Graduate Shannon Monaghan painted a phoenix for commencement program cover, a fitting symbol for a city rising from the destruction left by a tornado.
SPRINGFIELD – On the cover of the commencement program of the Springfield Renaissance School was an exotic, fiery bird, a phoenix rising from the ashes.
It was a fitting symbol, though 18-year-old Renaissance student Shannon Monaghan, of Springfield, never knew it when she painted the cover three weeks ago.
Monaghan was one of more than a dozen students at the school whose lives were affected by the tornado of June 1.
The twister shattered glass and tore up trees while she and her mother and sister waited in the basement of their home in East Forest Park.
Yet the following Monday evening Shannon Monaghan was at Symphony Hall in her white graduation robe, her mother beside her, waiting for the graduation ceremony to begin.
“The resolve of the young men and women of Springfield has been outstanding,” said Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno when he addressed the Renaissance School graduates and their families.
“Sometimes life throws you curveballs. This is a valuable lesson to you. With adversity, strength builds, perseverance builds, fortitude builds,” said Sarno.
Monaghan was one of 78 seniors who graduated from the Springfield Renaissance School on Monday.
She was a member of the second class to graduate from the school.
“So far we’re two for two,” said Stephen Mahoney, principal of Renaissance, referring to the fact for both years, 100 percent of the graduating class went on to college.
Valedictorian of the class was Kristen DeAngelo, who will attend Catholic University in Washington, D.C. Her main interest is psychology.
Salutatorian Monasia Caesar was also chosen by her classmates to speak at the ceremony. She and Janelle Clark were the two chosen for the honor from the top 10 achievers in the class.
Besides Sarno, guest speakers were Springfield schools superintendent Alan J. Ingram and School Committee member Peter Murphy.
For faculty speaker, the students selected social studies teacher Mark Loevy-Reyes. “He’s an attorney who is becoming a teacher,” said Mahoney, “and he’s awesome. He’s smart and he connects really well with the kids.”
What’s unusual about Renaissance commencements is that each of the students gets walked down the aisle by a family member, the way a bride is walked down the aisle in a wedding.
“This is our second graduating class,” said Mahoney, “and in many respects they had a tougher job than the first graduating class. They had to avoid ‘sophomore slump.’ It’s hard being the second kid, the second class. But our seniors matched that achievement.”