It's just approaching midnight here on June 21, 2005... Graduation Eve. It doesn't even sound right saying that we're graduating tomorrow. High School graduation is an important time in every person's life, but it represents different things for everyone. For some people, graduation simply means its time to leave Pomperaug and never come back. And that's not necessarily a bad way to look at it.

You'll never have to deal with the Pomperaug disciplinary staff ever again, you'll never have to get a pass to anywhere, never EVER have to sit through another Saturday detention, (or a Wednesday detention), you'll never have to answer the question... "Hey, where are you supposed to be?" You'll never have to listen to the traffic guard tell you that you should probably check in with the attendance office to get a little more time, 180 days in a row... You'll never have to buy another chainsaw to cut the "illegal parking" sticker off your windshield, you'll never have to take Quest, and you surely won't have to attend any more School to Career.
The idea of parking your vehicle will become the easiest task ever... never again will you have to park in the bowl, park in the tennis courts, park at the commuter lot, park at the Hilton, park on Tuttle, park in Hapken's driveway, park in Hapken's woods, triple park in the tennis courts, or park anywhere other than where you want, ever again. You'll never have to sit and watch the juniors park up top while your spot is in the bowl, you'll never have to risk suspension to get a binder from your car because you are a human being and can't always remember every book. You'll never have to sit in the PHS cafeteria EVER AGAIN. No more week-old pizza or month-old taco's, no more dollar seventy-five for an effing Gatorade. No more fifty-cent cookies, or multiple dollars for a cheese bagel. (That's right folks, its a bagel with a melted slice of cheese on it.) Never again will you walk all the way to the Powerade machine only to realize that for absolutely no reason whatsoever, you're not allowed to purchase drinks from the machine until 9:30am. Never again will you open a brand new pouch of Kool-Aid Jammers which you purchased from the school, and be forced to throw it out because some idiot freshman brought alcohol to school in a water bottle and screwed every person that brings legit beverages to school because they don't feel like paying 2 bills for a bottle of water. Never again will you have to walk up to the juice machine, see the "99 cents!" price tag on a can of Mystic juice, and put in your dollar, only to notice that the drink is labeled in the machine as $1.25 when the can specifically reads 99 cents. Say goodbye to the late bus, missing your bus, the pay phone not working, locked bathrooms, toilet bowls with more cigarette butts than water, stalls without doors, doors without locks, and sinks without knobs. I could go on forever.

For other people, graduation represents a lot more than never going to Pomperaug again. A good time to start fresh for some, a sad ending for others. Personally, I've wanted to get out of Pomperaug for years now, but it doesn't mean that I won't miss the things that have happened, the times we've all had, our friends and peers, or the teachers that actually made a difference. I surely won't forget Pomperaug Football, Chuck Drury, all the football coaches, Chris Bantz, Ms. Hilmar<3, Mr. Waugh, Mr. Bannon's requirements for entering college, Ann, Mrs. Hebert (whom I will mention is about 500 times iller than the previous woman in her position, and if you aren't nice to Mrs. Hebert than you are just a miserable individual). I also won't forget the graphics department, Mrs. Belval, or all the gangsters in the nurse's office that will cure your pains and get you out of important tests or quizzes. There are so many people that made a difference in my four years at Pomperaug and everyone else's. When it really comes down to it, there are alot of people at Pomperaug High that actually do care about you, the student, and desperately want to help you.. Not all of them, but some. I couldn't name all the people at PHS that made a difference or continue to make a difference, I can just tell you that there are a bunch of them, and that they are some pretty great people.

So, Class of 2005... as we walk across the stage tomorrow night and mark the end of our high school careers... let's remember the parts of high school that helped define who we are, and forget the petty differences that high school is so notorious for. Because after tomorrow, nothing from high school that you thought mattered, will matter - who's wearing what shirt or what hat, who's dating who, who said this about that. What it comes down to my friends, is that tomorrow night will be the last night we are together as a class, ever. It's a weird feeling that I can't seem to describe. However, I don't feel that the end of the school year means we all need to become strangers.

So here is my idea... I'm going to create a bnapoli.com Yearbook. Except this yearbook is everybody's yearbook. Envision what you would write in a yearbook if you could sign a yearbook for the entire class. If you're a student, sign the yearbook with a brief message to your classmates, peers, teachers, whoever. If you're a parent, visitor to the site, or anybody else, don't hesitate to sign our yearbook as well. Open up your email program, make the email out to brett@bnapoli.com, click this link, or use the form on the interact page, and "sign" the bnapoli.com yearbook. Don't make it too long but say what you have to say. If you'd like, include your contact information so people can get in touch with you in the future. This could be your email address, screen name, cell phone, whatever. You don't have to be a student to sign the yearbook either; this is a yearbook for everyone to sign. As people sign the yearbook, I'll post the signatures on the site for website visitors and the Class of 05 to see.

Have fun with this idea, sign the bnapoli.com yearbook for the Pomperaug High School Class of 2005.

I will see you all on the stage tomorrow night, congratulations everyone and thank you.