Retiring teacher to Portsmouth grads: ‘Live with courage and joy’

PHS awards diplomas to 187 members of the Class of 2018

By Jim McGaw
Posted 6/9/18

PORTSMOUTH — Portsmouth High School English teacher Julie Bisbano urged members of the Class of 2018 to think critically, go with their gut, be a dissenting voice when necessary and live …

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Retiring teacher to Portsmouth grads: ‘Live with courage and joy’

PHS awards diplomas to 187 members of the Class of 2018

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — Portsmouth High School English teacher Julie Bisbano urged members of the Class of 2018 to think critically, go with their gut, be a dissenting voice when necessary and live “with courage and joy” wherever life’s path takes them.

It was a bittersweet moment for Ms. Bisbano, the guest speaker at commencement exercises on a sunny and warm Friday night on the PHS baseball field. A former student at PHS, she’s retiring at the end of the year after nearly three decades as a teacher.

She began her remarks by urging seniors to never let anyone count them out.

“If you were a tiny girl with long hair, glasses and Tourette’s in the 1960s who liked to read Nancy Drew, Encyclopedia Brown, Heidi, and anything else you could get your hands on, you’d find it hard to believe you could be here at this moment,” Ms. Bisbano said. “But here is that girl! She’s a little sassy, and was told she’d never make it in education. I guess that professor was wrong!”

Ms. Bisbano said while she had no wisdom to share with students, she did know a few things. “I know that no one is entitled to anything; we all have to work, and so many of you know and live that each day. You are thinkers, you go with your gut but you’re not too impulsive. You live in and for the moment,” she said.

She also told students to “live with courage and joy” — a motto she had carved on a brick that sits near the school’s flagpole. 

“Be courageous in standing up for those who need your educated voice. And, live your life seeing the joy in the small victories, opportunities, and the just plain wonder of this world. Approach life with your natural curiosity, and with the energy of a child,” she said.

Students were also urged to never be jealous of others’ success. “Celebrate with them and you will increase your joy tenfold,” Ms Bisbano said. “And, always choose to challenge yourself, because all learning starts with fear and frustration, and that is eminently OK — although it does make a lot of students mad at first!”

Students should also set aside time for contemplation, she said. “As my grandfather always said, ‘Try to remember that you are a human BEing, not a human DOing.’Be sure that in all the craziness of life, you take a little time to reflect,” Ms. Bisbano told seniors.

Ms. Bisbano ended her speech by singing the lyrics to a 2014 song by pop singer Taylor Swift, as the crowd cheered loudly: “If anybody gives you a hard time, remember: So when ‘the players gonna play, play, play, play, play and the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake. Shake it off, shake it off, mm hmm, shake it off!”

Students take to the podium

Mariana McManus, the Class of 2018’s vice-president, praised Ms. Bisbano for her dedication to the school, both as a teacher and student.

“No matter what context PHS students have been fortunate enough to interact with Ms. Bisbano in, it is undoubtable that her unique, vibrant, and creative perspective on life, academics, literature, artistic expression, and, teaching, have left all of her students truly better off for having known her,” she said.

The two senior graduation speakers were Noah Gramitt, selected by classmates; and Maura Driscoll, chosen by faculty and administration.

Mr. Gramitt’s speech, full of inside jokes that drew howls of laughter from classmates, recounted how “weird” his four years at PHS felt. It didn’t start well — freshman year “sucked,” he said — but he resolved to make new connections with fellow students and faculty.

“I was a late bloomer; forgive my language, but I felt like a wet spaghetti noodle in a world full of fettuccine alfredo,” he said. “It was even more awkward when people like my best friend Ezra Leary had his voice drop at 3 years old. But that was the year that I decided I would go out of my way to start meeting new people, regardless of how ‘noodley’ I felt.”

He ended his speech by quoting a line from his favorite TV show, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” and telling classmates to embrace the weirdness. 

“The character Frank Reynolds, played by Danny Devito, remarked after a life-altering change of events, ‘I don’t know how many years on this Earth I got left, but I’m gonna get real weird with it.’ Thank you to the Class of 2018, here’s to all the years we got left, and here’s to being weird!”

In her speech, Ms. Driscoll told classmates they should never be afraid of failure, so that can often stymy them from pursuing new opportunities. 

“While the community should be appreciated and emphasized, there is a fine line between an accepting community and ‘the group,’” she said. “Social conformity is much more powerful then we like to believe and it can be easy to get lost in worrying about your reputation within society.”

Ms. Driscoll, a member of the PHS track team, said getting through life is a lot like running a 3,000-meter race: “When you get to only the second lap of seven and a half and your legs already start to die, you must turn to your mind to finish the race. The mind can overpower any physical hardship, but only if you allow it to. Just remember, you’re stronger than you think you are. So Class of 2018, let’s finish the race! “

Class accomplishments

John Stack, senior class president, listed the numerous accomplishments by the Class of 2018.

“Just look at how much we have accomplished in the past four years: best in state on the science NECAP, numerous athletic state titles and deep playoff runs, countless individual scholastic awards, numerous art and music accomplishments, ranked fifth in the state for Pennies for Patients, and Blue Chair Productions even made a movie!” he said. “If we were able to do all of this in just four short years, then the future surely looks bright.”

In his opening remarks, PHS Principal Joseph Amaral told seniors, “You will succeed, but failure is possible. Learn from your mistakes. Own them and turn them into a positive.”

School Committee Chairwoman Terri Cortvriend urged graduates to keep making social connections as they go forward. “Challenge yourself to leave your comfort zone when it comes to meeting new people,” she said, ”The world needs you to be an open-minded, global citizen.”

Her words were echoed by Superintendent Ana Riley, whose number-one piece of advice for seniors was to “stay in touch with each other and look out for one another; stay connected.”

Seniors joined the PHS band for one last performance of “Stars and Stripes Forever,” directed by Ted Rausch. Members of the PHS Combined Chorus did the same on “No Day But Today,” directed by Shawna Gleason.

Lexi Caron, class secretary, led the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem was sung by her classmate, Molly Madden.

Portsmouth High School

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