"Class of 2013, Your Work Here is Done," PHS Principal Tells Graduates

By Greta Cuyler

When Jinwoo Chong started Princeton High School, he was nervous about his classes and whether he would make enough friends.

In a few short years, everything changed. The Class of 2013 grew up together and became a cohesive unit.

“Sooner than we think we’ll be celebrating 19th, 20th and 21st birthdays,” Chong told his classmates at PHS' graduation ceremony on Thursday. “We’ll be cramming for finals in December, filling out W-4s, renting our first ratty apartments, working our first jobs, everything like that. Because so much, just like in freshman year, is about to change.

“Comfortable as we may be right now and I’ll admit that it can be really, really scary at times and also really sad because I’m not going to see many of you after today, but that’s kind of life," he continued. "Because life is scary and life is unfair and really, really hard. But life can also be really, really beautiful and worth living if you have the courage to work at it.”

Thursday’s ceremony graduated 347 students in Princeton High School’s Class of 2013. The ceremony was held on the school’s front lawn on Moore Street and nice weather prevailed despite rain on most other afternoons during the week.

Principal Gary Snyder wished the Class of 2013 well.

“Class of 2013, your work is done here. The world awaits your spirit, your talents and your leadership,” he said.

The senior class chose three seniors to speak- Chong, Ann Sarnak and Andrew Zysk. 

Zysk told his classmates that while graduation is about celebrating major accomplishments, they shouldn’t forget about the small victories.

“Maybe you surprised yourself by how well you were able to present a foreign language project," he said. "Maybe you were able to convince your English teacher that you actually have a deep understanding of the text. Maybe someone actually laughed at your generally disapproved and underrated math puns. Maybe you made it through four years of Princeton High School without ever falling down on the stairs.”

Chong wondered about the next step in life and pondered the PHS motto, “Live to Learn, Learn to Live.”

“Are we ready?" he asked. "I’m 17, a bunch of you are 18 and I think some of you are 19. Like many things in our lives, most of us probably have no idea, even now. Honestly, I don’t know if I’m ready and probably won’t know until it happens. But that’s just part of the adventure, that’s why it’s worth living. Perhaps that realization is what really prepares us, just that moment when you realize you don’t know what’s going to happen to you. Anything could happen. And maybe that’s what 'learning to live' actually means."