In a ceremony broadcast live on the Internet and recroded by family members wielding an array of smart phones and tablets, Freedom HS students at the June 4 graduation at Stabler Arena were fully aware of how quickly times change.

The night's theme was innovation, and the robed young men and women left a remarkable year of success with words of forward-thinking encouragement from administrators and peers alike.

Principal Michael Laporta told the assembly that successful innovators have a number of things in common, and that the graduates can improve their lives by following those examples, from continued education to knowing how to work with others in a team. "You are leaving high school with a sound education … but this education is perhaps not enough. You need to embrace the attitude that learning is a lifelong process."

LaPorta also said innovators are have opportunistic mindsets and are proactive and persistent. "Success does not happen over night or by happenstance."

Superintendent Dr. Joseph Roy was pleased to list the many great things done by the class and told the graduates, "I'm proud of you this evening and you should be proud. Because of you, Freedom is known throughout the Lehigh Valley for school spirit, academic success, accomplishments at the technical school, on the playing field and of course the accomplishments of our wildly successful theater program.

"The class of 2014 leaves a positive and powerful legacy which sets the bar high for future graduates. Your senior year will also be remembered, by me at least, for the number of snow days that we had."

Class-selected speaker Joshua Kapcsos reminded his classmates of their not-too long-ago youth and the advances made since. "Remember the snowstorms in elementary school when you had to turn on WFMZ to watch that long rolling list of schools in order to see if you had off that day? Now you can just visit Dr. Roy's Twitter to find out in less than a minute. And thank you for that, Dr. Roy."

Kapcsos said a stereotypical parental attitude in the necessity of meeting with friends face-to-face rather with a mobile device suggests the use of such technology is socially destructive to youths. But to take that view is to ignore the benefits, he said. "We must point out that it's certainly being used positively. There have been countless beneficial uses of Twitter, Facebook, etc. at our school, from calling on the Freedom family to attend athletic events to advertising members of the Freedom family to vote in contests to benefit this high school, and generating support for THON, which raised $57,380.04 for the kids."

Faculty-selected speaker Reina Reimundo said pencils, crayons and safety scissors were the primary learning tools used when they began their education, and things have changed quite a bit. "Now here we are 12 years later using advanced technology to aid us in the progression of life. Growing up we never thought that peer editing would change from passing around lined paper and colored pens to sharing documents on Chromebooks and leaving comments in the sidebars."

Reimundo said teachers have learned to incorporate advancing technologies into the classroom rather than take over, and have allowed students to converse with Spanish speakers in their native countries and continue open communication with kids unable to leave their homes.

"Technology cannot replace a personal connection. The connection between teachers and students is still there, and that is what matters," Reimundo said.

As he usually does, School Board President Michael Faccinetto began his own comments with a joke regarding his sense of brevity. "You made it, you're awesome, good night!" he declared to thunderous applause. "Nobody ever wants to tell me how much time I have," he said with a grin.

He saluted the school's having finally won back the Liberty-Freedom bell after two decades in Liberty's hands, and said the persistence and dedication needed to win the bell should be an example for success in real life.

Faccinetto briefly described lives of some very famous and influential people – such as Oprah Winfrey and J.K. Rowling – who faced countless failures in their lives but never gave up, as inspiration. "Michael Jordan once said, 'I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games, and on 26 occasions I've been entrusted to take the game-winning shot and I've missed. I've failed over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed.'"

He then reminded the class of its other accomplishments during this one short year. "You're the class that helped raise $57,000 for pediatric cancer. You're the class that cleaned up at the Freddy Awards. You're the class that set academic records, published an award-winning school newspaper and made Freedom the premier high school in the Lehigh Valley.

"But when you walk out the doors tonight, everything changes. You become the next business leaders of our society, the next innovators, the next humanitarians.

"You have the power to change the world."