The Sherman Central High School Class of 2021 held commencement exercises Friday. Melissa Lyon, Erie County Department of Health director, delivered the commencement address. Photo by David Prenatt

SHERMAN — As the Sherman Central School Class of 2021 prepared to receive their diplomas, they were urged to find their purpose and passion, surround themselves with good people, remain resilient and have a “soft place to land” when life becomes difficult.

Melissa Lyon, Erie County Department of Health director, delivered the commencement address, as raindrops fell on the graduating seniors who were seated on the Harry Brosius Field on Friday.

No one present, not graduates, families or staff, seemed to mind the rain. As school board member Teresa Guzman said, “A little rain can’t stop us. The pandemic did not stop us. Because of this pandemic, you cannot be stopped.”

Lyon, a 1991 graduate of Sherman Central School and a Sherman resident, was certainly an appropriate person to speak to the Class of 2021 about the effects of the pandemic. As director of the Health Department, it was her job to navigate the Erie community through the crisis. Very often, she said, this entailed 18-hour days. “I can tell you now that this has been the hardest work I’ve ever done,” she said.

Lyon is no stranger to hard work. Beyond her many years in th public health field, in both Chautauqua and Erie counties, she spent three years with the Peace Corps in Cameroon West Africa. “That is when my passion for public health began,” she said. “It was also when I saw that small things can have a big impact.”

She cautioned the class to surround themselves with good people, especially when under stress, “Nothing we ever do in life successfully is done alone. Find people that help you to be where you want to be and get things done.”

Lyon told the seniors that there is good stress and bad stress in life, noting that diamonds form under stress and trees grow because of the stress of the wind. However, it is important, first to acknowledge stress, she said, and then, be able to ask for help. “I learned to celebrate my smallest accomplishment,” she said. “Just showing up at the office was an accomplishment I came to celebrate.”

Lyon congratulated the seniors on how well they coped with the ever-changing demands of the pandemic. “You can face stress and be successful and be resilient,” she said.

“You are on this field toady ready for the next step. You are already resilient.”

Finally, Lyon said, a person needs to have a safe place to return to. “You need to go and do things and learn new things,” she said. “But you also need a soft spot to land.” When she was regularly working 18-hour days, Lyon said that Sherman was her soft spot.

School Principal Ann Morrison welcomed everyone to the commencement and thanked all those who “worked tirelessly to ensure that the class of 2021 has had a perfect graduation ceremony.”

Morrison noted that the seniors were born into a world of fast paced changes. “Eighteen years ago my classroom had a chalkboard, I used an overhead projector and I showed movies using a VCR” she said. “Personally, I had just gotten my first cell phone and my computer monitor and tower needed to sit on a desk”

Morrison said being born into a world of rapid change served the Seniors well when it came to the challenges of the past fifteen months. The students acquired skills that they will carry with them through adulthood and into the future, she added.

District Superintendent Michael Ginestre congratulated the seniors on their sense of independence and confidence. “Name another graduating class that went through so many changes in their Senior year,” he said. “Turn the endurance you have gained after a year of great uncertainty into something positive.”

Ginestre encouraged the graduates to have an open mind, to be creative, to show tolerance and compassion, to love their neighbors and to strive to be better every day. “Your new skills of independence, resilience and confidence can unite us once again, and bring our communities out of the pandemic stronger and better than ever,” he said. “You can do this. You are prepared to do this.”

Class Historian Haley Redlecki, Salutatorian Kayla Yokom and Valedictorian Henry Meeder spoke to classmates about hard work, how the pandemic effected their lives and about striving for and completing their goals.

Redlecki encouraged her fellow graduates to keep working hard and conquer whatever life throws their way. “Somehow we all managed to graduate, which is either a miracle or a mistake, but there’s no going back now,” she said. “Now we’re all adults who have to plan our futures, which is a lot harder than any of us thought it would be.”

Yokom advised her classmates to avoid burnout, which, she said is a massive increase in stress over the same work you have always had. “It seems in life there isn’t much concern or warning over burning out,” she said. “Everyone is always lauding working hard and rarely does anyone truly tell a person to stop. You need it.”

Yokom said that while good grades, pins and awards are amazing, those are not the things for which a person will be remembered. “You are more than just the grades you get or the awards you receive,” she said. “You will be more remembered by how you treat others and your presence than what papers and pins you receive.”

Meeder spoke about learning to adapt and to overcome obstacles through the difficulties and uncertainties of the pandemic. “This past year has been full of hard times and uncertainties, but it has shown our ability to adapat and persist in an ever changing environment.”

His senior year quote was “You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take,” Meeder said. “I encourage everyone here to abide by this philosophy and shoot for their goals.”