NORTHFIELD — Before the 36 Pioneer Valley Regional School Class of 2025 graduates were handed their diplomas, their class advisor Brian Campbell challenged them to “show up” for one another as they take the first step into their adult lives.

“This is my advice, for what it’s worth: show up for each other, for each other’s games or band concerts or art shows. Watch each other’s silly online videos, even the cringy ones — especially the cringy ones. Show up for each other,” Campbell said in his commencement speech Friday evening. “Life is not always about having the perfect thing to say or knowing the heroic action to take. Sometimes it is just about being there, letting someone know through your sheer presence that they matter, that they are seen, that they are appreciated and understood. We hold each other up, not with grand gestures, but with a simple and sometimes stubborn act of showing up. We need to support each other, and more importantly, we need to feel supported.”

After the graduates marched across the gymnasium to the tune of “Pomp and Circumstance” performed by the school band, Principal Anne Scanlan-Emigh congratulated the graduates with a brief welcome, followed by Valedictorian Amelia Fowler-Shaw’s address to her class.

Fowler-Shaw, who reflected on the memories she made with her friends and the bonds she formed with her favorite teachers, encouraged her classmates to, in ways large or small, try to make the world a better place. She concluded her remarks by thanking her “dedicated and hardworking” teachers, explaining that they exemplify what it means to make a positive difference.

“I don’t have a rewind button, as much as it might be nice, so what do we do now? I’ll start small — change the world,” Fowler-Shaw said. “It’s a big ask at a time when there’s so many decisions to be made in our lives about where to go, what to do and who to be. It can feel like a lot of pressure — to make a difference seems impossible — but what if it didn’t have to be? What if making the world a better place can be as simple as making a crying baby laugh or hugging a friend who needs it? In that one moment, for that one person, the world becomes a little bit easier to live in.”

Campbell, who spoke about the pressure that comes with being congratulated or told to “soak in the moment,” stressed that all the graduates made it to where they were standing through hard work and grit that “won’t make headlines,” but would bring their lives value and purpose.

“The truth is this cavalcade of personal records and rewritten school records are a cumulative product of years of effort so consistent and visible it starts to look easy, a byproduct of the cruel paradox of absolute mastery,” Campbell said. “That is worth celebrating — not necessarily what you have done, but how you have done it, with discipline and persistence and the kind of grit that won’t make headlines in the Recorder and certainly not MassLive, but it’s essential to making everything else possible. … It is my real and distinguished honor to welcome the Class of 2025 here today and to the rest of their lives.”

Graduates

Everett Scott Allen, Eric Richard Ballou, Jerek Layne Beamon, Eric Russell Briggs, Elizabeth Rose Brown, Maeve Margaret Byrnes, Jackson Wayne Campbell, Allison Anne Clary, Mason Reilly Cummings, Cameron Sheldon Curtis, Amelia Ann Fowler-Shaw, Emma Jean Gagne, Gavin Rodney Gammell, William Layne Glazier, Benjamin William Goodwin, Jerad Ryan Goulston Jr., Camden Joseph Guertin, Sahana Dania Heilman, Natalie Mae Johnson, Liam Toby Laraway, Ethan Henry Mauthe, Alex Tyler McClelland, Adryanna Marie Page, Ethan James Quinn, Kyleigh Elizabeth Rau, Kurt Jerry Redeker, Alexander Paul Sabin, Joseph Eugene Seaman, Lex Gregory Singh, Emma Madison Snow, Brayden Scott Thayer, Riley Erin Thayer, Braeden Paul Tsipenyuk, Jayden Michael Tyler, Kaden Thomas Vinton and Benjamin Ellsworth Werner.

Awards and scholarships

Everett Allen: John and Abigail Adams Scholarship MCAS Mastery in English, Mathematics & Science, Outstanding Achievement in Perception and Reality, Northfield Kiwanis Club Award, Pioneer Valley Regional School Scholarship, Fred W. Wells Fund Scholarship.

Eric Ballou: Kathy Bonnett Memorial Award, Grover/Barnes Award, Gerald & Edward McGowan Memorial Award, Lucy Wilder Memorial Humanitarian Award.

Eric Briggs: Excellence in English 12, John and Abigail Adams Scholarship MCAS Mastery in English, Mathematics & Science, Excellence in Visual Art, PVRS National Honor Society Scholarship, Fred W. Wells Fund Scholarship, Fred R. Whitcomb Scholarship.

Elizabeth Brown: Excellence in Personal Finance, John and Abigail Adams Scholarship MCAS Mastery in English, Mathematics & Science, Outstanding Achievement in Advanced Field Ecology, Environmental Innovation Career Pathway, Foundation for Educational Excellence Greenfield Co-operative Bank Scholarship, Gov. Phil Hoff Vermont Honor Scholarship, Hildegard Durfee Scholarship Fund.

Maeve Byrnes: Evelyn G. Lawley Award.

Jackson Campbell: Jennie L. Bascom Educational Fund, Owen Clarke Foundation Scholarship, Fred W. Wells Fund Scholarship.

Allison Clary: Excellence in Nutrition & Foods, Appreciation of Service to the United States of America from the MIAA and the MSAA, Dean Beaudoin Memorial Award, Jarred Richard Bolognani Scholarship, Philip E. Harrington Memorial Scholarship, Alfred Orlens Citizenship Award, Fred W. Wells Fund Scholarship.

Mason Cummings: Pioneer Valley Regional School Scholarship, Fred W. Wells Fund Scholarship.

Amelia Fowler-Shaw: Valedictorian, Excellence in Chemistry, Outstanding Achievement in Creative Writing, John and Abigail Adams Scholarship MCAS Mastery in English, Mathematics & Science, Excellence in AP Calculus, Excellence in Advanced Field Ecology, Excellence in Musical Theater, Excellence in Spanish 5, Environmental Innovation Career Pathway, Kathryn Bassett Memorial Award, Foundation for Educational Excellence Richard Martin Theater Award, Ned Green Scholarship, Don Maynard Memorial Scholarship, Tyler Family Memorial Award.

Emma Gagne: Outstanding Achievement in Creative Writing, Erving Teachers’ Association Scholarship, Foundation for Educational Excellence Robert S. Coy Art Award, Partners in Education at Erving Scholarship, Pioneer Valley Regional School Instrumental Music Award.

Gavin Gammell: John and Abigail Adams Scholarship MCAS Mastery in English, Mathematics & Science.

William Glazier: Bernardston Kiwanis Club Scholarship, Excellence in Personal Finance, John and Abigail Adams Scholarship MCAS Mastery in English, Mathematics & Science, John A. Hogan Memorial Scholarship, Ethel F. Jackson Memorial Scholarship, Sarah Kemble Memorial Scholarship, Fred W. Wells Fund Scholarship.

Benjamin Goodwin: Fred W. Wells Fund Scholarship.

Jerad Goulston Jr.: Principal’s Award, Outstanding Achievement in English 12, John and Abigail Adams Scholarship MCAS Mastery in English, Mathematics & Science, Environmental Innovation Career Pathway, Alice, Eric & Oscar Anderson Scholarship, Jarred Richard Bolognani Scholarship, Anita L. Pike Memorial Scholarship.

Sahana Heilman: Salutatorian, John and Abigail Adams Scholarship MCAS Mastery in English, Mathematics & Science, Bernardston Kiwanis Club Scholarship, Leonard Eastman Award, George A. Warner Award, Fred W. Wells Fund Scholarship.

Natalie Johnson: Principal’s Award, Environmental Innovation Career Pathway, Stephen F. Balk Award, Thaddeus M. Ostrowski Memorial Award.

Ethan Mauthe: Excellence in Perception and Reality, Bernardston Kiwanis Club Scholarship, Fred W. Wells Fund Scholarship, George A. Warner Fund Scholarship.

Alex McClelland: Greenfield Lodge of Elks Scholarship Duane A. Nelson, Pioneer Valley Regional School Scholarship.

Ethan Quinn: Excellence in Physical Education, Ethel F. Jackson Memorial Scholarship, Northfield Fire Dept. Floyd M. Dunnell Jr. Memorial Scholarship, Fred W. Wells Fund Scholarship, Owen Clarke Foundation Scholarship.

Kyleigh Rau: Abigail Stratton Award.

Kurt Redeker: Bernardston Kiwanis Club Scholarship, Leonard Bruno Memorial Scholarship.

Alexander Sabin: Bernardston Kiwanis Club Scholarship, Bernardston Veterans’ Organization Scholarship, Grover/Barnes Award, Fred W. Wells Fund Scholarship.

Lex Singh: Environmental Innovation Career Pathway, Theodore Cronyn Award, Ned Green Scholarship, Cathy Hawkins-Harrison Music Service Award in Band, Northfield Kiwanis Club Award, PVRS Student Council Scholarship, Fred W. Wells Fund Scholarship, Western Mass Runners’ Hall of Fame Scholarship.

Emma Snow: Dean Beaudoin Memorial Award, Montague Elks 2521 Scholarship, Pioneer Valley Regional School Scholarship, Fred W. Wells Fund Scholarship.

Brayden Thayer: Excellence in Physical Education, Fred W. Wells Fund Scholarship.

Riley Thayer: Excellence in Nutrition & Foods, Owen Clarke Foundation Award, Owen Clarke Foundation Scholarship, Northfield Fire Dept. Floyd M. Dunnell Jr. Memorial Scholarship, Northfield Kiwanis Club Award, Jason Peters Memorial Scholarship, Fred W. Wells Fund Scholarship.

Braeden Tsipenyuk: Outstanding Achievement in Personal Finance, John and Abigail Adams Scholarship MCAS Mastery in English, Mathematics & Science, Kevin J. Courtney Scholarship, Northfield Fire Dept. Floyd M. Dunnell Jr. Memorial Scholarship, Northfield Kiwanis Club Award, Fred W. Wells Fund Scholarship.

Jayden Tyler: Excellence in Intercultural Foods, John and Abigail Adams Scholarship MCAS Mastery in English, Mathematics & Science, Excellence in Physical Education.

Kaden Vinton: Outstanding Achievement in Woodshop.