Friends of Vocational Technical & Agricultural Education,
We are most pleased to share wonderful piece of history from June of 2014! The President of the United States gave the keynote address to the 307 seniors from Worcester Technical High School. The DCU center was filled to capacity, and I had the honor to be in the audience on that amazing day.
President Barack Obama ensured that Worcester Tech seniors would have a graduation unlike any other in the history of Worcester Public Schools. He not only gave the keynote address: (https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/06/11/remarks-president-worcester-technical-high-school-commencement-ceremony), he presented each of the 307 graduates with their diploma and a personal handshake.
He remained on the stage through the entire ceremony and did not leave until the last graduate had exited the DCU center. A memory that every graduate and all in attendance will never forget, including me.
And 10 years later, Worcester Tech remains the high school of choice in Worcester. Be sure to check a “special picture” below of Dr. Sheila Harrity the former Principal of Worcester Tech who was named “National High School Principal of the Year”, and Edwin B. (Ted) Coghlin Jr. He championed the construction of Worcester Technical High School. As chairman of the Worcester Vocational Schools Advisory Board and president of the Skyline Technical Fund, he secured over $4 million in donations, which helped leverage more than $20 million in matching funds.
David
10 years later: Recalling President Obama’s delivery of wisdom and credibility to Worcester Tech
Mike Elfland/Worcester Telegram & Gazette
After 12-plus years of schooling, the big day had arrived. Graduation.
Many of the 307 seniors at Worcester Technical High School were nervous about getting their diplomas. The sense of accomplishment came with the realization that the proud, long-envisioned walk across the graduation stage would involve a handshake they would never forget. A handshake from one of the most influential people in the world.
"I remember feeling really nervous and giving myself a pep talk to make sure I didn’t cry while being up there," recalled Luisanna Castillo, a member of the Worcester Tech Class of 2014.
It has been 10 years since President Barack Obama ensured that Worcester Tech seniors would have a graduation unlike any other in the history of Worcester Public Schools. Obama was the main speaker at the ceremony of June 11, 2014.
It was the president’s only high school graduation speech of the year.
In a packed and buzzing DCU Center, the sitting president delivered a 26-minute speech that included wit and wisdom. He quipped that he was more interested in his own graduation’s after-party than he was in the ceremony itself. And he talked of the importance of vocational training.
“Whatever you do next, I hope you keep giving back," Obama said to the graduates. "That may mean staying in Worcester and working for one of the companies that helped train you.
"No matter what it is that you do, no matter what path you take, I want to make sure that you understand the incredible leadership that we now expect from you.”
In his words Text of President’s Obama’s speech at Worcester Tech graduation (June 11, 2014)
The appearance of the president at the graduation solidified Worcester Tech’s standing as one of the top vocational schools in the state. A year earlier, school Principal Sheila M. Harrity was named National High School Principal of the Year. Arne Duncan, the U.S. secretary of education, toured the school three months before graduation. He was impressed enough to endorse the president’s visit to the school.
It was a mysterious school assembly in March 2014 that brought the spotlight to Worcester Tech. Students were summoned to the auditorium for a major announcement. School staffers were among those who were wondering what the big news might be.
And then Harrity shared the secret with the seniors: The president of the United States will be attending your graduation. An image of Obama was shown on a big screen. The auditorium exploded with screams and applause; some students wondered if they were being pranked.
The song "Best Day of My Life" by American Authors filled the auditorium.
"I think of my initial shock upon receiving the call from the White House and the excitement I felt when announcing his visit to our students," recalled Harrity, the principal of Worcester Tech from 2006 to 2014. She was the superintendent at Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School in Fitchburg before becoming program coordinator for the Massachusetts Association of Vocational Administrators. "I also remember the sounds of helicopters hovering above the city on graduation day making sure that the president was safe."
At graduation, the president individually greeted students and public officials at every chance. Some graduates got a hug. He mentioned some by name in his speech.
Photos from the day show the president sharing exchanges and smiles with valedictorian Naomi Desilets, Class President Reginald Sarpong and Harrity, among others.
The president greeted each student as they crossed the stage to receive their diploma.
"I remember walking the stage like it was yesterday," said 2014 graduate Carlos Robles. "I recall seeing one of my favorite teachers prepare to announce my name to cross the stage, security complimenting me on the accomplishments, and then the moment you’ve anticipated the most. Shaking the president’s hand. Nerve-racking to say the least, but our handshake was met with a nice dap and brought in for a hug. That’s pretty cool: Dapped up the president."
Robles now lives in Leicester and works in real estate and youth mentoring. He and his wife, Isabel, Worcester Tech Class of 2016, have three children.
Luisanna Castillo was a teacher in Lawrence after college and is now at a community health clinic, where she does outpatient therapy. She jokes that her pep talk about not crying wasn’t very effective. She said she sobbed as she walked across the stage.
Her emotion was due in part to the appreciation of the moment. "As a daughter of immigrants and working hard to have my family feel proud of all their sacrifices to get to this point," Castillo said, "it was really rewarding and even more special to have them all there experiencing that moment with me.
"I still to this day remember an important piece from his speech that guided me to become a teacher and now a mental health clinician because he talked about how somewhere along the way someone invested in us and now it was our turn to go and invest in someone else, and that is something that I have lived by both professionally and personally."
In Worcester, presidents being the guest speaker at a graduation is not unheard of. But it’s typically at a college in the city. In 1905, Theodore Roosevelt delivered commencement addresses at both Clark University and the College of the Holy Cross. President Lyndon Johnson addressed Holy Cross graduates in 1964.
Obama arrived in Worcester at mid-afternoon June 11, landing at Worcester Regional Airport. Besides Secret Service, more than 200 law enforcement officers, from the city and beyond, were part of security efforts, at the airport, on city streets and in and around the DCU Center. The motorcade headed to downtown Worcester via Highland Street, some of which was lined by residents hoping for a look at the famous visitor. (City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. later estimated the security price tag for the city at $200,000.)
Air Force One touching down at Worcester Regional Airport was a welcomed sight for U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester. At the airport, he joined Gov. Deval L. Patrick and Mayor Joseph M. Petty in welcoming the president to the city.
Days earlier, McGovern said, he reached out to organizers in Washington to make sure that the Air Force One itinerary called for a Worcester landing, not Boston.
"You have to land it at Worcester Regional Airport," McGovern recalled telling the White House. "We are trying to promote the airport."
McGovern said his memory of the Worcester Tech graduation is mostly about the "electric" mood of the crowd at the DCU Center. Weeks later, during an unrelated meeting at the White House, the president said to McGovern, "I really enjoyed my visit to Worcester. That’s an incredible school," McGovern recalled.
A photograph of the graduation hangs in Mayor Petty’s office. It shows him, Obama, and Melinda Boone, then the superintendent of schools in Worcester.
Petty remembers: "The overall atmosphere of the graduation itself, however, was unlike anything I had ever experienced. I was impressed with the fact that President Obama stayed for the entirety of the graduation. Every student that wanted a hug got one."
David J. Ferreira
MAVA Communications Coordinator
DavidFerreira