Superintendent Evan Bishop encouraged members of the class of 2026 at Hopkinton High School to keep learning, evolving and growing during graduation exercises Friday evening.

Speakers at the ceremony touched on the importance of growth as well as the gratitude they felt about their time at HHS during addresses to the audience gathered at David Hughes Stadium.

Class president Kaitlyn Wilson said she wished time had moved more slowly so that she and her classmates could appreciate the small moments. She also noted that graduation was not simply a celebration of achievements but also a time to show gratitude to family, friends and all who supported the class members along their K-12 journey.

As freshmen “not known for our maturity,” the students grew over time, Wilson said, with each person contributing to the HHS environment.

“We traded in our crayons for textbooks, recess for study halls and cubbies for college applications,” she said.

As graduation approached, Wilson said, she realized how much she missed by being consumed by a routine, fears of falling behind and “constantly moving from one place to the next.”

Instead of dwelling on lost opportunities, however, Wilson encouraged the class of 2026 to recognize all the progress they made and the way they have impacted others.

“You may be surprised that the person you once were would admire the person you’ve become,” Wilson said.

Bishop noted that this is the first graduating class he oversaw both as principal and now superintendent.

He said he vividly remembered the students as eighth graders, recalling, “Frankly, you had a bit of a reputation.”

That reputation included descriptions like “loud, energetic, opinionated, a little mischievous, occasionally dramatic, but never boring,” Bishop said.

Bishop said he has twins at home displaying similar traits and he hoped his children grew into the same type of “thoughtful, resilient and impressive young adults” as this year’s graduates.

Added Bishop: “That same energy that kept teachers and principals on their toes became school spirit, and the same strong opinions became leadership.”

He said “growth” is the word that came to mind when he thought of the class of 2026.

“I’ve watched you become confident in yourselves. I’ve found students once quiet find their voice, navigate pressure and support and lean on one another in difficult times,” he said.

The superintendent assured graduates that trying to figure out who they want to become is a lifelong process that “never really ends.” Changes in plans and priorities are good things, Bishop said, and some of the greatest opportunities will occur when unexpected paths are taken.

“Your goal should always be to keep growing to become the best version of yourselves,” Bishop said. He thanked the students for allowing him to grow alongside of them and said, “Be kind to one another, be positive and keep smiling.”

Valedictorian Jenny Huang encouraged her classmates to always have the courage to step into the unknown.

She started her comments by listing numbers such as 1,374 days, 4,810 hours and 280,000 minutes, describing the students’ time at HHS.

“But none of the numbers define who we are and where we are going next,” Huang said. Unlike numbers, she said, life is filled with uncertainties.

The valedictorian thanked family, friends, teachers, advisors, coaches and all the people who gave students the encouragement and resources to “pursue our full potential and the courage to act knowing we were never alone.”

Huang acknowledged that the future can be frightening but urged her classmates to choose a path and “give it a shot” no matter the odds of failing.

“Let us leave this place with unrelenting grace, unapologetic courage and unconditional pride in what we choose to believe in,” she said.

Returning to numbers, Huang said the class with 333 members has unique talent and perspectives and also is “one diverse yet inseparable class.”

Interim principal Justin Pominville described the graduating students as “uniquely themselves,” recalling how a middle school teacher said, “Good luck. This is quite a group,” when they transitioned from eighth grade to high school.

He said, “You have proven to be just that — quite a class.”

Pominville encouraged the graduates to “find your team” and “not let labels close doors.”

Instead, he urged them to approach relationships with open minds and a chance to grow.

“I’m proud to share you with the rest of the world,” he said.

Class officers Wilson, Andy Li, Ellie Power and Madi Jacomme presented gifts to class advisors Elizabeth Roach and Jessica Karner and announced that the yearbook is dedicated to Bishop.

The class gift this year is a fund to cover costs for senior events for students who might otherwise not be able to participate because of financial hardship.

Wilson was named winner of the Marion T. Harris Award, presented to a student who exemplifies the longtime educator’s personal qualities, including leadership, academic achievement and student involvement.

The HHS band, directed by Craig Hay, provided music, and a group of graduates performed the Fleetwood Mac song “Landslide” during the ceremony.

HHS CLASS OF 2026 GRADUATES
Shahira Abdelgawad
Arshia Aggarwal
Devanshi Agrawal
Tory Ahlstrom-Hall
Caleb Altman
Kayden Anderson
Keegan Anderson
Dylan Andreola
Umayr Ansari
Caroline Arthur
Geriot Augustin
Zacharia Awan
Sanvi Ayachitam
Mohamed-Amine Baba
Ruth Baker
Karthik Balamurugan
Lila Balster
Sophie Barbosa
Gabriel Barreuther
Mason Barros
Devya Batra
Shelby Beaudet
Ryan Behrens
Esther Bei
Anjali Bhattacharyya
Thomas Blangeard
Trevor Blinn
Syeda-Shumail Bokhari
Nishant Bommu
Neel Bose
William Boucher
Alison Boyer
Hannah Bradford
Gloria Braha
Raegan Breen
Nathan Bruce
Roman Bryan
Alyssa Budden
Meaghan Burdulis
Lean Augusto Burg
Abigail Burke
Anna Burke
Lauren Burnie
Aaron Butkus
Anabelle Castoreno
Tzu-Yun Chang
Keith Charlton
Aila Chase
Jesse Chen
May Chen
Kunwer Chhatwal
Nipun Chittuluru
Gavin Cho
Yash Chopra
Taylor Clancy
Alexandra Clarke
Ryan Click
Michael Collazo
Erica Colon Nivar
Andrew Cooper
Jonah Corbett
Claudia Cuenca Garrido
Riley Curtin
Ruchi Dave
Daniel Davenport
William De Mello
Cory DeCosta
Carina Deitz
Katerina DellaCioppa
Ava DeLong
Darren DesMarais
Alison Desmond
Jack Desrochers
Namn Deswal
Sofia Dhayal
Nathan Dickinson
Quintin Dolski
Thomas Donahue
Julianna Dorfman
Charlize Drucker
Vivienne Drucker
Sofia Dunne
James DuPont
Mikaela Duran
Zachary Edmond
Emily Evans
Kaelyn Faber
Iago Ferreira
Nicolas Ferreyra
Mary Finnegan
Sean Finnegan
Thomas Fitzgerald
Madeline Fitzpatrick
Georgia Flynn
Emerson Foster
Ella Fowler
Katelyn Gaughan
Arav Gavade
Connor Geshwiler
Avi Ghosh
Lilly Goldweber
Isabella Gomez
Jackson Gonzalez
Jatin Gootykase
Anthony Gordon
Samarth Gowda
William Grady
Emilia Graham
Alyson Green
Ashley Gronbach
Evan Gronemeyer
Sriram Guni
Pranad Reddy Guntireddygari
Saanvi Gupta
Zubedah Gwayambadde
Lila Harper
Jack Heaton
Nicholas Heaton
Myles Heavey
Hailey Hedberg
Joseph Henley
Christos Higgins
Jackson Hinchliffe
Julia Hoffmaster
Leah Hong
Jonathan Houk
Jianing Huang
Lina Hutto
Elise Jacomme
Madeleine Jacomme
Aman Jain
Lucey Jean
Joshua Jones
Mabel Jones
Daniel Jun
Chavdar Kamenarov
Emerson Keller
Ciara Kelly
Kaylee Kennedy
Benjamin Keryakes
Selma Kisija
John Knutson
Anya Kogan
Akshaya Kolluri
Kaushiki Kotagiri
Srivibhu Kotamreddy
Simrit Kukreja
Tejas Kulkarni
Pranav Lakki Reddy
Ethan Lambert
Ryan Lang
Arabella Lavigne
Zoe Le Vine
Vong Viseth Lean
Finnian Leavy
Mathieu LeCrone
Darian Leo
Andy Li
Yanyue Liao
Olivia Lim
Jaquline Chi Ching Lio
Amy Liu
John Longman
Victoria Lyadova
Miles MacFarland
Anastasia MacPherson
Grant Magargal
Padmashree Malladi
Riya Manthena
Hunter Manzo
Snigdha Reddy Marapally
Joao Mariel Procopio
Noah Martin
Davide Martini
Gwyneth McAvoy
Ashley McCann
Thomas McCarthy
Bridget McDaniel
Jamie McDonald
Colin McGowan
Quinn McHugh
Shannon McKeon
Zachory McNally
Kunaal Medhi
Sophie Meehan
Nishanth Kiran Reddy Mekala
Francisco Melon
Giuliana Mercado Borda
Marley Midkiff
Maria Mikhail
Harry Millar
Jack Miller
Kelsey Miller
Gabriella Mingace
Logan Minka
Saanvi Mittal
Dylan Molfetas
Carter Moore
Christopher Morin
Ryan Morin
Joshua Moses
Blake Murphy
John Murray
Anish Nadella
Aarush Naik
Sidharth Nair
Saanvi Nayak
Caleb Newman
Julia Nickerson
Anvitha Sai Nimmagadda
Sanjay Ninan
Maxwell Nourizadeh
Isabella Nye
Thomas O’Brien
Jason O’Connell
Mairin O’Connor
Chase O’Donnell
Maci Ober
Benjamin Ohira
Ilian Onkelinx
Evan Orenstein
Casey Owens
Caroline Ozmun
Allison Pagliocca
Emma Panarelli
Ace Parduhn
Ishan Patel
Aneesha Pathangay
Ishvani Patil
Tanmayee Patil
Blake Patterson
Gabrielle Pattie
Alli Pearson-Woodruff
Nick Peppard
Calvin Perryman
Patrice Petit Frere
Owen Picard
Alex Piccioli
Juan Porto Gutierrez
Ellie Power
Tarvika Pratty
Emma Prisco
Kiera Pritchard
Gurveer Puar
Syed-Bilal Quadri
Neya Rajasingh
Kaesha Rajgor
Nikhita Ravi
Abran Rayen
John Resnick
Teagan Resteghini
Neil Rhodes
Jordyn Richard
Payton Richard
Alexandra Riesenberger
Claire Ristau
Carter Robillard
Logan Rockhold
Taegan Ronan
Cadyn Rosendale
Isabella Rottas
Alper Rozy
Alyssa Ruggles
Qaiser Saad
Meri Sahakyan
Abhishek Sakthi Kannan
Mateo San Agustin Alonso
Paarth Sasan
Madhavendra Saxena
Levin Schuster
Lilliana Schwartz
Gavin Scott
Samantha Seitz
Shriyanka Senthilkumaran
Aryan Shah
Syed Shah
Arhan Shrivastava
Vaagmi Shukla
Sasha Shulman
Ronan Siglin
Ella Snyder
Keira Souza
Jake Strother
Connor Sullivan
Parker Sweeney
Sruthi Tadaka
Noah Taksen
Ella Tedstone
Arjun Tenneti
Harshil Thakkalapally
Ronan Thapa
Kendall Tom
Joshua Tomasino-Steuer
Chloe Tumbleton
Amrutha Uppala
Ishita Urs
Bentai Vacha
Mohit Vallurupalli
Mayson Valutkevich
Landon Van Buren
Lila VanBeek
Eleanor VanDeusen
Stephanie Vaughn
Harshith Veerareddygari
Rithikaa Vigneshwaran
Aishwarya Vijay
Gesilene Vitoria
Gavin Vogel
Riddhisha Vyas
Ariv Waje
Crystal Wang
Tianxin Wang
Madhav Warrier
Natalie Waxman
Sadie Wein
Kailee West
Lilly Weston
Sofiah Wightman Kraus
Kaitlyn Wilson
Tenley Winn
Haasini Yarram
YeSeo Yoo
Timofei Zakharov
Aleksandra Ziu
Emil Zulfugarov