Graduation for Family, Diversity and Faith at Danbury High School

Danbury High School showed off its senior class during their graduation ceremony Wednesday, with one graduate singing a song, a second celebrating a renaissance of culture and a third touting family.

What Valedictorian Edward Alexander Smierciak had in common with Nicholas Carlsen and Jessica Cundari was enthusiasm for Danbury High School.

Carlsen, who like Cundari, had to audition to speak at graduation, and one of his comments was the high school gave him the courage to audition. Carlsen is planning to attend Carleton College in Minnesota, he said, because it has a great international studies program.

"I have never had as much pride in anything as I have as a Danbury High School student and team member," Carlsen said.

Cundari rewrote the lyrics to a Kenny Chesley song with fellow senior Jacob Shuster for a class project, and the teacher liked it so much, he insisted she audition for a part in graduation.

"We collaborated in writing it," Cundari said. "Kenny Chesley is from Tennessee, and he wrote about how much it meant to him. It will always be his home, he said. Danbury will always be my home."

Cundari is planning to attend Florida State University, and she visited it and said it is very welcoming. She can't wait to start.

Ted Smierciak focused his comments on family, saying he found a new family for himself in sports and among classmates, and as each student makes his or her way through life, they will create new families. If they learn to work with other people, they will always have family to celebrate their victories.

"We're moving apart from our parents and siblings," Smierciak said, "but a family is anything from a sports team to a group of friends."

Smierciak is planning to attend the University of Notre Dame, and he arrives having been a life-long fan of Notre Dame football.

Among the hundreds of parents celebrating at Danbury High School last night was Tanya P. Crawford, whose daughter Myeisha Boyd graduated and is aiming at the University of Hartford.

"She loved Danbury High School. At one time or another she participated in cheerleading, in lacrosse, on the swim team, and she's a proud member of the Conn Cap Upward Bound Program," Crawford said. "I am so proud of her. She is ready to start a new life at the University of Hartford."