Girard graduates 130 seniors

By BOB JACKSON

news@vindy.com

GIRARD

It might sound a bit cliche, but Dustin Hake-Thailing is aiming high for his life after high school.

“I want to design and help build spacecraft,” the 18-year-old said. “And I want to fly.”

Hake-Thailing was among 130 students who graduated Sunday afternoon during the 131st commencement exercises at Girard High School. He said he plans to attend Youngstown State University for a year, then head south to Florida, where he’ll study aeronautic space engineering.

“I’ve always had a passion for space,” he said. “I’ve spent long nights just staring up at the sky. Every time I see a plane up there, I think how much I wish I were up there flying it.”

As he mingled with friends and classmates before graduation, Hake-Thailing reflected on his years as an Indian.

“I can’t believe today is the day we’ve waited for our whole life. This is something special,” he said. “Now that the day is actually here, you’re so excited about it, but at the same time, you don’t want it to end.”

Carissa Page, 19, said she’ll pursue a nursing degree at Kent State University at Trumbull. The medical field is close to her heart because she has sickle cell anemia, which has put her in and out of hospitals all her life. She appreciates the care she’s been given and now wants to pay it forward.

“I just want to help kids — that’s all,” she said.

Her friend and fellow graduate Michaesha Moore, 17, will study biology at YSU and then intends to attend medical school to become a veterinarian.

“I love animals,” she said. “I’ve known I wanted to be a vet since I was in second grade.”

Moore said her mother, who is a nurse’s aide and has worked at Sharon Regional Hospital since she was 21, inspired her to pursue a career in the medical field.

Moore spent some time before graduation chatting with her friends, Brittiany Snyder and Moet Griffin, who also graduated Sunday. Snyder, 19, said she wants to go into either nursing or dental assisting; Griffin, 18, will study early-childhood education at YSU.

George Kreeger, 18, said he’s hoping to be accepted into the Army. But first, he has to have Lasik surgery to correct his vision.

“He was rejected the first time he tried to get in,” said his mother, Amy McSweeney. “But he’s bound and determined to do this. He’s been saving his money to pay for the surgery. I am super-proud of him.”

Kreeger said he’s “always needed the discipline” that the military will provide him, and that he wants to enter a police academy after his military years are finished.

“I’m an Army brat, so I’m not real happy about it,” McSweeney said of her son’s military future. “But I know he’s going to get the experience he needs. It’ll allow him to see the world and get some life experience.”

Stephen Varkonyi also is bound for the military, heading off to the Army Reserve in August. Varkonyi, 18, will get training in refrigeration so he can build a career in that field afterward.

“He made that decision [to join the military] on his own,” said Steven’s mom, Sharon.

Alexis Payne, 17, will attend the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, where she will double-major in journalism and criminal justice.

“There are so many things I want to do,” she said. “I want to be a lawyer, I want to be a journalist, I want to write books. ... There are so many opportunities out there.”

During his remarks to the graduates, Superintendent David M. Cappuzzello offered a David Letterman-style Top 10 list of things the graduates would wish as adults that they’d known when they were in high school. At the top of the list was his advice to make the most of the present.

“Yesterday is over, tomorrow is promised to no one,” Cappuzzello said. “You have today. Make it count.”