Hello everyone, my name is Jaelyn Crocker and I am a proud soon to be graduate of the Class of 2022. If you have ever been to the Boothbay area, you most likely have met someone I am related to. I am a Crocker on my father’s side and a Carbone on my mother’s side, which are two names in our region that cannot seem to leave the peninsula ... or in some cases the school. I was lucky to grow up within driving distance of my grandparents, my aunts and uncles, my cousins, and all of the weird “we know we are related but not quite sure how” situations. 

For as long as I can remember, my family has been a part of my support system. We cheer each other on at sporting events, we tease each other relentlessly, we celebrate each other’s accomplishments, and get way too competitive when it comes to games. We stick up for each other. We lift each other up when the other is down. We navigate through the loss of our own. 

It may be easy for me to say this because there is a good possibility that I am related to 25% of the people on this field right now, but living in Boothbay Harbor and going to Boothbay Region High School has shown me that I can find family and support all throughout this community. 

Our family started when most of us were five years old entering Kindergarten with backpacks that were twice the size of us. All strangers but about to start the journey of the next thirteen years of our lives. We started out with the core people, the ones who started in Mrs. Nash’s and Mrs. Williams’ class, as the years went on we welcomed more people into our family while also saying goodbye to the ones we lost. As new people came, we grew a sense of togetherness that helps make a family strong. 

From kindergarten to now, we have all grown up and have grown together. We have made unbreakable bonds that we can take with us into the next chapter of our lives. Being a family means that we have been there for each other through all the big milestones of our lives. Whether it be celebrating each other, consoling each other, or supporting each other. While  being there for each other during the big milestones of life, we have also been together for the small laughs, loud cries, and the bickering, which many of you can imagine, there's a lot. The thing that makes all these years special is the fact we did it together. 

As the years go on, some of us might take a new meaning to the word family when referring to the Class of 2022. Some might be the family members that we see once in a while at reunions, some we might see everyday, but all of us will be the family that can rely on each other no matter how many years down the road. Families can always come back home and rely on each other. 

In my house, we always get asked the question during dinner: what was the best and worst part of your day? My brother A.J. constantly rushes to ask my dad first and gets upset when he is the last one to be asked, which he then has the title of being “the Allison'.' Being here today, the best part of my day is the fact that we are together celebrating the Family of 2022 and the future achievements we will make, but the worst part of my day is leaving the home of BRHS and not being able to see my family and friends of thirteen years everyday. BRHS will always be our home and as Hannah Montanna once said “you'll always find your way back home.” Thank you!