Abington Heights graduates remember isolation of COVID

CLARKS SUMMIT — Abington Heights graduate Aidan Lam recounted from his European history class about Ferdinand Magellan and his fleet once had to survive a cold, harsh night after finding land through a passage past Tierra de Fuego.

He mentioned that the explorer coined the phrase “taste like chicken” as everyone in The Pit laughed in the beginning of the high school’s commencement on Thursday, June 6. Aidan compared this story with the trials and tribulations that COVID-19 brought during their freshman year four years ago.

“While I don’t revel in our days of social isolation and learning through a computer screen, we also got something back in return — the power to reinvent ourselves,” he said. “The pandemic gave us a blank slate and by virtue presented opportunities for exponential growth as opposed to a traditional freshman year.”

Aidan recalled his class “seizing the opportunity” to bond when in-person classes resumed during the remaining school years.

“A new sense of togetherness and belonging was bolstered with every new bond,” he said. “That was our true first commencement of the class.”

Aidan encouraged his fellow grads to take that piece of the school to motivate themselves, take risks, and give themselves strength to open doors.

Listing her accomplishments, graduate Olivia Piasecki gave an introduction to 2024 class President Ryanna Avvisato, who held three positions in the school board during her four years at Abington Heights. As a freshman, Ryanna was the class historian. During her sophomore year, she proposed the idea of the school’s community-wide Easter egg hunt. She also planned, coordinated, and executed it to make it an annual event. She became class president in her junior year. She donated 30% of the profits from the egg hunt to a local shelter and a research foundation for a rare disorder.

“It has truly been an honor and a delight to have worked collaborated with with you all four years,” Piasecki told Avvisato. “We got to grow together as officers and be the voice of our community.”

Recalling online classes, Salutatorian Matthew Philips admitted that he preferred staying home over in-person classes, but at the same time, knew that school is where he and his fellow classmates shined the brightest.

“It is in school that we did our best work,” he said. “Sitting out here today, we have champions in the local, state, and national level. We’ve shown that we are better together, and that is why today is so special for all of us. The lessons we’ve learned from these four years have allowed all of us to find our own path in life.”

English and social studies teacher Jennifer Tarr, who led the mock trial team to win the nationals, was the faculty speaker. She encouraged the graduates to look around them and capture this “major moment.”

“As we reach these grand life moments, everything that leads to the great snapshot of success seems to fade in the background,” she said. “In times, we fill out the success and all of the difficulties to achieve it. We remember the great moments. We forget the daily fight.”

Class historian Jackson Wentz introduced Valedictorian Angela Zeng. He mentioned that she was president of the school’s health raising over $5,000 in less than a year for orphaned children in India. He also announced that she was a volunteer to help raise funds for the cause.

“She volunteered over 100 hours at the Regional Hospital in Scranton, where she delivered medical supplies, surveyed patients, and provided company to patients who needed it,” he said.

Wentz mentioned that Zeng earned the gold Presidential Service Award, Gold Key for National Scholastics and Writing.

Angela applauded every graduate for “not only surviving but thriving.”

“I’m confident that the Class of 2024 will go down in Abington history as one of the best and most unforgettable,” she said.

Angela thanked her parents for their support that her mother who left her homeland and life that she built for a “promised land across the Atlantic Ocean.”

“It is thanks to her constant company and my dad’s unwavering support that I can stand on this stage today excited to announce that I will be going to college as one of the first in my family,” she said.

Zeng will be attending Brown University this fall to major in biomedical engineering.