PHOTOS: Ward Melville Celebrates its Class of 2013

The approximately 660 graduates of Ward Melville's Class of 2013 may have had different experiences throughout high school, but they came together on Sunday as one class taking their next steps together.

That's what Kathryn Barnitt, class valedictorian, observed in her remarks to her peers. She attributed that to the ability of each student to "customize" their high school careers.

"Ward Melville gave each of us the opportunity to obtain an individualized education," she said. "... This indivudalized education means that there is no one quintessential Ward Melville experience. For better or for worse, the words 'high school' mean something different to everyone now dressed in a cap and gown. We are presented before you as the green and gold, the spirit that fuels Ward Melville, and there is solidarity among us her today."

She urged students: "Do not limit yourself" in the future.

"College is a place to explore uncharted territory, to try something new," she said. "If we hold too closely to our high school selves, if we are too afraid to move on from who we are and fail to accept who you might be, we will ... miss valuable connections and opportunities. ... I hope that we all embrace this next stage. I believe that we all are truly unlimited, but it’s up to us to have the courage to expand and possibly rewrite how we define ourselves."

Principal Alan Baum told students: "Your learning is not over yet."

"In fact I hope it is only just beginning," he said. "... You will undoubtedly have failures and make mistakes, and that’s OK. ... Make our mistakes our lessons. They give us choices. We can allow them to discourage us; we can ignore them completely or we can learn from them. Learning from our mistakes holds the possibility of future successes."

For Rachel Gutman, salutatorian of the Class of 2013, high school graduation is a confusing time – and that's OK, too. In her address, she used words like "organic,"  "uncomfortable," "beautiful," "meaningless," "milestone," "brief," "enormous," "nothing," and "everything."

It's "the commencement of a conclusion and the middle of a metamorphosis," she said. "Graduation isn’t the end of our education and it isn’t the end of our ties to Three Village. This community has shaped all of us the way any life shapes us and that influence can’t be left behind in the brick halls today. ... We're continuing an adventure we’ve already started, and we’re not leaving anything behind for good."

Do you have a graduation photo you'd like to share with the Patch community? Email it to ChristineS@patch.com.