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Warren G. Harding High School Class of 2017 celebrates commencement
Where one road ends, another begins for 269 grads
WARREN
The Warren G. Harding High School Class of 2017 celebrated commencement Thursday at W.D. Packard Music Hall.
This year’s graduating class is 269 students.
Friends and family packed into the venue to watch the graduates – draped in white and yellow caps and gowns – cross the stage and receive their diplomas.
The Warren G. Harding Band as well as a combined chorus of the school’s choral groups performed throughout the evening.
Valedictorian Da’Jahnae Provitt and Salutatorian Constantine Payiavlas were among the evening’s speakers.
Provitt said she was “extremely excited” to graduate at the top of her class. Last year, she was included on Trumbull County’s “Twenty Under 20” list.
During her speech, Provitt spoke of the various paths an individual can take to success and the importance of being mindful on the journey.
Provitt plans to attend Dartmouth College for business. She hopes to go into project management.
Payiavlas said he was incredibly grateful to graduate from Harding, noting the support he had along the way as well as praising the school’s diversity.
He said growing up in a school with such a wide range of ethnic, racial and socio-economic diversity will help him as he moves into the post-high school world.
During his speech, he exhorted his classmates to always remember their hometown as they go out into the world and to take the opportunity to visit and give back whenever possible. He spoke of graduation as a bittersweet event, but was optimistic about his class’s future.
“The distant dreams of our youth suddenly seem within our grasp,” he said.
Payiavlas plans to attend Case Western Reserve University for business administration. He hopes to one day take over his family’s business, AVI Foodsystems in Warren.
Warren City Schools Superintendent Steve Chiaro also spoke at the event, offering life advice and praise to this year’s graduating class.