Chaney grads get advice for the future

By Harold Gwin

Judge Robert Milich believes the class of 2008 is up to the challenges it will face.

YOUNGS-TOWN — Rabab Al-Sharif doesn’t believe in failure.

In fact, she doesn’t think it exists — period.

It’s all just experiences and tests, the co-valedictorian of Chaney High School told her classmates during commencement Friday at Stambaugh Auditorium.

Don’t let fears stand in the way of your hopes, she said, adding, “You learn from experience.”

“Life is a game and you have two choices: Play the game or sit on the bench,” she said.

Al-Sharif wasn’t the only one offering words of advice to the graduating class.

“We each create our own destiny,” said co-salutatorian Danielle Rudloff.

Failure doesn’t mean giving up. What matters is what you learn from the experience and that you get back up and move forward, she said.

Every generation has its challenges, noted Youngstown Municipal Court Judge Robert Milich, who delivered the commencement address.

“From what I hear, this class of 2008 is up to the challenge,” he said.

It’s important to be part of a team in life, Judge Milich said, using the occasion to call Rachel Harris, a member of the graduating class, to the podium during his speech.

Harris has chosen to become part of a team, he said, as he announced her acceptance for appointment to the Air Force Military Academy, an appointment worth $387,000 over four years.

Judge Milich, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, then presented Harris with her certificate of appointment to the academy.

Bradley Slabe, co-salutatorian, reminded his classmates that they are closing one chapter of their lives to open the next.

“From here, we must make our own choices,” he said, adding, “Never let your dreams die.”

This was the 108th commencement for Chaney High School, but the first for the combined Chaney and Wilson high schools, which merged this school year with Wilson’s closing and Chaney’s physical expansion.

Half of the Wilson students moved to Chaney, while half moved to the new East High School.

“This has been a major transition year for the Youngstown city schools,” Dr. Wendy Webb, school superintendent, told the graduates. “You overcame the odds. You are a very special graduation group.”

Minutes after getting their diplomas, the graduates were filing out into the parking lot to be greeted by family and friends.

Two of the last to leave, Jacquela Teamor and Jennifer Illes, had tears in their eyes as they emerged from the building side-by-side.

Both said they would miss their time at Chaney, and they took exception to what they felt were overblown accounts of occasional trouble or violence at the school.

“They were exaggerated,” Teamor said, especially as related to this year’s senior class. “I’m going to miss it.”

“It was a real good group,” Illes added, saying that problems at the school weren’t an everyday issue.

Minutes earlier, when she had her turn at the podium to speak as the class co-valedictorian, she exhorted her classmates to remember what made Chaney fun.

gwin@vindy.com