Chartiers Valley 2012 Commencement

The rain held off for Thursday night’s commencement ceremony as the 270 seniors in the Class of 2012 graduated from .

We’ve posted several photos of the commencement ceremony, but we also want you to upload your own graduation photos by clicking on the “Upload Photo” tabs at the top and the bottom of the story. We’ll feature some of the photos on The Patch website and our Facebook page.

No beach balls appeared for the 52nd commencement, but many of the seniors did have a little fun by standing any time a speaker mentioned the “Chartiers Valley Class of 2012” in a speech. Superintendent Brian White Jr. ribbed them back by mentioning those magic words several times in a row, ensuring the new graduates got quite a leg workout.

White also offered some advice for them to make sure they keep in touch with their home communities beyond the normal social media methods.

“Please always remember you have a deep connection to the Chartiers Valley community,” White said. “What a truly unprecedented blessing this is (with social media and new communications technology). But you must foster and maintain lasting and meaningful relationships.”

One of the senior speakers, Brendan Steinbock, said he was stressed about his speech and went through several revisions. But writing his speech was a good analogy to their future because their lives are now “truly great cliffhangers.”

“They say hindsight is 20/20, but what will 2012 be?” he said. “It’s OK to not know. It’s OK to let things fall into place on their own.”

Another speaker, Grace Moraca, related their high school experiences to the new Batman movie that is coming out this summer, and the excitement and chaos it created during filming in Pittsburgh last year.

“High school has been quite a journey. Sometimes we were heroes and sometimes we were shunned,” she said. “We have this amazing chance to embrace these changes happening to us.”

Meanwhile, another senior, Samuel Rubenstein, said graduation offers them a chance to move onto “bigger and better things” one day.

“Things are changing,” he said. “It’s a rite of passage for us to move onto bigger and better things. We aren’t leaving the school, the school is leaving us. It’s a do-over (and) we’re blank slates again.”

Upload your own graduation photos by clicking on the “Upload Photo” tabs at the top and the bottom of the story.

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