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Friends and balance

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Valedictorian Sabine Denkenberger moved to the school in the third grade.

Swae Connor, left, and Sarah Gallagher share a hug after the Saranac Lake High School graduation ceremony on Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

“Ten years ago, when I found out I was moving to the (village) of Saranac Lake, was not a good day for me,” she said.

She said she was shy and had a hard time finding friends. The small school environment was strange and she dreaded recess. But she recalled fellow graduate Addison Dann finding her on the swings and asking her to come play.

“Addi made me felt welcome in a way that I hadn’t felt at all since moving here,” Denkenberger said.

She finally felt at home and could focus on her studies. She said she wanted to have an answer for everything.

Denkenberger said she knew from the moment she started high school that she wanted to be valedictorian, which her father Jeff confirmed to the Enterprise after the ceremony. She described how she would bury herself in her work, even skipping boat rides with her family or hanging out with her friends to prepare for tests, which Jeff also confirmed.

Will Tromblee and Molly Tooker grin and wave to family as scholarships for them are announced at the Saranac Lake High School graduation ceremony on Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

She said she burned out to the point where she avoided work and wasn’t happy.

“I pushed myself so hard those first couple of years, and only my friends had the guts to tell me to slow down,” Denkenberger said.

Then, she found a happy medium.

“I learned a lot from textbooks, but I wish I would have learned sooner that there is more to life than that,” Denkenberger said. “Life is about experiences, relationships and finding what makes you happy.”

The most important lesson she learned was balance, something that is not taught in school, but something she learned through her friends.

Saranac Lake High School graduates throw their caps in the air after receiving their diplomas on Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

At the end of her speech, Denkenberger thanked those friends for their help with writing the speech, their support through school and the memories they’ve made together.

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Change

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“I think change scares me,” Salutatorian Katherine Ransom said. “We get so attached to our sense of the present, to our identity in particularly significant and insignificant parts of our lives, that when the time comes to let things go, sometimes we can’t bear it.”

Kaedyn Grant hugs Saranac Lake High School Principal Josh Dann after receiving her diploma at her graduation ceremony on Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Ransom said she was looking back at the start of kindergarten — waking to the songs of white-throated sparrows outside her window, Scooby Doo playing in the background as her father braided her hair, her mother’s notes in her lunches — and that she was “stricken … by all these memories of a world that no longer exists for me.”

The world didn’t change, she did. She said she looks in the mirror and doesn’t see a kindergartener anymore.

“To imagine ourselves to change is to accept the loss of our sense of self and of the very world around us as we experience it in the now. And that can be quite terrifying,” Ransom said.

But she said they never lose these parts of themselves — they build on them.

“Simply put, life does not exist without change,” Ransom said. “Change is the dimension through which all things happen.”

Will Tromblee throws up a “hang loose” sign with one hand while holding a diploma in the other and wearing a stethoscope with his graduation cords at the Saranac Lake High School graduation ceremony on Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

She said it’s OK if they don’t have it all figured out.

“Life is not lived as the crow flies; It is a walk through the forest,” Ransom said.

She said they only have one life but they’ve already lived many lives in it.

“While change can be scary, it also sets us free,” Ransom said. “Allow yourself the grace of being changed.”

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Honorary diplomas

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Ransom said they’ve all experienced loss — “The absence of those who we’ll never forget.”

“My heart goes out to the families of those graduates that have departed far too soon,” Schwartz said.

When they were in fourth-grade, classmate Gracee Jewtraw died after a battle with brain cancer on Feb. 16, 2016. SLHS Principal Josh Dann said she was “humble, kind, a true superhero and an inspiration” who gave strength and comfort to all around her through her illness in a way only she could do.

Noah Jewtraw, her twin brother, and Connor Shanty-Rohe received an honorary diploma on Gracee’s behalf. They shared a deep hug with Dann on stage, and then with each other off stage.

Last summer, before their senior year, classmate Jonah Whiting died from injuries in a car crash on July 13, 2023.

“Jonah always displayed the purest of hearts,” Dann said.

He said he had a “smart and inquisitive mind, a vibrant soul … and a quiet humor.”

Whiting grew up skiing on Whiteface but loved to hit up Mount Pisgah as often as he could.

Ryan Bonet, who was also injured in the crash, received an honorary diploma on Whiting’s behalf and shared a long embrace with Dann as the crowd applauded.

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‘This class works’

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“Make sure each choice you make reflects your values, your aspirations and your authentic self,” SLCSD Superintendent Diane Fox said.

Dann said the Class of 2024 is “flexible.” When vermiculite was discovered at Petrova Elementary School, the students there shifted to Bloomingdale Elementary for the rest of fifth grade. When the coronavirus pandemic struck, they missed out on their eighth grade celebrations and started their high school experience in masks. Then, they finished high school without their phones, with a new school policy Dann felt went over well, after a challenging start.

Dann said it is not the strongest who thrive, it’s the ones who adapt.

“This class works,” he said.

Dann said 30 students were graduating with with career and technical education certifications and 14 with experience in the BOCES New Vision programs.

He said 17 are finding employment right away, 20 are attending a two-year college or trade school and 50 are starting at a four-year college.

Dann left them with some advice: “Get off your phone and enjoy the moment.”

After throwing their caps in the air, as the High School Jazz Band played, they smiled with their friends and family, enjoying the moment.

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Excellence, the truth and forgiveness

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Retiring SLHS Secretary Diana Schwartz said she was humbled to make the commencement address one of her last official duties with the school district.

“Most of you were born the year I started working at the high school,” Schwartz told the graduates.

She has coached soccer, volleyball and softball at the school over the years.

Schwartz challenged graduates with three ways to live their lives.

“Refuse to be mediocre,” she said.

She said “social media and the media have distorted the truth” and asked the graduates to always speak the truth.

“When you tell the truth, justice is done. But lies lead to injustice,” she said.

She also told them to forgive and to not hold on to bitterness.

“Be slow to anger and abundant in love,” Schwartz said. “Unforgiveness will steal the joy of your lives.”

Gabe Stearns hugs Saranac Lake High School Principal Josh Dann at graduation on Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Colden Damour gets his graduation cap tassel moved by Saranac Lake Central School District Superintendent Diane Fox at the Saranac Lake High School graduation ceremony on Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Owen Keal grins as he crosses the stage at the Saranac Lake High School graduation ceremony on Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Ayla Small grins as Saranac Lake Central School District Superintendent Diane Fox moves her tassel at the Saranac Lake High School graduation ceremony on Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Elyse Corliss hugs her father Scott Hochwald after the Saranac Lake High School graduation ceremony on Wednesday. Hockwald had brought a large cutout of Elyse’s face to wave at the event. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Scott Hochwald holds a large cutout poster of his daugher, Elyse Corliss’ face with his wife Renee at the Saranac Lake High School graduation ceremony on Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)