Two grads realize goal of marching al fresco Hampden Academy seniors raised $8,300

HAMPDEN – Fifteen minutes before the eager Hampden Academy graduates marched onto the turf athletic field Sunday, seniors gathered in the George B. Weatherbee School gymnasium posing for last-minute photos and slathering on layers of sunscreen.

Meanwhile, more than 2,000 friends and family members sporting sun hats and glasses walked around the back of the school, seeking the perfect spot where the ceremony would be not only fully visible, but also audible. The stage sat just above the purple-and-white “HA” painted on the athletic field, and 1,200 chairs were set up on the turf, while multiple sets of permanent and portable bleachers were buzzing with spectators.

For at least two graduates, Sunday was the most highly anticipated day of their high school career – but not because they received diplomas.

Juliana Aurie and Courtney Reeves, both of Hampden, have planned the ceremony for nearly a year. After attending the schools’ hot and stuffy indoor ceremony last year, the pair decided their class would graduate under a blue sky, bright sunshine and fresh air.

“The Farmer’s Almanac had us all worried,” said Aurie, diploma in hand. “I woke up this morning and just smiled. After all the work we have put into this, I don’t know what I would have done if we had to have it inside.”

The two girls attended countless meetings to gain approval from the student body, principal, superintendent and board of directors in order to hold the outdoor ceremony. After permission was granted, the fundraising effort began. The young women raised $8,300 from private and public sources in just a few short months.

“We are outside today because two young women had a vision and were tenacious enough to see it through,” said Hampden Academy Principal Ruey Yehle in her brief address to attendees.

Despite the stifling temperature and blistering sunshine, spectators said they preferred being outside in the fresh air.

“Warm, crowded and uncomfortable,” was Rick Eaton’s way of describing past graduations at the school. Eaton sat in the athletic bleachers of the turf field under the shade of his green umbrella. Beside him, his wife, Kathy, sipped bottled water, which was sold to raise money for the school’s Dollars for Scholars program.

Aurie and Reeves arrived at the school an hour and a half early, armed with digital cameras and an emergency stash of lip gloss in case the first coat lost its shine. The pair posed for pictures in front of the bronzed school mascot, the bronco, and spent their last few minutes as HA seniors with friends to whom they would soon bid farewell.

At the end of the photo shoot, the girls received a surprise that roused a cheer from all the students in the area. Andy Frace, a psychology and sociology teacher at Hampden Academy who had a terrible sledding accident in January, arrived at the school to hug the young women and wish them luck before their farewell.

“When I think about what they had to overcome to do this, it is amazing,” Frace said. “It’s tradition to have this in the gym, and to break that tradition in Hampden, now that’s really something.”