Speaker says Liberty grads face record number of choices

By Sarah Lehr | May 27, 2016 at 12:01a.m.

By SARAH Lehr

slehr@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

2016 Liberty Graduation

Gallery

2016 Liberty Graduation

Diana DeVito, Liberty Board of Education member and 1971 alumna, told the class of 2016 they face more choices than any generation in history.

“You can go to the Internet to buy anything you choose,” DeVito said. “You can go to the Internet to choose friends. You can go to the Internet to choose a boyfriend or a girlfriend. But, you can’t go to the Internet to build character.”

Liberty High School conferred diplomas on 82 graduates Thursday evening at Powers Auditorium, downtown.

Valedictorian Saidah Yusuf spoke of her personal journey to academic success.

“The expectations for males and females within the Arab community are different,” Yusuf said. “It is the males who are expected to succeed academically, to further their education and have more leisure to do what they want.”

She added, “This isn’t to say that I am not proud of my roots because I am. I’m proud of being Palestinian-American. ... But, I seek to break the stereotype that only males can be successful.”

The other valedictorian, Salam Picard, reminisced about his class’s shared experiences and joked, “The road to success is not smoothly paved and never will be. Honestly, it’s kind of like the roads in Liberty.”

Commencement also featured a band performance of Randall Standridge’s “Timepiece” and a choir performance of Greg Gilpin’s “Awaken the Music!”

For Kylie Banjak, who plans to study psychology at Youngstown State University, the ceremony was a long-awaited milestone.

“It felt so great to see everyone walking across the stage,” Banjak said. “We’ve been working toward this for a long time.”

Steven Lukac also plans to attend YSU where he will study nursing. Several of his friends will enroll there as well, he said.

“It’s nice to know there will be some friendly faces when I get there,” he said.