Pottstown Trojans Celebrate for the 177th Tiime

Photo by John Armato

The Pottstown High School 177th graduation ceremonies get underway.

Blogger's Note: Today we welcome the efforts of Guest Blogger John Armato whose Tweets and efforts on behalf of his beloved Pottstown Trojans has produced nearly every bit on content in this blog post.

Unable to get away from the newsroom in time to see the 2016 Pottstown High School graduation, I relied on the efforts of TweetMeister John Armato, and a few of his erstwhile fellow school-centered Tweeters.

I was not disappointed.

Here are as many of his Tweets from last night as I could find.

He also managed to provide me with the text of the speech by Salutatorian Mike Stilwell, whose speech appears below.

But first: here are the Tweets:

And here is the speech given by Mike Stilwell

First I’d like to welcome everyone. Family, friends, teachers, administration, the school board and their lovely president. And of course I’d like to welcome the Pottstown Senior class of 2016! I’m glad all of you could join us for such a joyous occasion!

Seniors, I want to take the time before I truly begin to congratulate each and everyone one of you. You did it. You’ve overcome the trials of high school. Break ups, late night projects, senioritis, those dang keystones. You overcame them all. You’ve earned the right to be here. Take pride in that. Allow today to be a day where you’re proud of yourself. Don’t just be proud of the friends you’re sitting with, be proud with them. You deserve it.

Mike Stilwell at the podium

So listen to this. I found out I was Salutatorian on Wednesday, which is amazing don’t get me wrong. But I knew I would have to be writing a speech then. “No problem, I’ve got until Friday.” Then Mrs. McCoy was like , “Yeah I’m gonna need that tomorrow at 3:00”. Well that was unexpected. But if there is anything I’ve learned throughout my entire high school career. It’s how to do something in its entirety, the night before its due.

With the help of google and some wisdom from a friend I discovered that the word Salutatorian derives from the word salutation. Google defines salutation as “a gesture or utterance made as a greeting or acknowledgment of another's arrival or departure.” Seniors, I believe that we’ve arrived at the threshold of adulthood.

Don’t be fooled, the journey does not end here. We must cross this threshold, and continue the journey. Up until now, our lives have pretty much been planned. Go to school for a year, enjoy a summer, repeat. This is where that ends, now we all have to take this next exciting, and beyond terrifying, step in our lives. We don’t know what the future has in store for us. Frankly the only thing we can really be certain about is having to pay bills. Regardless we must the tackle the unknown, continuing to strive for our dreams, and daring to be happy.

But as we depart from one part of our lives into the next, I ask you to remember to thank all of those who helped you get here. Your friends, your family, your teachers. Anybody who you believe deserves it. A simple thank you, does wonders for a person.

Class of 2016, it has been an honor to serve as your salutatorian. I wish you all the best in all of your endeavors! Bodly go out into the world and prove to everyone that we’re not JUST Pottstown, WE ARE POTTSTOWN!

Thank you all for you time! I hope you all have a wonderful night!