Cherry Hill High School East graduated its class of 2025 on June 20 at Temple University’s Liacouras Center in Philadelphia in a ceremony that featured 19 valedictorians.
Students lined up in bright red robes and moved in single file groups to take their seats in the rows of folding chairs after an 11:30 a.m. start. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by graduate Ethan Barroway and the national anthem was played and sung by the CHHSE Symphony Orchestra and choirs.
Cherry Hill High School East graduates enter the Liacouras Center at Temple University in Philadelphia before the ceremony.
Graduate Isabelle Berger then delivered the ceremony’s opening address.
She addressed how quickly high school went by and advised the graduating class to savor the moment and appreciate the good times they had in four years.
“Finally, we were about to soak up the last few weeks and months and days of our high-school careers,” Berger said. “And now standing up here today, I’m definitely still in denial that I’m going to have to do my own laundry in a few months.”
Student government association president Manar Hadi focused on how the graduates should not leave behind the hard work and determination that got them through high school, even as they move on to an uncertain future.
“This may be the last time,” he noted, “however, it is not a departure from the grit that has brought you here. Continue forward.”
Senior class president Jessica Lazaroiu then delivered a speech focused on what she would do differently if she could relive her high-school experience, a question she was asked by an administrator two weeks before the ceremony.
“I wouldn’t change a thing,” she remarked. “Not because it was easy or perfect, but because it was ours.”
Each of the school’s multiple valedictorians had the opportunity to write a speech celebrating their achievements in this chapter of their lives, with all of them printed in the ceremony’s program. Only one valedictorian chosen by lottery, Arden Leslie, actually read her speech.
She began by joking about everyone wearing the same outfit: a bright red graduation gown with tassel. She then reflected on how far the class has come from their first days as freshmen at East to graduates about to head into the workforce, the military or college.
The assistant principal for the class of 2025, George Zografos, then took the stage to recognize military service candidates, and class advisors Sharon Mills and Jodi Rinehart presented awards.
“If you ever need us, we will be here for you,” Zografos promised the graduates. “Being a Cougar means that you will fight for what is right, do the right thing when no one’s looking, and will always be my scholars. Best of luck in everything you do.”
Two songs were performed by the school’s combined choirs: “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield and “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” by Peter Christian Lutkin.
Aaralyn Camp then gave the senior address. Her speech noted the countdown that had been in the background of all of the graduates’ lives since the start of their senior year, with her friends and peers often noting that it would be the last time they would do something together as a high-school class and the fear that came with it that she wasn’t doing enough to remember everything.
“But that fear, that ache in our chests when we think about the end, is a testament,” she stated. “A testament to our love for the school and the community held within it … If I wasn’t sad about it ending, it would mean that none of it mattered. But it did. It mattered so much.”
School Superintendent Dr. Kwame Morton gave his own address to the class of 2025 and certified them as having completed all necessary criteria to receive their diplomas. Board of education president Gina Winters then officially accepted the class.
Diplomas were then handed to graduates as their names were called and they walked across the stage and down its steps to return to their seats.
The closing address was given by Madeleine Pierlott, who asked her fellow graduates to take time and appreciate the last moments they would all spend together in the same building.
“Let’s take one minute to cherish this moment,” she noted, “the last time we’ll all be together as the class of 2025.” said Pierlott.
