Forest City grads prepare to ‘conquer the world’

BY KYLE WIND
Times Shamrock Writer

Several graduates wiped tears from their eyes as Katherine O’Neill recalled shared experiences and reminded her peers that this is where they part ways.

“Everything that made high school what it is to each of us will be gone forever,” the class of 2014 valedictorian told the Forest City Regional High School’s 64 other graduates during Friday’s ceremony in the auditorium. “Instead, we really will be on our own. We have to grow up now. … Today, we say goodbye to everything that’s familiar or comfortable.”

While graduates will have anxiety about leaving their “itty bitty school out in the middle of nowhere,” Katherine also told her peers their journey has equipped them with the “tools we need to conquer the world.”

“We must not let our fear of the unknown overtake us,” added salutatorian Nicholas Kovaleski. “What if your father didn’t have the courage to talk to your mother? What if the founding fathers didn’t have the bravery to stand up to the world’s mightiest power? Where would we be today if our ancestors didn’t have the courage to face the same problem we face today? Faltering in the face of the future is something we cannot afford for our own sakes as well as the generations that will come after us.”

Life rewards people who have the will to go out and strive to get what they want, he said.

Forest City graduate Matthew Powell, brother of graduate Kevin Powell and a legislative staffer for U.S. Rep. Tom Marino, R-10, Lycoming Twp., introduced his employer as the event’s keynote speaker. Mr. Marino told graduates about his journey from being a baker to being elected to Congress and spoke of “the value of working your way up the ladder.”

“Do not think you are entitled to success right away,” he warned students.