Jessica Cavanaugh, Asiamarie Diaz, Andrew Jesus Reyes and Richard Vargas will move on to mainstream schools.
NORTHAMPTON – Small class, big fan base.
The Clarke School for Hearing and Speech yielded four graduates on Saturday, teens who are unconventional in more than one way. The small group ranged from profoundly deaf to hearing impaired and are poised to "mainstream" into public schools and beyond.
Four graduates, two male, two female, shared with a large crowd at the Helen Hills chapel on Elm Street aspirations of being a veterinarian, doctor, race car driver and as strong as Superman.
The 2011 Clarke School graduates are Jessica I. Cavanaugh; 13, if Holyoke, who will move on to Holyoke Catholic High School; Asiamarie Diaz, 14, of Hatfield, will go on to Smith Academy; Andrew Jesus Reyes, 15, of Ludlow, who will attend Ludlow High School; and Richard A. Vargas, of Cranston, R.I., who will go to East Cranston High.
The keynote speaker was Stephen J. Hopson, a profoundly deaf man who earned his pilot's license and was a Wall Street stock broker.
"People will try to stop you. And they will try. But if you're like me, you won't let them," Hopson said.