4 days ago
Oriole seniors take flight at MSD graduation, after year of dreaming big
For the new graduates at the Maryland School for the Deaf, Friday's commencement ceremony was the culmination of a year of big plans and accomplishments.
The school's theme for the past year was 'Dream Big.'
Class president Truly Austin urged her classmates to make the most of life as they move on from their time in 'this big, beautiful Deaf community' at the school.
'Go out there, enjoy it, and write that story,' Austin said through a sign language interpreter during Friday's ceremony in the school's gymnasium at its Frederick campus.
There's a map for everyone's future, and while Friday's ceremony was the end of one part of life's journey, it was the start of another, she said.
'Remember, your map is waiting for you to create,' she said.
This year's class had 24 graduates, according to Amy Mowl, the school's director of public relations.
Austin, of Mount Airy, was busy during her time at MSD.
Along with being the class president and a member of the National Honor Society, she played basketball and volleyball, was on the school's track team, and played softball as a freshman.
She will attend the University of Maryland in the fall, and major in psychology.
She knows attending college will be a change from what she's used to, but she's excited to face the challenge.
'I want to see what it's like to navigate the hearing world,' she said in an interview as she and her classmates got ready before Friday's ceremony.
Tahoe Herzig-Wilcox was another multi-sport star for the Orioles, playing football, basketball, and volleyball, as well as being a member of the National Honor Society and one of the school's Top Scholars.
He plans to major in accounting and play volleyball at Gallaudet University in the fall.
He was still processing the end of his time at MSD before Friday's ceremony, for which he was one of two student speakers, along with Austin.
'It doesn't feel real. It's kind of surreal right now. It kind of snuck up on us,' he said in an interview through an interpreter.
He said his summer would be busy with sports, attending a volleyball camp in Texas and a basketball tournament in Las Vegas.
Otherwise, he will just be getting ready for college and working to make extra money, he said.
In his speech Friday, Herzig-Wilcox urged his classmates to step outside their comfort zones as they move beyond their days at MSD.
They will make mistakes, he said, but they'll never know what they can overcome if they don't try.
'Take the shot. Try the thing that scares you,' he said.
Torriah Cunningham had attended the school since she was 4 years old.
Cunningham, from Cumberland, said she loved living in the dormitories at the school, and the friends she made there.
'Really, I have a sisterhood with a lot of these girls,' she said through an interpreter.
She plans to study early childhood education at Towson University, and wants to teach pre-kindergarten or kindergarten when she graduates.
Over the summer, she plans to visit family in Jamaica, as well as work and get ready for college.
Graduation is always a bittersweet time, saying goodbye to another class of seniors, John A. Serrano, the school's superintendent, said before the ceremony.
'Graduation never gets old to me. I look forward to it every year,' he said, speaking through an interpreter.
At the ceremony, he urged the graduates to think about where they want to be, and how to get to that point.
As the year went by, they saw their big dreams grow into accomplishments, he said.
But their dreams won't end with Friday's graduation, and they'll need confidence to make their dreams come true, he said.
Friday's commencement speaker was John Maucere, an actor and certified deaf interpreter who has appeared on television shows including 'Law & Order,' 'Southland,' and 'Pacific Blue,' and created and portrayed the character SuperDeafy in 'No Ordinary Hero: The SuperDeafy Movie,' among other credits.
He urged the graduates to pursue their goals, and accept that mistakes are how to learn in life.
'Your dreams are yours. You're not chasing other people's dreams,' Maucere said.
