Abington Principal's Last Graduation ... As Principal

Wednesday night's graduation ceremony at Abington Senior High School must have felt different for principal Jeffrey Fecher. 

Fecher seemed calm as he entered Schwarzman Stadium. As he took the customary lap around the track with the students and faculty, he was smiling, and wearing a goofy set of plastic sunglasses. 

Again, calm for the bittersweet event. It was his fifth and final graduation as the school's principal.

Fecher will ultimately replace retiring assistant superintendent Leigh Altadonna [see that story here]. That means a different seat for next year’s graduation … and probably no speech.

Fecher, speaking to the students, said he will always remember the Class of 2013.

Here’s a bit of his speech: 

Class of 2013, you have taught me the importance of staying true to your values. You have taught me this through your countless hours of dedicated service to your community and communities abroad … you helped to create a culture of service and staked claim to being the first class, in total, to achieve the 1 million hour milestone.

Class of 2013 will remain close to my heart for many reasons. I will always remember this class as my last graduating class as principal of Abington Senior High School. I never realized that my future would include one of the greatest experiences of my life, being principal of Abington Senior High School … You need to follow what is in your heart to become the person who you truly are. I could stand here and provide you a list of many philosophers and writers who said the same thing more eloquently, but I feel that you need to hear it from someone plain and simple. Follow your heart.

After the ceremony, Fecher stood in front of the stage, looking out at the students. Several faculty members and students stopped by to congratulate him.

“Another successful commencement,” one faculty member said. “It was beautiful.”

On preparing his remarks for this year’s commencement ceremony, Fecher said he strayed from his routine. And he said next year, watching the graduation from a different seat, will really be an adjustment for him.

“I tend to do a lot of reading before anything like that, and this year, I really just went by my experiences and tried to speak from my heart,” he said. “Rather than relying on looking at literature and different philosophers, I really wanted to just speak from the heart.” 

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Check back later today for more photos from this year's graduation.