Speakers at the Hopkinton High School graduation ceremony Friday in the HHS athletic center emphasized the importance of time. Members of the class of 2025 also were encouraged to hold on to their individuality and take risks as they set off into a challenging world.

Class president Ash Sridhar thanked his family and teachers for their role in shaping students into who they are today. Sridhar described his classmates as “kind, supportive and ambitious individuals” and acknowledged that there is not a single message he could give that would capture the full scope of their journey through high school.

“Humans, like fingerprints, are beautifully and unequivocally unique,” he said.

He then spoke about time, the 9.3 million minutes of life the students have experienced, with 2.1 million minutes of that as high schoolers. With the brain’s very limited capacity to retain information, Sridhar said there were about 350 hours of high school that defined their lives.

The class president told a story about two young monks, one of whom carried everything in his backpack to school and never cleared it out. By fifth period, he said, the monk was feeling the heaviness of the load.

The wise monk advised that hanging on to what was weighing him down would persist in burdening him. Sridhar said, “Humans are better at hanging on to negative memories that drag us down than the positive ones that empower us. … What’s still in your backpack ready to be unpacked?”

He also quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail behind.”

Sridhar encouraged his classmates to use their limited time wisely, as well as challenge the status quo and redefine it.

“Failure is never a permanent condition,” he said. “Even Icarus as he plummeted from the sky laughed. … The fall means you once flew. When the wind picks up, don’t fear the fall, because if you’ve flown once, you can always fly again.”

Superintendent Carol Cavanaugh, who is retiring June 30, acknowledged that she and HHS Principal Evan Bishop, who will succeed her, are in a sense, graduating as well.

She said that because of their education in the district, graduates have a strong foundation in academics and social/emotional fortitude that they can commit to a meaningful life.

Cavanaugh reminded the students that they will be responsible for the world they are inheriting.

She said they are reaching adulthood during extraordinary times facing not just one catastrophic event or challenge.

“The world seems to be standing on the precipice of profound shifting,” Cavanaugh noted, giving examples of the climate sounding alarms, technology reshaping what it means to be human, rising inequality and a stormy political landscape.

Cavanaugh said in high school 40 years ago, she read books by Ray Bradbury including “Fahrenheit 451” that warned of a society that stifles “intellectual freedom and critical thinking” and where technology manipulates people.

“It’s messy,” she said of the world graduates are facing. Cavanaugh said she is not looking at it from a point of despair but rather “out of hope infused with confidence” that the class of 2025 could meet those challenges.

The superintendent also spoke about artificial intelligence and technology, saying it can be embraced but should not supplant “our thinking, our intellect, or curiosity, our ability to create or our humanity.”

She quoted a newspaper essay that addressed AI not being able to replicate a person’s human-ness or ‘me-ness.’ She urged graduates to define their own me-ness, cling to their humanity and make choices between “fear and boldness, passivity and action and disrespect and civility.”

Cavanaugh concluded by saying, “I’m confident knowing our collective futures are in your hands. I wish you the very best, and I’m counting on you.”

Valedictorian Dylan Striek said he looked to Chat GPT for speech ideas and got metaphors about climbing mountains, planting seeds and even comparing high school to a bagel.

He described high school as “weird,” but also comprised of unique, small moments that helped “make us who we are.”

Striek said although students all had individual experiences, they did not happen without the support of family and friends. He encouraged his peers to spend time with their loved ones this summer and said he was “proud to be on this timeline with you.”

Class officers Mollie Muldoon (vice president), Dhruv Shah (treasurer) and Ava Carboni (secretary) presented gifts to class advisors Kristen Murphy and Connor Zanini and thanked previous advisor Doug Levitt.

They announced a class gift of custom umbrellas for the outside eating area as well as a signed class flag.

Also during the ceremony, Holly Paharik received the Marion T. Harris Award. The honor, named after a longtime Hopkinton educator, is given to a student who exemplifies Harris’ personal qualities, including academic achievement and student involvement in clubs and athletics.

Cavanaugh and Bishop were presented gifts, and the yearbook was dedicated to the outgoing superintendent. Music was performed by the HHS band under the direction of Craig Hay. A group of seniors also presented a musical number.

Bishop concluded the speech portion by thanking Cavanaugh and reflecting on how he and this class “grew up together” since his arrival in the district in 2013.

Bishop noted a parent presented him with artwork depicting “Oh, the Places You’ll Go,” featuring significant parts of town. He said the gift inspired him to write a poem for the ceremony.

His poem included several students by name and some apparent inside jokes, and it concluded with the following that encapsulated some of the themes of the speeches.

“So grad, go chase the sun.
This may seem like the end.
But it’s only just begun.
Remember to always keep smiling like no other.
Be positive, be curious and be kind to one another.
Here’s to the moments, both big and small.
To the journeys ahead, give it your all.
I will miss you and HHS no doubt.
Hopkinton’s class of 2025, peace out.”

Following is a list of graduates, with class officers and Student Council members listed first.

Ashwath Sridhar
Molly Muldoon
Ava Carboni
Dhruv Shah
Veer Bhatia
Ashley Callery
Owen Champlin
Ryan Diune
Natalie Nguyen
Elise O’Brien
Savannah Rivera
Caroline Roleke
Isha Sinha
Alina Zhu

Raquel Abraham
Zoe Adams
Pakhi Agrawal
Rodney Aguiar Rangel Filho
Saniyyah Ahmed
John Anderson
Daniel Applebaum
Adriana Aquino
Cameron Arnold
Sean Baker
William Baker
Daniel Barrientos-Alvarado
Brady Barros
Marco Battelli
Ashley Beattie
Zachary Beauchemin
Marc Beauvais
Matthew Beauvais
Brendan Beck
Esha Bennet
Matthew Bernardin
Maria Sofia Besana
Suhas Bharthepude
Anish Biligere
Fatima Bokhari
Mary Boothroyd
Daniel Boulos
Rachel Bouvier
Sarah Brennan
Janine Brentana
Sean Brown
Caleb Brum Beloni
Joshua Brum Beloni
Riccardo Buquicchio
Kylie Burke
Nathaniel Burns
Christopher Burton
Ian Byatt
Tyler Callery
Jackson Canales
Cameron Capello
Megan Cappetta
Olivia Carrazza
Bridgid Cavanaugh
Annika Chan
Garima Chauhan
Anna Churchill
Zackary Clark
Maya Clement
Raymond Collins
Dylan Comiskey
Lene Cott
Eva Crane
Annaleigh Crantz
Donovan Dacey
Patrick Dacey
Samuel Dadagian
Ethan Davan
Anthony De Leon Flores
Kole DeFazio
Olympia Deisenroth
Anna DeMarco
Jacob Desilets
Lorelei Devlin
Olivia DiGioia
Gianna DiPietro
Aryaa Dixit
Akarsh Doki
Jacob Dold
Mary-Kate Dougherty
Anna Duffy
Grace Dunne
Josh Ekstrom
Jessica Fan
Atticus Faucher
Juliet Findlen
Ella Fischesser
Evan Fitzpatrick
Matthew Foti
Cecilia Franks
Giovanna Freitas
Connor Fryer
Jake Garron
Chloe Gerber
Isabel Gerber
Ilian Glace
Madelyn Godfroy
Jack Golden
Reese Goldweber
Jaideep Gone
Victor Hugo Gonzaga Da Silva
Cooper Goodman
Amanda Gooley
Kyle Gooley
Meghan Grady
Malia Grant
Jonathan Graziano
Fotini Grontzos
Kais Guessab
Mahnoor Haider
Sara Hakansson
Ciaran Halliday
Maeve Hanscom
Miyu Hasegawa
Norah Heling
Victoria Henkle
Charlotte Holden
Catherine Hopkins
Josephine Hopkins
Caden Houlihan
Ryan Hoyt
Nathan Hung
Reese Hunter
Nolan Hwang
Dash Ijoor
Charles Jackson
Steven Jackson
Krishiv Jaganathan
Siya Jagdale
Akshay Jana
Ragav Jeevanantham
Brayden Jochim
Mia Jochum
Theodore Johnson
Sahruday Jonnalagadda
Aarushi Kamra
Armaan Kamra
Avary Kang
Zoe Kasper
Margot Kaye
Quinn Keeler
Owen Kelley
Jack Kelly
James Kelly
Jordan Kenney
Pranamya Keshkamat
Mansa Khambay
Maxim Khassanov
Chase Kincaid
Emerson King
Hastig Konapala
Atoll Shreyas Konda
Ashwin Kondreddy
Anagha Kulkarni
Anish Kulkarni
Ananya Kumar
Shrija Kumar
Ayah Kurdi
Prapti Kuvadia
Ilias Lahlou
Goutham Lakki Reddy
Hailey LaMachia
Naomi Lambert
Aurora Lavigne
Katherine Leccese
Gabriel Lee
Simon Leibowitz
Stephen Leighton
Gabriella Lesica
Sarah Levandosky
Samantha Levin
Gavin Liptak
Camilla Longman
Thomas Lotti
Sofia Lucidi
Katelyn Lucy
Shiqiao Luo
Lucia MacFarland
Satya Vardhan Madhavarapu
Piyusha Majgaonkar
Geetha Malisetty
Caitlin Mangan
Gavin Mansur
James Marcinowski
Lila Mato
Jacob Mavashev
Liam McCabe
Carlos McCarthy
Juliana McCarthy
Briggs McEachern
Macy McKibben
Maria Clara Medieros
Kavanagh Mee
Ela Mehra
Avery Michaud
Finley Mick
Megan Midkiff
Taylor Millard
Hailey Minka
Saahil Minocha
Connor Minogue
Frederick Montalto
Stehen Moody
Roselyn Morales
Alexander Morse
Laura Mosher
Emily Musgrave
Emma Muzzy
Anoushka Nair
Ameen Najib
Ambika Nambiar
Dhriti Nekkalapudi
Akahri Nelson
Anthony Nicolazzo
Neha Ninan
Lucas Nogueira
Claire Nordling
Anna Noroian
Samuel O’Brien
Lily O’Hara
Peter O’Loughlin
Holly Paharik
Eegan Pandian
Aditya Pandiya
Kyra Papariello
Aditya Patel
Nicholas Pedroli
Aadi Pendse
Lucas Pereira
Teagan Perry
Emily Peterson
Ian Peterson
Christian Petrie
Alexavier Pilacik
Hansika Pitchuka
Eva Plasterer
Samuel Porter
Tarun Karthick Prasanna
David Priefer
Morgan Prophet
Rabiya Quadri
Pratham Rai
Surya Raja Amudhan
Ishan Ramesh
Kaizar Rangwala
Harriet Rankin
Ayaan Rao
Madison Recupero
Maeve Reilly
Michaela Reilly
Tanisha Renjith
Julian Rivard
William Rockwell
Caroline Rowe
Dylan Ruff
William Rush
Cade Sanborn
Avery Sawyer
Avery Scanlon
Peyton Schmidlin
Maya Schnur
Madalyn Schofield
Ioanna Selibas
Syesha Sen
Pranav Sheelvant
Rishit Shekhar
Justice Sierra
Mark Silva
Owen Silva
Yasiyn Silva
Mitchell Simulis
Dayanara Solano
William Spinale
Nithilan Sridharan
Elyse Srodawa
Zoe Srodawa
Zachary Stacey
Kaylee Steir
Alexander Stephan
Eva Stokes
Jonah Stone
Dylan Striek
Jake Strother
Itza Suarez Vargas
Logan Sullivan
Srihitha Sunkara
Maeve Swab
Jillian Swerdlick
Nevaeh Sky Tamba
Matthew Tannenbaum
Nicole Tedstone
Pascaline Tetteh
Aubrey Thomas
Izael Thomas
Poorvi Tikoo
Mateo Tomas
Cameron Trendel
Surina Tripathi
Konstantina Tzouganatos
Arin Upalekar
Laine Valutkevich
Necalli Vela-Garcia
Anjana Venkatram
Abhishek Vijay
Tanush Vuda
Aksharasai Vuppala
Barbara Wagner
Tyler Walkiewicz
Emily Watson
Maya Weil-Meggison
Karissa West
Christian Wheeler
Cullan Wickramasuriya
Cooper Willadsen
Lavonte Wilson
Parker Winn
Elsa Woodbury
Benjamin Yang
Srivar Yerramsetti
M Qasim Zaidi
Gabrielle Zeigler
Ally Zhang
Kevin Zhu
Vera Zieger