By James Lomuscio
Dressed in U.S. Army fatigues, Sgt. Taquasia Bravo, peered over the crowd of nearly 4,000 in the Staples High School field house today, anxiously waiting for the 132nd commencement to begin.
Members of the Class of 2019 turn their tassels at today’s commencement ceremony. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
In a short while, the opening notes of a recorded “Pomp and Circumstance” started up, and it played as it would over and over to accommodate the 475 graduates. Processing in, they sported blue caps and gowns, smiles and some frowns, not to mention the occasional class clown with dramatic poses and exaggerated waving.
Lucky for Bravo, her brother Quinntin Elijah Bravo of Bridgeport was only 49th alphabetically in line. As soon as she spied Quinntin, she ran to him. They hugged as the line kept moving. And she cried.
“I’ve been gone for a while in Europe,” the graduate’s sister said about her deployment. “I haven’t seen him since he was in middle school.”
Staples was familiar territory for Taquasia Bravo. In fact it has been a tradition of the Bridgeport Bravos who took part in a Staples program for out-of-district students. Taquasia graduated from Staples in 2011, her brother Anthony in 2015. Quinntin plans to study graphic design at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
At every graduation family and extended family seem to share the limelight as parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles et al bask in the graduate’s day.
But this year, family seemed especially underscored. Twin sisters Sirina Verma Prasad and Anisa Verma Prasad had distinct roles due to their top grades. Sirina spoke as valedictorian. Anisa was salutatorian at the baccalaureate ceremony Monday night. Both are heading to Harvard in the fall.
Even Staples Principal James D’Amico evoked a family theme, talking about spending time with his children this summer and gardening at his New Fairfield home. D’Amico leaves Staples at the end of this month to take the helm as principal of New Fairfield High School, his alma mater.
Strong family ties were what drew Phil and Stephanie Copeland of Louisville, Kentucky to Staples to see their grandson Jack Shapiro, who will attend the University of Florida.
“This high school is great, and it’s impressive,” Phil Copeland said, adding that his grandson was a champion baseball player.
Jenny Fan gets her diploma from Interim Superintendent David E. Abbey as Board of Ed Chair Mark Mathias looks on. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
Not all family shared blood ties. Photographer Larry Silver said he had come to see Jenny Fan get her diploma. With her family in China, Fan had lived at the Silver home for a year as a favor to his friend, Eileen Zhang, who had asked the Silvers to accommodate her niece. Zhang is the director of information technology for the Town of Westport.
An even broader extension of family was demonstrated by class speaker Victoria Cao’s address to her class, saying that Staples will always be part of them even though this would be their last day on campus. She also urged her fellow graduates “to be happy in the present” and not to always be going from test to test and grade to grade.”
She said they were joined by the advice “to live life with purpose, to pursue our passion.”
In her address, valedictorian Sirina Prasad said that at Staples she and her class were inspired to think.
“We are the people who over the last four years have learned to think,” she said, “and that’s what we’ll use to change the world.”
