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Senior Falcons take flight in Austintown
Graduation ceremonies for Austintown seniors took place Saturday
By ELISE McKEOWN SKOLNICK
AUSTINTOWN
Seventeen members of Austintown Fitch High School’s 419-member graduating class shared their wisdom with fellow classmates at commencement.
The 17 were the class valedictorians. They urged their peers to thank those who’ve helped them get to graduation day, to remember where they came from, to always aspire to be the best, and to remember that once a Falcon, always a Falcon.
Superintendent Vincent Colaluca reiterated many of the valedictorians’ points, using this story to illustrate his instruction to always do their best:
There was a carpenter who was ready to retire. But his employer begged him to complete one more house. The carpenter agreed, but didn’t put much effort into the project and used inferior products. When the house was completed, the boss told the carpenter it was for him. The carpenter looked around the house and thought he would have done a better job if he’d known that.
“The lesson is, do your best job in everything you do,” Colaluca said. “And as Falcons, I know you will.”
Colleen Kopnisky, 18, said her years at Fitch prepared her for her next step in life.
“It’s helped me build character and shown me how hard you have to work in order to get where you want to go. It’s like a ladder, you have to build your way up.”
She will study speech pathology at Kent State at Trumbull in the fall.
“I’m excited, but I’m also nervous because this is the last time that I’m going to be with everybody. But I’m also excited because I get to close this chapter of my life and start the new chapter of my life,” she said.
The four years of high school flew by, Kopnisky noted.
“My freshman year, I started counting down till the day I graduated, and then it just flew by in a blur,” she said. “It doesn’t even feel like the last four years of high school happened.”
At Fitch, she was involved in Spanish Club.
Joey Koval, 18, also feels prepared by Fitch for his next step in life.
“I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else,” he said. “I feel like Austintown’s where I needed to be to graduate.”
In the fall, he will attend Youngstown State University to study special education and music.
During his high-school years he concentrated on academics.
“I knew that it was a big enough responsibility,” he said. “I wanted to make sure I did the right things.”
He will miss the atmosphere of high school.
“I’m so used to this,” he said. “It’s going to feel weird that I’m going to be on my own. I mean, I’ll have my family and friends, but I’ll be on my own.”