Naugatuck Seniors Celebrated as Accomplished Students

In September of his sophomore year, Ken Looby was looking to get more involved. 

He was already a member of the cross country team and the outdoor track team, but he wanted something more. At the suggestion of his sister, Looby looked into the ROTC program. 

"It's changed my life for the better," Looby said of the choice to join ROTC. "I noticed how I matured, how every year I took an extra step up the ladder of maturity.”

As time went on and Looby became increasingly involved in the program, he was given opportunities he wouldn't have had otherwise. One such example was a trip to the McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Army Base along with fellow ROTC students in Naugatuck, where the days started early and were filled with training, team building exercises, leadership training and little free time.

"It was a lot of fun," Looby said "and it really built up my confidence."

Looby is one of the 308 Naugatuck High School students who turned their tassels and graduated Monday evening during a ceremony on the school’s football field. Among all of the students donned in their caps and gowns on this sunny afternoon, the Class of 2011 is hailed as accomplishing much during its tenure.

“Our class is made up of some of the most enthusiastic and dedicated people I’ve ever met,” said Class Essayist Dayna Seeger who was the first speaker of the ceremony. “We’re honest politicians, artistic geniuses and all-star athletes. We’re CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, successful entrepreneurs and life-changing doctors. We are the future.”

Of the 308 graduates, 87 percent will go on to higher education and five percent will enter the military, said Mayor Robert A. Mezzo. This, the mayor said, was another example of such accomplishment.

“When future classes look at what a good class looks like, they’ll need to look no further than the Class of 2011," the mayor said.

Looby who moved from the Bronx to Naugatuck in January of 2005, while not among that five percent that is going into the armed services, is attending the University of Connecticut this fall, where he will be participating in the ROTC Airforce program.

But while citing the military, Mezzo also noted the other areas this class excelled in this year. It’s a class that organized the first human rights awareness day to stave off bullying of teenagers, and the same class that partook in the “Names Can Hurt Us” program, Mezzo said.

And the Class of 2011 has a group of football players that helped achieve the title of champion in the rivalry football game in November.

“Today in Ansonia, however, I’ll tell you one thing that they are not celebrating: a graduating class of football players that won an NVL championship on their field on Thanksgiving Day,” the mayor said. His remark was met by swift and rousing applause.

Zoila Jurado, the class valedictorian, reminded her fellow classmates to never stop learning. She pulled a quote from Albert Einstein, in which he said “intellectual growth should begin and birth and not cease until death.”

“I know that each one of you will never stop expanding your mind, whether you chose to experience intellectual growth in a college class room or through job training or through the military I hope that you will always choose growth over stagnation,” she said.

After all the students filed in to receive their diplomas, Class President Stephanie White lead the last closing motion for turning the tassels. But just prior to the occasion, the class recognized their principal, Fran Serratore, who is retiring this year.

The students held up several signs that made a sentence that read “Mr. Serratore, thanks for the memories. Happy retirement. Enjoy life. You will be missed.”

Serratore, who took to the podium after getting his own diploma for graduating with the class, thanked the staff, students and borough officials for the memories.”

“It’s been a great run,” Fran Serratore said. “I’m so happy and proud to be the principal of Naugatuck High School and I wish all of you the best of luck.”