder for a track meet tomorrow, or I see that prom has been canceled, my mind drifts on to the senior year I could have had.
I know that this quarantine is necessary, and we are keeping our distance to ensure the safety of our loved ones and everyone around us, but there is a part of me that keeps asking why me, why us? If the world as a whole is able to work through this, and things go back to a semblance of normal, then next year’s class may very well have an almost normal graduation, just with some tweaked traditions, but our class will be the one that got skipped. And while we may remember this year from now and the class of 2020 will probably go down in history, this just isn’t how I imagined it.
I think that everyone has their own story to tell, and when I picture my story, I did not expect the big highlight, the part of history that I live through, to be me sitting at home on my couch doing school online and coming up with different ways to keep busy and rereading books. If you know me, then you probably know that I’m pretty nerdy, and I love to read. A lot. Probably too much, but the thing I love about reading is the story that is created through the words. It shows characters struggles and their accomplishments, you as a reader get to experience their highs and their lows.
So maybe this pandemic is our low at the moment, and we can live in it knowing that it is our low, but if we look around us, if we look at nature, a pattern keeps reoccurring. A forest fire occurs, burning the whole woods down, only for new life to begin again, growing up greener and flourishing more than ever. A gaseous nebula collapses in on itself, but out of that a star is born. A pandemic occurs, but it causes people to come up with new creative solutions to continue on with life; new ways to connect and a better appreciation of the life we took for granted.
One thing I’ve always struggled with is my procrastination of everything under the sun. Whatever it is, I will wait until the last minute to do it. But this pandemic has forced me to be accountable for my own learning, to take things in stride and plan my days, allowing me to start properly managing my time for the first time in a while.
The same boiling water that softens a potato, also hardens the egg. It’s about what you’re made of, not the circumstances, and it lies within each of us to determine what we are going to make of this time, these circumstances. We still have so much to look forward to in the rest of our lives, and while it seems stormy and unclear now, the rain will stop, the clouds will part, and the sun will come out again. One of my favorite people, Audrey Hepburn, once said “to plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow”. You’ve been given the seeds of learning in this wonky metaphor we call life, but it remains up to you what you do with them, will you sit in the dirt, scoffing at the circumstances life has given you, or will you bloom in spite of them, to make the tomorrow you believe in?
Commencement Address – Mary Grace Masters
Hello everyone, Congratulations! We are finally graduating! If you are anything like me, you have been waiting for this day forever. Picturing what it would be like to walk across the stage and receive your diploma in front of friends, family, faculty and fellow classmates. But now, here we are with eight family members and a camera crew. This is probably not the way you pictured your senior year, and you might feel disappointed or think that it’s been ruined. But it is only ruined if you let it be ruined.
Yes, our graduation is different than we wanted it to be. Yes, there is a virus keeping us all at home. And no, we don’t know when it will be over. But, like all things in life, this too shall pass. When it does, we will look back on this and realize that it made us stronger, and it gave us a deeper appreciation for doctors, nurses, homeschool mothers, and toilet paper. All things that we have taken for granted until now.
As you move forward, you might be starting college, preparing to serve our country in the military, or entering the work force. Whatever you plan to do in life, I want you to remember two words of advice. Shoot straight.
Shoot straight is something my dad used to say to me and to my siblings when he was teaching us how to hunt, but he didn’t just mean to aim for the target instead of the grass. He meant, to shoot straight in life, to know what you’re living for and work at it with all your heart, with honesty, and integrity; to love others above yourself; to do the right thing, not just what feels right in the moment.
I live for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that I would not be where I am today without him. He has brought me through the worst moments in my life, even when I felt unworthy of his love. I know that he will continue to be with me wherever life leads. As Psalms 46:1 says, he is my “refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble”, and he can be that for any of you too, if you just ask him to be. Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” There is a plan for each one of our lives; a purpose that we were created for, and now is the time to go out and find it.
So now I would just like to say, congratulations once again class of 2020! Good luck in your future endeavors. God bless you and shoot straight!
Commencement Address – Lillian Oles
Good morning, afternoon, evening, or whatever time you’re viewing this. Before I get started, I would like to take a moment and just recognize that we made it. We survived this rollercoaster of a year. I don’t think this is how any of us wanted it to end, but we definitely deserve to celebrate. That’s what today’s about, right? Celebrating. Showing what these many years have been all about. Proving that this wasn’t a waste of time for our teachers, for our parents, and for ourselves. Don’t get me wrong, there were many times I dreaded coming to school and I couldn’t wait for this day to come so that I would be done. I’m sure a lot of you have felt this way once or twice. But here we are. We’ve reached the time when we go out into the “real world” and become something greater. Some of you can say you’ll never have to go to class again. Some of you can even say you’ll never have to wake up at six in the morning again, which you might be lying to yourself just a little. But isn’t it nice to think that some of what felt like the worst times of our lives are behind us? And yet, this is only the beginning. There are so many more memories to be made in the years before us. So many more happy days and exciting nights. Most of what happened these past four years won’t even matter down the road. I say most, because these past three months have been pretty eventful.
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it a thousand times more: the Coronavirus took a lot from me. It took my band concerts, my musical, field trips, and award ceremonies. It took your spring sports, your banquets, your celebrations and titles. It took our spring breaks, our late nights with friends, parties and traditions. It took the last three months of our senior year. However, I can say this: the Coronavirus cannot and will not take away the last thirteen years of memories, of friendships, of learning and of growth. I won’t lie to you, I’m devastated by all of the things lost to this pandemic, but I’m not sure I’d trade the last few moments of my high school career for the all the years I’ve spent here at James A. Garfield. We joke that it was terrible, and we couldn’t wait to get out of here, but now that the time has come, I wish for just a few more steps down these halls. A few more early mornings at the coffee shop. A few more Friday Nights on the field. Maybe even a few more minutes of Calculus… Okay that one’s a stretch, but the fact of the matter is, sometimes we aren’t ready to move on no matter how much we want to.
The Class of 2020 will most certainly be remembered for many years to come. Maybe not because of a State title, a groundbreaking discovery, or even a prank to top them all. But we will be remembered because we persevered. We kept going when all felt lost. I know I couldn’t have done it without the most amazing support system that is this community. In particular, I would like to recognize and thank Mrs. Schaefer for organizing the “Adopt a Senior” event. It was truly one of the most amazing and uplifting things I have witnessed during this quarantine. To see such cooperation and effort to make us feel special because of something we can’t control. I feel beyond blessed. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m definitely going to miss the people of James A. Garfield when I leave. It sounds sad and unreasonable to think that we’ll never see each other again, but, whether we want to or not, it’s time to move on now. We have to go our own ways and sometimes that means we have to say goodbye. Goodbye isn’t right though, because we will see each other again. Maybe not next week, next month, or even next year. But I promise you, that there will be a time and a place to gather together and smile at the past because there were some pretty great things to smile at. Some of my favorite moments were going to Disney World with the band, Cinderella, getting accepted into college, and of course, seeing Mr. Engelhart everyday. Maybe some of your top moments dealt with going to the playoffs, getting your driver’s license, or even acing a test that you thought you failed. These are just some of the amazing things we have to look back on. But for today, let’s look forward and smile about what’s to come. For now, I’d like to say see you later to the Class of 2020, because we will meet again, hopefully soon. Thank you and have a wonderful rest of your day.
Farewell Address – Sara Kittle
As I sat down to write this speech, I promised myself that I wouldn’t make it the same old farewell that everyone else had, because our class is simply not “the same old.” As the world faces a crisis, we all walked the halls together one last time without even knowing it. The memories and moments that you spend in the last three months of high school are simply some of the best. We were always told to cherish these moments because we will never get them back but because of the unfortunate circumstances, our class sadly doesn’t get them.
I have been told to “make the most of it,” and I believe that is what we will do. Our class has prevailed much stronger because of the pandemic. Not only have we had the time to reflect on our friends and family, but we have had the chance to think about what kind of people we want to be once we get past this. We are the class that gets to make history. We will look back on this time of quarantine and sleeping until awful hours of the afternoon and be able to tell our kids how we were the senior skip day champions. As we continue on with our lives, whether it may be college, workforce, or military I know that each and every single person in the Class of 2020 will do amazing things. Whatever path you choose my fellow classmates, do so with all of your heart. Cherish, love, and continue your life with peace as we continue to obtain our highest goals. Today is the day where we must say goodbye but as Winnie the Pooh said, “how lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” To my classmates, teachers, and family, thank you for the past four years and here’s to the world that awaits.
