GILL — To Karin Kimbrough, Northfield Mount Herman School was a place where she didn’t have to focus on fitting in — she was at home just by being herself.
In her commencement speech on Sunday morning, the Class of 1986 alumna and chief economist at LinkedIn expressed her love for the school and its community, and her wishes for this year’s 188 graduates.
She encouraged the graduating class to trust themselves, quoting John Lennon: “Life is what happens when you are busy making plans.”
“I can see it even in my work where we look every day at the career paths of millions of people and, more often than not, where they end up is very different from where they intended at the outset,” she continued. “So, when your plan doesn’t work out — and believe me, at some point it won’t — that is the time to trust in yourself.”
Kimbrough emphasized the importance of leaning into one’s human qualities, particularly those cultivated at NMH, such as resilience, curiosity, critical thinking and empathy, along with being true to oneself.
“I wish for you to not worry too much about your plan if you have one, and even if you don’t have one yet,” Kimbrough said. “Trust yourself to be resilient and flexible in a world of rapid change. And wherever you go from here, find a community you care about and give it your all to make your mark. All your uniquely human qualities will be exactly what shapes the world.”
Senior Orator Anthony McNamara of Gill reflected on “firsts” and “lasts” at NMH with humor and nostalgia.
McNamara described memories of some of his and his classmates’ very first experiences at NMH and highlighted the strangeness of feeling that they were now doing some of these things for the final time.
“Sometimes I wish, before having an experience, I could have text floating above my head like a 2020 TikTok POV video that tells me if it would be the last time I would experience it,” McNamara said. “Unfortunately, though, life doesn’t work like that.
“We experienced our last time sitting under the stars with our friends, talking about the most inconsequential things in our lives,” he continued. “Our shared experience comforts us, and maybe we might have appreciated it more if we knew it would be our last. … Among the many things that we have taken away from NMH, we learned that ‘lasts’ can be hard to digest. But if a ‘last’ hurts, that means you had fun in the process.”
After reflecting on how much had changed for him and his fellow graduates during their time at NMH, McNamara charged his classmates with savoring their experiences going forward.
“So, Class of 2026, this is the first and last time I will ask this: Are you ready to be extraordinary?” McNamara concluded. “Are you willing to do so with an appreciation for everything you experience? These small moments will last you a lifetime, so enjoy every first like it’s a last.”
Franklin County graduates
Cody Vassar, Bryanna May and Brayden Thayer of Northfield; Agustin Rojas of Sunderland; Ellie Pinkham of Ashfield; Liam Green of Shelburne Falls; Will Lamb of Deerfield; Macy Anhalt of South Deerfield; Liesl Barry, Esme Robinson and Connor O’Reilly of Greenfield; Josie Sabelawski of Turners Falls; and Lincoln Coleman, Maren Batchelder, Juno Batty, Joseph Mac Hargrove, Anthony McNamara, Charlotte Relyea-Strawn and Sarah Keator of Gill.
Hampshire County graduates
Ahnkai Liebert and Allen Chen of Amherst; Abigail Georges of Florence; Celia Goldsmith of Leeds; Sam Robbins of Williamsburg; Lily Baillargeon of Haydenville; and Ying Kay Leung of Belchertown.
Local award recipients
Cody Vassar, Ralph E. Jillson Award in athletics; Ellie Pinkham, Thora E. Johnson Award in athletics; Bryanna May, Cum Laude Society and Head of School Award; Maren Batchelder, Gordon Paul Smith Prize for Excellence in History or Social Sciences; Joseph Mac Hargrove, Cum Laude Society; Anthony McNamara, Class Orator, Florence Chapman Haslun Prize in performing arts and Piscuskas Day Student Prize; Charlotte Relyea-Strawn, Bannwart Choir Prize, Marie Hood Award for dramatics and John O. Mehrkens Award; Sarah Keator, Elizabeth Leyden ’22 Music Award; Ahnkai Liebert, Cum Laude Society and Jo Dorchester Award in world languages; and Allen Chen, Cum Laude Society and Elizabeth Leyden ’22 Music Award.
