Commencement speaker J. Brandt Kronholm told graduating seniors at the Huntington high school that he took a circuitous path, including dropping out of college and touring with a rock band, before eventually earning his doctorate and becoming a professor at Tufts University.
Gateway Regional High School in Huntington held its 48th commencement ceremony on Friday evening. HUNTINGTON -- Humble beginnings are no indication of the great things that can be achieved, commencement speaker J. Brandt Kronholm told Gateway Regional High School's graduating class Friday.
After completing the search for the inspiring niche that breeds confidence and success, there is a moment when the mist lifts and reveals the path to professional fulfillment, he said.
“Though there might be mist all around you for a time, the clouds will part to reveal a happy landing spot,” Kronholm said.
Kronholm, a 1990 graduate of Gateway, told the 66 graduates seated before him on Booster Field for the high school’s 48th commencement Friday evening that, although his high school achievements were few, he now holds a Ph.D. in mathematics and two bachelor’s degrees in English and math and is a professor at Tufts University.
Gateway graduates were told Friday to take their own path to success and fulfillment.“I graduated 42nd out of a class of 89,” he said. “It was a very long balloon flight that leads me to where I am today.”
Kronholm’s circuitous route to success and prestige began with playing baseball in college; dropping out of college to join and tour with a rock band; going back to school for his bachelor’s degree in English; going back out on the road with another band; teaching in a prison; returning to college for a master’s degree in English, while simultaneously working toward his bachelor’s degree in math; and then finding his place among the academics at Tufts.
Graduates, from left, Alexander Ziter, Jenna Powers and Samuel Cummings gather for a photo before Friday's commencement exercise.“Every person has his or her own path,” he said. “Throughout my journey, I have looked back at my time at Gateway and realized how influential it was in helping to shape the scholar I was to become, and perhaps more importantly, the values I have sought to live by.”
A Gateway education, Kronholm added, provides the solid foundation upon which each graduate can build a successful future, no matter which straight or winding path they take to get there.
“It’s not the time we have spent completing our educations, or how we ended up with our degrees,” he said. “It is that we spent some time being lost in the clouds. It is the fact that after many years of wandering -- which, for myself, included several rock and roll bands, two literature degrees and a lousy teaching job -- we each found something we love to do and get to do every day for the rest of our lives.”
In addition to Kronholm’s inspiring message, addresses were also delivered by class Valedictorian Anatoliy A. Tereshchuk, Salutatorian Benjamin O. Senecal and Class President Matthew S. Baker.