MONROE, MI — Monroe High School just gained 302 alumni.
The MHS Class of 2026 graduated Friday, May 29, during a two-hour, outdoor ceremony led by Steve Pollzzie, MHS principal, and Andrew Shaw, Monroe Public Schools’ superintendent.
Sixteen students earned senior scholar ranking, the school’s highest academic honor. Two of the scholars, Joshua Bedner and Addison Bressler, addressed the class.
Bedner asked his classmates to have hope for the future and to enjoy life.
“Follow what you’re passionate about, live your best life and stop worrying so much about what may happen. Focus on what is happening right now in your life that you can control and improve,” Bedner said. “Live the life that you feel you are called to live. Live in the present and believe that life will work out as long as you constantly try and improve.”
Bressler talked about childhood summers spent catching fireflies and putting them in jam jars.
“I suffocated their beauty because I couldn’t accept them to be fleeting, and I think graduation feels a little like that. We are standing in the middle of something beautiful, knowing it can’t last forever,” Bressler said. “Growing up asks us to do something difficult: To love moments deeply without trying to trap them in a jar. We can’t stay in high school forever because life isn’t an endless summer. But, maybe the point was never to stop time. Maybe the point was to notice it. To breathe in extra deep and just enjoy it.”
Spanish teacher Katelyn Martin gave the commencement address. Martin is retiring at the end of this school year.
“You do not have to have your entire life figured out right now,” Martin told the class. “The truth is life is rarely a straight path. It twists, it changes, it surprises you. Sometimes your greatest opportunity comes from the plans that failed. Sometimes the thing you thought was the end turned out to be a new beginning. And sometimes, growth happens in moments that seem uncomfortable or uncertain. But, this class has already proven something important: You know how to keep going. You’ve learned through challenges. You’ve adapted. You’ve supported one another and you kept showing up. That matters.”
“Your worth is not determined by a title, a paycheck, followers, likes or whether your family can brag about you on Facebook. Your worth comes from who you are: your character, your integrity, your resilience and your compassion,” Martin said.
Angel Gallegos-Castellanos, Class of 2026 president, gave the farewell address.
“As this chapter ends and another begins, we have to wrap our head around the fact that this is one of the hardest lessons we will ever learn in life: Life is not just a straight road with no distractions, nor is it the prettiest road we will encounter. People will change; places will change; we ourselves will change. The versions of ourselves we thought we had become will no longer fit who we are growing into. And, that’s OK,” Gallegos-Castellanos said. “As we leave this high school and go into the unknown, I hope you remember that it is OK to restart. It is OK to outgrow people, goals and versions of yourself.”
An honorary MHS diploma was presented to the family of classmate Elizabeth Jacobsen. Elizabeth, 14, died in an accident in August 2022.
Other Monroe County graduations
— Contact reporter Suzanne Nolan Wisler at swisler@monroenews.com.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Monroe High School bids farewell to class of 2026
Reporting by Suzanne Nolan Wisler, The Monroe News / The Monroe News
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