Once spring arrives, most high school seniors realize there is a limited amount of time left in their high school careers. One of the highlights of those careers is the presentation of awards and scholarships presented.

On Thursday, May 18, the Cranston East auditorium was standing-room only as the seniors were recognized and honored for their hard work over the past four years.

Vice Principal Joe Potemri was the Master of Ceremonies for the evening which was kicked off by the JROTC Honor Guard leading the procession of administrators, faculty, staff, honored guests and scholarship presenters as well as the students receiving awards.

Senior Class Advisor Andrea DiCicco escorted the students by carrying the traditional mace.

Following the National Anthem being sung by senior Rachel Fontes and the JROTC Posting of the Colors, remarks of best wishes were offered. East Principal Sean Kelly was first to extend his congratulations.

“This is an important night for all of you. It recognizes all the hard work, dedication and determination you have put yourselves through. Tonight is your night to be proud. This is without a doubt my favorite night of the school year. You have all distinguished yourselves as a class and as individuals in the classroom, on the sports field, musical competitions, JROTC, school and community outreach. Not only have you met, but you have exceeded my expectations. Tonight you will receive over one hundred thousand dollars in scholarships, and as a class you will receive over $1 million in known financial aid,” he said.

Superintendent Jeannine Nota-Masse offered her regards.

“Each year when I am here to bring greetings, I find it a personal challenge to share words that truly capture the meaning of this event. I want to offer my most sincere gratitude for all of your hard work and dedication to your studies, your community service and your school. I want to share my pride for all of you with your family and friends seated in the audience.

Earlier this week, most of you had the opportunity to visit an elementary school as part of our first “Graduation Walk.” In discussing this event with Mrs. DiCicco, she made this poignant observation. She said, Krystal was emotional in the video as she thumbed through the pages of her old yearbook and reminisced about sitting at a particular desk in her fifth-grade classroom. We all remember our ‘place’ at certain points in our lives and the fact that she was able to articulate her feelings. There were lots of hugs, tears and admiration during those visits this week. The point of the Graduation Walk was for you to realize your journey to this evening and graduation in a couple of weeks. You have a ‘place’ here at Cranston East.  Where your place will be in 5, 15 or 20 years is yet to be realized. However, you will always have a home here at Cranston East. Because once a ‘Bolt, always a ‘Bolt.

“Take time to remember this evening, it is going to be all over soon enough. We, in Central Administration who have watched you walk between our buildings feel a special connection to you. You may not realize this, but each day, seeing students coming and going from Briggs, makes us happy. Personally, your energy, your youth and your pride in CHSE inspire me to be the best superintendent I can be. My place is here with all of you celebrating your joys and successes; and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she said.

Mayor Allan Fung brought his best wishes from the City.

“It’s hard to believe that this will be my ninth academic convocation ceremony here at Cranston East,” Fung said. “When I first was elected mayor, you were third graders. Today, you are seniors, on the home stretch before you take that next step into the future. I’m proud to see so many of you demonstrating academic excellence. This is a special night because we get to not only offer our congratulations, but to literally reward you for all that hard work.”

After all the accolades were offered, it was time to start passing out the awards. The first group of awards went to 73 seniors who were inducted into the Thunderbolt Honor Roll.

A tradition at East since 1998, the Honor Roll recognizes those seniors who made the school honor roll the first three quarters of the school year.

Thirty-four students were called to the stage to be inducted into the Rhode Island Honor Society. They received blue cords, a pin and a certificate to mark their accomplishments.

“This is the most students we’ve ever had for RI Honor Society,” said Potemri.

Fifty-two students received the National Honor Society’s gold cords, pins and certificates, and were given the Presidential Academic Excellence Award for maintaining a 3.5 GPA and performing community service.

The last award was given to 18 seniors for going above and beyond having done more than 50 hours of community service since they were inducted into the Honor Society as juniors last year. They received the society’s Spirit of Excellence Award.

Potemri announced that this graduating class was the last group of students who were born in the 1990’s.

Prior to giving out any awards or scholarships, Potemri went on to announce the Class of 2017’s Salutatorian and Valedictorian.

Reading off an extensive and impressive list of qualities and accomplishments achieved by this person, it is easy to see why they were chosen. Attending the University of Rhode Island School of Engineering in the fall, Noah Gibb was presented with the Salutatorian medal from Principal Kelly.

Remarking on the qualities that separate this student from the others, Potemri said she has taken the most rigorous honors and advanced placement classes during the last four years, she has a grade point average of 4.98, Principal Kelly bestowed the Valedictorian medal to Miya Lohmeier.

While presenting many of the awards that came from the school, several of the awards went to multiple students. The Art Award went to four, Business award also went to four, English awards went to three, JROTC went to three, The U.S. Marine Award went to five, the Music award was given to eight, and the World Language award went to four.

The Elks Foundation “Most Valuable Student Contest” was conducted through the local lodges. Sean Curry received $800, Alexander Norberg was awarded $950 and the $1,100 prize was given to Laney Kong.

Serena Bobola and Joseph Murphy each were awarded $1,500 scholarships from the Cranston Teacher’s Alliance.

Six $500 awards were given to Randy Duran, Emma Gherardi, Emma McDermott, Harrison Salier, Katerina Stepalavich and Sean Yu from the Agnes Mead Tramonti Memorial Scholarship.

Mark Ross, who graduated from Cranston East over 55 years ago, presented twenty checks for $500 each to the following students; Ritchard Capriolo, Kadie Carter, Zachary Dionizio, Nicole Eaton, Emma Gherardi, Noah Gibb, Anais Hawes, Jane Heath, Elias Hill, Samantha Levy, Alexander Norberg, Shantel Orellana, Ashley Paquin, Talia Parente, Eileen Read Maria, Katerine Rodriguez, James Rowell, Rose Smith-McGowan, Taylor Sukys and Juliette Xiong.

For those students who have demonstrated civic leadership, community service and are true ‘over-achievers,’ the Picerne Family Scholarship gave six $10,000 scholarships to Ying Chen, Hadassah Duplan, Samuel Hanley, Emma McDermott, Joseph Murphy and Katerina Stepalavich.