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Moves On

FAIRFIELD, Conn. — A four-year journey is over for 296 young Fairfielders. Thursday evening marked the official end of the 2010-11 school year with Fairfield Warde High School’s graduation. As Class of 2011 speaker Benjamin Krauss put it in his address to his classmates, that means 296 more Fairfielders have become adults.

“In short, we’ve grown up,” said Krauss. “Every one of us is a different, more mature person today than when [Headmaster James] Coyne first met with us in the auditorium in September 2007.”

Not all of them, however, were ready to leave youthful pursuits behind. After Krauss came Molly Brachfeld, the Class of 2011’s salutatorian. Brachfeld used her speech to tout the merits of the domain of Fairfield’s youth — Facebook.

She noted how the social networking site is intertwined in their lives. The Class of 2011 used Facebook to share memories, foster friendships and even plan their senior prank. But Brachfeld reminded her fellow students that it is now easier than ever to keep those bonds alive through the site.

“So today I’m not planning on saying any goodbyes or shedding any tears,” Brachfeld said. “Yes, we’ll be leaving this building behind, but we won’t be leaving each other.”

Valedictorian Alison Kirsch, however, marveled at the growth Thursday’s commencement signified. In her address, she looked all the way back to preschool graduation and how she and her 295 classmates have evolved from “girls in pretty dresses and boys in little button-up shirts” to adults “who look like Harry Potter characters” in caps and gowns.

More important, Kirsch said they’ve grown from little kids coloring within the lines to academics who begin by staring at blank sheets of paper. “Now, we begin filling those pages — whether it’s painting a picture, designing a blueprint or writing a story,” Kirsch said. “We are now creating the book of our own lives.”

Do you know any members of Fairfield Warde’s Class of 2011? Congratulate them in the comments below, and send your own graduation photos to gcanuel@thedailyfairfield.com to share them with the town. 

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