June 18, 2025 | By Cheryl Casey | Correspondent

Editor’s Note: Harwood’s graduation ceremony was recorded and can be viewed online on the Harwood Media Lab YouTube page.

*Harwood Union High School’s seniors take their last walk as students from their school to the commencement tent for Saturday’s graduation. Photo by Sarah Milligan*

Excitement and anticipation hummed through and around the tent on Saturday morning as family members and friends of Harwood Union High School’s class of 2025 awaited the procession of graduates to emerge from the school.

*Piper Ben Montross provides the traditional tunes in the school’s Highlander tradition. Photo by Sarah Milligan*

They chattered excitedly, exchanging greetings and congratulations with each other against a backdrop of tuning instruments and a bagpiper’s cheery airs.

As the hour approached, the gray sky grew steadily brighter, and in the moments before the band struck up Pomp and Circumstance, the sun pushed its way to the last thin layer of cloud cover.

When the 116 graduates appeared, cheers, applause and whistles erupted from the crowd, some proud parents and grandparents standing on their chairs to catch a better view of their beloved graduate processing into the tent. The roar of cheers as the class of 2025 took their places seemed enough to put the gray clouds on notice.

Principal Megan McDonough opened the ceremony “with profound pride,” and her remarks established the key themes that would frame the morning’s program and define the graduating class: resilience, respect, openness, supportiveness, and joy.

*Harwood Principal Meg McDonough addresses the Class of 2025. Photo by Sarah Milligan*

And spirit. No one who spoke was about to let anybody forget how the senior class won Spirit Week with a ferocity worthy of the Highlander tradition.

McDonough praised the graduates for respectfully letting the kitchen staff know in advance about Senior Skip Day and their willingness to lean in and grow despite their reluctance over the school’s cell phone ban. She also listed the many accomplishments, awards, and adventures accumulated by the graduates over the years, including scholarships, apprenticeship programs, Harwood’s travel study program, varsity athletics, dual enrollment in college classes, highly successful theater productions, National Honor Society and National Technical Honors Society inductions, and others.

*Seniors Lucy Badger (left) and Anna Brundage introduce their teacher Matt Henchen. Photo by Sarah Milligan*

“How we approach the unknown, whether with resistance, resilience, or with grace, it shapes the course of our lives,” McDonough said as she concluded her remarks. “Throughout your years at Harwood, you have chartered the unknown with such incredible humility and heart, you've built a culture of connection and belonging that reflects not only the Harwood way, but the very essence of what it means to be a community…and as you step out into what comes next, remain open to the unexpected. It often yields life's most precious gifts.”

Seniors Lucy Badger and Anna Brundage introduced the commencement speaker, Matthew Henchen, who has taught civics, history, and social studies at the school for 17 years. Badger referred to Henchen as “one of the most passionate teachers at Harwood, in school and out.”

She highlighted some of Henchen’s efforts outside of the classroom, such as supporting students lobbying on the State House lawn for action on climate change. “He's most proud of this work, the work that doesn't get a grade,” Badger said.

Brundage reflected fondly on the “wonderfully weird environment” Henchen fosters in the classroom. “No matter what Mr. Henchin speaks about, whether it be his passion for social justice and climate justice, his infatuation with the Amish, or his interest in strange coffee substitutes, Mr. Henchin consistently speaks with care and passion,” she said.

*Harwood history and social studies teacher Matt Henchen delivers the graduation address. Photo by Sarah Milligan*

The popular teacher took to the podium amidst cheers from the graduates. The first accomplishment he noted for this “exceptional class” was Spirit Week. “You didn’t just win Spirit Week,” he said. “You won it with really enormous spirit and gravitas.”

His speech was peppered with plenty of inside jokes and references that kept the senior class snickering.

“I'll probably have to ask for some of your forgiveness for some of the things that happened on experiential learning adventures. How many of you guys went on the Kroka [Expeditions] trip?“ Henchen turned to the graduates and asked.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” he quipped, eliciting a round of knowing laughter from the seniors.

Hitting a more serious note, Henchen remarked to the students, “I'd like to share a very important lesson that your class has taught me, and that is how to cultivate joy through adversity, how to cultivate joy even in the midst of adversity.”

He walked them down a memory lane of their shared journey, emphasizing how the students collectively leaned into one discomfort after the next, from pandemic shutdowns to cell phone bans. “It was definitely your class that brought back the joy and energy [post-pandemic], not only back to Harwood, but to me as a teacher,” Henchen said.

In his closing, Henchen described the Amish tradition of Rumspringa, where the youth leave the community to experience the outside world and then decide whether to return and be baptized as an adult in the Amish church. According to his research, 80-90% of youth return.

“Go ahead and explore,” Henchen advised, “but come back and continue to help our communities be a place where people can thrive. If you do find a new community, I'm sure they will benefit from your positive example…you have already proven that you have all the tools required to adapt to change and cultivate joy, even in the midst of adversity.”

As excited as he is to see where each of the graduates will go on their respective Rumspringa, Henchen also admitted, “I will be here when hopefully, 80 to 90% of you come back to rejoin this sacred community.”

Lindsey Boyden and Nate Conyers, the senior speakers, put the finishing touches on the celebration’s themes.

*Seniors Cailin Brooks, Tyler Bravin, (graduation speaker) Lindsey Boyden and Zoe Blackman. Photo by Sarah Milligan*

*Senior Nate Conyers gives one student address. Photo by Sarah Milligan*

“By far, there’s one thing that really defines this class. It’s joy,” stated Boyden as she listed some of her favorite memories with her classmates, including Spirit Week, of course. “Our class can bring joy and energy wherever we go. It wasn’t just about making noise, although we’re very good at it…What makes our class special isn’t just the volume but the way we’ve held each other up,” she recounted.

Conyers echoed the sentiment, speaking to the unceasing change the class faced during their four years of high school, including the cell phone ban this past year. “Our bonds grew stronger because of the new connections we formed when we had to interact with each other,” he said, adding, “We embraced the change that was in front of us and became stronger.”

*Senior Class Council members Susannah Smith, Julia Cox and Emma Ryley announce the class gift. Photo by Sarah Milligan*

The senior members of Harwood’s renowned Assembly Band were summoned from their seats for a final soulful performance of one of the ensemble’s favorite covers, Midnight in Harlem, by Tedeschi Trucks Band, with senior vocalists Eliana Buckingham, Zoe Blackman and Elsie Pawul sharing the solos.

The ceremony included the announcement of the class gift, presented by Senior Class Council members Julia Cox, Emma Ryley, and Susannah Smith: a trio of benches, two to be placed just outside of the school’s entrance, and one in Kate’s Garden, a courtyard outside the school cafeteria.

As the ceremony came to a close, senior Eleanor Hume prepared her classmates to move their tassels. “Harwood has given us not only an education, but a community, one rooted in pride, resilience and spirit,” Hume said. “The Harwood spirit is not just something we leave behind. It's something we carry with us.”

With that, the Harwood Union High School class of 2025 moved the tassels on their graduation caps from right to left.

They processed with joy out of the tent to sunshine and blue sky, stopping briefly on the sidewalk in front of the school under the flagpole flying the U.S. flag and the Pride flag. As family, friends and teachers looked on, cameras pointed to capture the scene, the now-graduates tossed their caps into the air.