‘Why not you?’

The Hightstown High School Class of 2025 came together one last time at the CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton for graduation, marking childhood’s end for the 421 seniors June 25.

Student Council President Jasmine Nacionales welcomed friends and family members to the high school’s 110th graduation ceremony.

The names of nine seniors who are entering the U.S. military were read. Four seniors are joining the U.S. Air Force, two are enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corps and three have signed up to serve in the U.S. Army.

Then to the traditional “Pomp and Circumstance,” the seniors filed onto the arena floor. Some students personalized their mortarboard caps with the names of the colleges they will be attending, while others created fanciful decorations for their caps.

For Hightstown High School Principal Dennis Vinson, the Class of 2025 graduation ceremony was bittersweet. It marked the 13th HHS graduation ceremony in which he has participated – and it was also his last one. He is retiring.

“Today ends a chapter for the Class of 2025,” Vinson said. “Graduation is not something you should think is routine, but this ends a chapter in your life. My message is, today is the last time we will all be together – the last time you can sit with your classmates.

“The Class of 2025, I started with you. I was in my first year as principal at Hightstown High School and you were in your first year of school. When you were learning how to raise your hand and find your cubby, I was trying to figure out how to lead a new building,” he said.

Vinson recalled some of the highlights of the past four years. The Class of 2025 entered high school in 2021 wearing masks and eating at picnic tables surrounded by Plexiglas.

“It wasn’t a high school experience you imagined and it certainly wasn’t what I hoped you would have, he said. “But you showed up, you adjusted and slowly rebuilt a high school community. Resilience is what made this class unforgettable.”

“Now, 13 years later as we walk across the stage, I am prepared to step away, closing a chapter that I have cherished. I will always be grateful that my final graduating class is you. We were new together and we grew together.”

Life will take the seniors in different directions, and while he is not sure what path each one will take, what matters most is that they just keep moving down the road with purpose and passion. This is what he wants the class to take with them because that is what they learned at HHS.

“Be curious, be kind in whatever path you take,” Vinson said. “Don’t just chase success, make a difference. And as we say at HHS, ‘Once a Ram, always a Ram.'”

Senior Class President Andrew Roberts encouraged his classmates to follow three mottos.

The first motto is to consider every day to be a holiday, which Roberts derived from his late grandfather’s choice to live with joy, optimism and gratitude even while battling an illness.

“His words are a reminder that we should celebrate more than just the big milestones, like the end of high school or the beginning of what comes next – college, the military or something else entirely,” he said.

Roberts sad that when he is upset or anxious, his father always advises him to be like New York Yankees baseball player Mariano Rivera.

Why? Because even though Rivera – the greatest closer in baseball history – blew a huge save and lost the 2021 World Series for the Yankees, he wasn’t fazed, Roberts said.

Rivera lost many more times, but he was untouchable. He is not remembered as the closer who lost the World Series for his team, but as the greatest closer of all time and a Hall of Fame member, Roberts said.

“Don’t let the past ruin your chances of greatness,” he said. “Don’t let the hiccups stop you from achieving your goals and dreams. Be the person you want to see yourself become. Be like Mariano.”

The final motto is one that came from himself. “Why not you?” he asked, as the Class of 2025 steps into the next chapter of their lives.

“Everything you have ever known is changing,” Roberts said. “Somebody needs to provide for your future self, and somebody needs to make the most of what you have. Why not you?”

Superintendent of Schools Mark Daniels told the class that their future is not a destination but a journey. They will reinvent themselves many times. They will stumble, rise and grow.

Daniels, who said he graduated from high school 36 years ago, offered five areas to consider that helped him to navigate the same transition that the Class of 2025 is undergoing.

Those traits – purpose, grit, gratitude, connection and reliability – still serve as a guide for him today, he said.

Purpose isn’t always obvious, he said. Some of the seniors know what they want to do, but others do not. Purpose does not have to be grand to be meaningful. It just has to be their dream and no one else’s dream.

Grit is the strength to keep going when things get hard, he said. It’s not about being perfect, but about being persistent – showing up again and again, even when no one is watching.

Gratitude is thanking the people – family, friends and teachers – who stood by them and helped them when they needed it the most, he said.

Human connection is what gives life meaning, especially in the digital age, Daniels said. Real success is measured not only by achievements, but by how you treat others along the way.

Reliability is undervalued, but absolutely essential. It’s showing up, keeping one’s word and doing the right thing even when no one is watching, he said. It builds trust and respect.

“The future is waiting,” Daniels said. “Embrace it with Ram pride.”

Hightstown High School English teacher Davina Aziz, who delivered the faculty members’ farewell message, told the seniors that she, too, was getting ready to make a change in her life. She will be teaching at the Melvin H. Kreps Middle School in September.

“As you move forward into the great unknown, remember that who you are matters just as much as what you do,” she said. “No great story reveals its ending in the first chapter. What matters is to keep learning, keep trying and keep showing up.”

The most powerful stories are shaped through revision and by characters who are transformed in their journey, she said. So it is with each student – be patient with the plot and know that every sentence or choice that is made is helping them to write their own story.

“Hold on to the people you have grown to love here, hold on to the lessons learned and hold on to the character you have developed” Aziz said. “As one of my favorite storytellers, Taylor Swift, once said, ‘Hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you.'”

The seniors then rose, one by one, to pick up their diplomas. After the last senior picked up a diploma and returned to his seat, Student Council President Jasmine Nacionales and Senior Class President Andrew Roberts asked the class to rise and to move the tassel on their caps from right to left to signify graduation.

“Class of 2025, we did it,” Nacionales and Roberts said.

Their classmates tossed their blue and white caps into the air and walked into the future.