GRANBY — Hundreds of family members, friends, former teachers, and loved ones filled the Granby Junior Senior High School gymnasium on Saturday morning to celebrate the school’s Class of 2025.

Clad in the school’s blue and white and holding bouquets, giant cutouts of graduates’ faces and tissues for leaky eyes, community members turned out in spades for the commencement ceremony honoring Granby’s 52 most recent graduates.

Many graduates thanked the close-knit community for its support and patience during the ceremony. Several of this year’s graduates spent their entire educational careers in Granby schools, and students who joined the Granby “Ram Fam” later also reflected on the community they found at the high school.

“I think having so little people, you get to connect with everybody and you know everybody in the school, so you’re not a stranger,” said graduate Cody White, a Granby student since kindergarten.

White, who plans to attend linesmithing school in Georgia next year, hand made miniature power lines to decorate his graduation cap with.

“We’re all so close,” said Mabel Carillon, another graduate who has been in the district since kindergarten. “Everybody knows each other, everybody’s willing to help anybody at any chance.” Carillon will attend Sacred Heart University in the fall.

“It’s a really close community, and that makes a difference,” added grad Molly Zumbruski, who also attended Granby schools for the past 13 years. Zumbruski will attend Assumption University next year.

In his speech, senior Class President Cole Fuller said that “leadership is about inspiring others to do their best,” and that the Class of 2025 will inspire others for years to come, including through art in the school’s hallways, names sewn in athletic record banners, and lasting changes to the student council. Fuller earned the Principal’s Award for Outstanding Service to the School and Community, the Student Council Leadership Award, and the school’s top academic awards for social studies, AP literature and composition and Spanish IV honors.

“The best thing each of us can have in life is a good support system around us,” valedictorian Alexis Lapite told her peers. “The freedom to define our futures is a gift we should all cherish.”

Lapite, who received the Superintendent’s Award for Academic Excellence, the Student Council Leadership Award, and the school’s top academic awards for AP literature and composition, anatomy, and physics, will attend Western New England University next year.

Before degrees were awarded, senior Class Secretary Gavin Moreno presented the class gift of funds to purchase new gym equipment. Zumbruski, the class recording secretary, introduced the commencement speaker chosen by the graduates: Spanish teacher Molly Pinkney, who wrote and shared a poem dedicated to the Class of 2025.

Students accepted their diplomas one-by-one as an administrator read each name. After several graduates were called, a young child yelled “That’s my sister!,” sparking a spontaneous chain reaction.

When the next name was called, a member of the crowd shouted, “That’s my brother!”

“That’s my girlfriend!” came next, then “That’s my grandson!” The crowd laughed and cheered with each proclamation.

Graduate Kailee Gomez said the ceremony made her feel grateful that she chose to transfer to Granby a few years ago. “I needed the staff’s help and they really did help me,” she said. “They encourage you to keep going. If it wasn’t for them, I probably would have never kept going to graduate.”

Next, Gomez plans to join the military and to one day open her own car shop. She hopes to “one day help other kids with special needs, who need IEPs just like me.”

“Granby is very much accepting,” Gomez said. “If you have a dream and you tell them, they’ll help accomplish that goal.”

2025 Graduates

Jena Abbott, Junior Alcantara Garces, Xavier Arroyo, Aiden Beach, Nathan Benson, Cody Breault, Mabel Carillon, Sawyer Clarke, Raymond Colon, Quinlin Cook, Margaret Crawford, John Crawford, Brennan Dwyer, Gavier Fernandez Jr., Cassandra Flaherty, Cole Fuller, Kailee Gomez, Riley Goodhind, Katie Grabherr, Isabella Guzman, Shaylin Hauschild, Brianna Houghton, Gavin Kennedy, Kelly Kennedy, Lydia Kicza, Bear Lacharite, Andre LaFlamme, Alexis Lapite, Logan LaPointe, Cheyenne Laramee, Cameron LeBlanc, Ava McFarland, Justin Merced, Chenoa Mestre, Tristan Moe, Gavin Moreno, Jonathan O’Connor, Emma Parsons, Jaedyn Pike, Jordyn Placzek, Addison Prignano, Olyvia Redmond, Olah Roller, Jaxton Roy, Ava Saunders, Luke Scott, Maxwell Seymour, Autumn Sicard, Austin Smith, Stewart Szlosek, Cody White, Molly Zumbruski