FALLS VILLAGE—As the student who reached the highest level of academic success at the regional high school, Valedictorian Yaritza Vega provided a look back at her own personal journey during the Housatonic Valley Regional High School (HVRHS) graduation June 14.
Vega of Salisbury, who allowed her vulnerability to show in front of her classmates, friends and family, called her family and friends “pillars of strength” in her life, always helpful as they witnessed her evolution through ups and downs.
She credited her parents with having great patience, sharing how her humble beginnings, tagging along when her mother went to work cleaning other people’s houses, made her appreciate how hard they worked to assist her.
“My earliest memories are tinged with the hues of dawn as I prepared to accompany my mother to work each morning,” Vega said, noting the car was packed with cleaning supplies and a “heavy” sense of responsibility. “I often wondered if other children my age were also accompanying their parents to work to clean houses.”
She spoke of her wonder and admiration of the large houses that her mother cleaned that were an “absolute contrast to the single room apartment that we called home.”
Eason Zhang of Kent is congratulated by his classmates after receiving his diploma at the HVRHS graduation June 14. Photo by Lynn Mellis Worthington Kara Franks of Kent enjoys a moment with her classmates in the cafeteria after graduating from HVRHS June 14. Photo by Lynn Mellis Worthington Valedictorian Yaritza Vega of Salisbury speaks to the HVRHS Class of 2024 during the graduation in the gym June 14. Next to her is Class President Finn Cousins, essayist Veronica Bonett and Salutatorian Dan Saccardi. Photo by Lynn Mellis Worthington Retiring superintendent Lisa Carter gestures that she couldn’t do anything about the rainy forecast that moved the June 14 graduation inside the gym at Housatonic Valley Regional High School (HVRHS). Photo by Lynn Mellis Worthington Carolyn Corrado gives the commencement address at the HVRHS graduation June 14. She has a consulting business, Doing the Work LLC in Salisbury, which works with educators and students on diversity issues. Photo by Lynn Mellis Worthington AFS student, Naomi Namayan Lesamana, speaks about her experience as an exchange student from both Norway and Kenya at the HVRHS graduation June 14. Photo by Lynn Mellis Worthington HVRHS faculty member Tom Krupa holds up a cutout of AFS exchange student Tara Djeladin of Macedonia, who had to return home before the June 14 graduation ceremony and recorded her message. Principal Ian Streever is at the podium. Photo by Lynn Mellis Worthington Members of the HVRHS Class of 2024 greet friends and family in the cafeteria after the graduation ceremony June 14. Photo by Lynn Mellis Worthington
“If I felt robbed of my childhood bliss, it was a consequence of my growing awareness of the struggles my family as immigrants had to endure,” Vega said. Saying that her early experiences tempered her view of herself, she candidly acknowledged that she was shy and introverted and it was a label that she carried with her.
“For so long I believed I could not move out of this label,” Vega said. “I was plagued with self-doubt, always underestimating my abilities and setting low expectations for myself. I believed I was not able to direct and write my own life.”
It was an interview for a large college scholarship that changed things for Vega and became a turning point. The fierce competition was daunting, but she decided to channel her nervous energy into confidence.
“For me, the key was courage—to speak passionately about my interests,” she said, adding it was easier than she had feared.
Her inspirational message to her classmates was to not let themselves be dragged down by pessimistic views and to grab for success.
“Celebrate your successes. You worked for it,” she said. Vega encouraged embracing change, which is inevitable and an “integral part of being human.”
Another inspirational message was shared by Carolyn Corrado, the commencement speaker, who is the owner of a Salisbury consulting firm, Doing the Work, LLC, that conducts workshops and training for educators and students on diversity, equity and inclusion. She shared a series of lessons she has learned and relearned throughout her life that have helped her. Her list included practicing gratitude, remembering one’s roots, staying curious and being flexible, sharing their own story and considering the legacy the students are willing to work for.
“Embrace the intimacy and closeness that you get from small-town living. There’s beauty in the small, even when it means you can’t go anywhere, or do anything, without someone letting you know they saw you do it,” Corrado said, encouraging graduates to remember where they came from. “Trust me when I say that you can take the kid out of the Northwest Corner, but you can’t take the Northwest Corner out of the kid.”
There were 57 graduates in the HVRHS Class of 2024 and nine of those students live in Kent. The local graduates are: Taylor Christen, Christos Curry, Nicholas Dorn, Kara Franks, Gage Heebner, Theodore Hicks, Vivian Roberts, Isaac Watkins and Eason Zhang, The towns in Region 1 are Canaan, Cornwall, Falls Village, Kent, Salisbury and Sharon.
Other speakers at the ceremony were Class President Finn Cousins, who reminded his classmates of how they missed their eighth grade graduations because of the Covid pandemic and schools in the region had outdoor ceremonies in cars “driving in circles” in parking lots; essayist Veronica Bonett, who challenged her classmates to take chances and risks and not to fear the unknown; and Dana Saccardi, salutatorian, reminded her classmates about how divided they were when they arrived four years ago and were divided into Cohort A or Cohort B attending school only two days a week.
“For a small class, this meant we only knew a handful of people and for much of the time our faces were hidden from each other,” Saccardi said. “Today we end our four years together and we can see each other’s faces and enjoy our class’s final moments together.”
She encouraged her classmates to stay positive and continue to make the best of bad situations they find themselves in, as they had to do at the start of their high school years.
HVRHS participates in the AFS high school study abroad program and this year hosted two students, Tara Djeladin from North Macedonia and Naomi Namayan Lesamana, who is from Norway and Nigeria.
Djeladin had to return home early so a cardboard cutout of her was held by faculty member Thomas Kruba, while an audio recording of her message was played. She expressed thanks for her host parents and the musical theater society. Lesamana spoke about how grateful she was to her host family, Andrea and Tim Downs, and she was visibly choked up as she shared how she was “overwhelmed with memories and the bonds we created.”
The entire graduation recording is available online.
