Medina sends ‘non-bananas’ into the world

Medina’s Class of 2015 includes 115 members who graduated on Friday evening.

Photos and article by
Howard Balaban, Correspondent

MEDINA – The Medina High School Class of 2015 was encouraged to be unique at its graduation ceremony Friday night.

Salutatorian Regan Stacey addressed those in attendance by recalling a phrase by one of the class’s math teachers.

“We are all non-bananas,” she said, explaining how the 115 graduates will be stepping into a plethora of life roles later this summer.

“I’m especially amazed at those up here who will immediately start to contribute,” Stacey noted, adding that the world always needs farmers, construction workers, and military servicemen and women, for instance, to allow the rest of us to eat, live, and do so in a free society.

Graduates prepare to enter the auditorium.

Valedictorian Alexandra Markle took to the podium next, and she marked the closing of the high school chapter of life with a simple message: “Run.”

In encouraging her classmates to “get as far away from Medina as possible,” Markle said doing so would allow them all to grow in ways they never dreamed imaginable. The world, she said, is a “huge, daunting place” but meeting new people in new places can open some eyes.

“I don’t care where you go, as long as you’ve never been there before,” she said. New experiences for her and her classmates will only help them grow, Markle added.

“You can learn so much by listening,” Markle remarked. She added that through it all, the people who helped the Class of ’15 get to Friday night’s stage would be there to help.

“We are fortunate to come from a place like Medina,” she stated. She described Medina as a community where people care, and where values like respect, kindness, compassion, and mercy were instilled in the class by teachers and family alike.

Members of the junior class carry the Daisy Chain. Eighteen students worked on the 54-foot-long chain over two days.

While many in the class may not have firm plans for their future, Markle said that was not a problem because “sometimes the journey teaches us about the destination.”

Plus, as Stacey said, “We are not all from the same mold…we have amazing opportunities to be different.

“Discover who you are…Keep an open mind. Be the unique non-banana you were meant to be.”