398 Austintown Fitch grads mark crowning achievement

June 2, 2019 at 12:00a.m.

AUSTINTOWN

You could say that to Cara Carroll, having A.J. Green in her financial-literacy class was priceless, but if you ask her to sum up her feelings about the 12th-grader, don’t expect a reply chock full of figures or calculations.

“He is one of the most respectful young men I’ve ever come in contact with,” said Carroll, who’s also Austintown Fitch High School’s senior class adviser and also an 11th-grade American government teacher.

“Some kids have roadblocks; he had major detours and has figured it out.”

Nevertheless, it was full speed ahead when it came to Green achieving his latest crowning achievement, as he became one of 398 graduates to receive diplomas during the Austintown Fitch High Class of 2019’s commencement Saturday morning in the gymnasium.

Getting to that point, however, was anything but easy for Green, whose mother, Leila Williams, suffers from multiple sclerosis and continues to live in a nursing home after having undergone a series of surgeries and medical procedures, and whose father lives in Canada. Despite her health problems, Williams was well enough to see Green walk across the stage, he said with pride.

“She’s the one I do everything for. She’s a strong woman, spiritually and emotionally, and she has a huge influence on my life,” said Green, whose next significant move will be to enroll this fall at Bryant & Stratton College in Solon to major in sports and business management.

Green, who plans to spend part of the summer working at a local Arby’s restaurant and for a Mill Creek Park youth program, said one of his fondest school memories will be the day he made a lay-up shot and was met with cheers as part of a tribute to him. Beforehand, Green, who played for his school’s basketball team, tore his anterior cruciate ligament 20 seconds into the first game of the season last November, he recalled.

An ACL tear is an injury to a major ligament in the knee that typically occurs in basketball, downhill skiing, soccer and other sports in which sudden stops or direction changes are common.

At first glance, being part of Fitch High’s speech-and-debate team then aiming to earn a degree in physics may seem a bit incompatible, but it’s a logical fit for Alex Giovannone.

“I’ve always liked math and science since I was a kid,” said Giovannone, who also was one of the graduating class’s 21 valedictorians. “Public speaking will help you in any area.”

For many people, speaking in public elicits great anxiety, but before delivering the final presentation for the team, Giovannone also was challenged with having only 30 minutes to write the seven-minute speech. In it, he had to encapsulate JCPenney’s outlook for this year and discuss some of the financial and management issues the large retail store is dealing with, he explained.

Finishing in sixth place during a state speech tournament likely will be one of his proudest high-school moments, Giovannone said. Now he has set his sights on entering an honors program at Ohio State University to major in physics and working full time this summer for Cleveland Steel Container Corp. in Niles to earn money for college.

Another top achievement was having successfully auditioned for his school’s concert choir, Giovannone continued.

“It’s changed who I am in terms of how shy I was and how outgoing I am now,” he added.

It might be difficult to imagine Giovannone as an introvert, also because during his animated valedictorian address, he generated laughter by using two hand puppets to dramatize his feelings about leaving high school to pursue the next chapter in his life.

In their remarks, Giovannone and the other 20 valedictorians encouraged their fellow grads to appreciate small moments in their lives, be kind and courageous, cherish their school memories and shine through life’s inevitable stormy times.

Making similar farewell statements were Faith Marscio, senior class president, and Brandon Smith, who attended Mahoning County Career and Technical Center to prepare to be a software engineer.

Maribeth McGlynn, senior counselor, noted that 85 grads were honor-diploma recipients, 94 were National Honor Society members and two received military academy appointments, one each to West Point in New York and the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va.

In addition, 126 seniors received scholarships that totaled more than $125,000, McGlynn said. Beyond those figures, though, many other students deserve praise, in part because they “went above the call of duty to make Fitch a better place,” she continued.

Making additional remarks was Principal Christopher M. Berni, who thanked parents, teachers, administrators and others for molding the grads for success in college and beyond.