GILL — The joyful clamor of well-wishers that resounded throughout the Northfield Mount Hermon School graduation ceremony might well be the shouts “heard ’round the world.”

With a grades 9-12 student body coming from 63 nations and 35 U.S. states, the ceremony for NMH’s Class of 2024 was live-streamed, so that everyone’s family could see the event — no matter where they live. The graduation procession, the awarding of diplomas and the speeches were all captured on large screens, so that the hundreds attending all had a clear view.

Class Orator Dennis Penny Lopez of Pittsfield spoke about what it means to be a success.

“Success is not a number,” he said. “In a world that too often associates success with materialistic goods and wealth, we forget that there is no cutout, no set standard, nor a certificate that can grant us the path to success. We can all achieve it in different ways.”

“As former President Barack Obama once said, one’s title — even a title like the president of the United States — says very little about how one’s life has been led. That no matter how much you’ve done or how successful you’ve been, there’s always more to do.

“And I remember talking to my grandpa over spring break and telling him I was nervous for the math involved in engineering — since that’s what I’ll be pursuing — and he looked at me and said (in Spanish): ‘Dennis, excuses are for the mediocre and you are not mediocre.’ That day my grandpa reminded me and today he reminds us that there is no excuse for going out and not doing our best.”

Keynote speaker, astronaut Catherine “Cady” Coleman, spoke of Edward J. Dwight, the first African American test pilot to enter the U.S. Air Force training program, and who could have been the first black astronaut in the 1960s. He was controversially turned down to join NASA. But on Sunday — at age 93 — he “left the Earth” on a nine-minute Blue Origin space flight.

“I had chills this morning, around 10:35, when he lifted off the Earth,” said Coleman, who has logged 180 days in space, played flute with Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson and is an Air Force colonel. “He was invited (by Origin) because it was long overdue. He didn’t just stop when they said, ‘No.’

“How do we make sure that people don’t wait for so long to do what they have (the potential) to do?” asked Coleman.

She said soon the graduating students will go off to different places where “people don’t ask the same questions” as at Northfield Mount Hermon School. “A lot of the world has just not gotten to learn what you have gotten.”

“Whatever you do, you are part of a mission that’s bigger than you are,” she said. “And we don’t get to pick who’s on that mission. The talents you bring — and you have to bring them forward — even if you’re not recognized,” she added. “It’s important that you show up.”

Class valedictorian this year was Willow Sujin Brandt Kwak of Amherst, while Yuxuan “Ricky” Zhou of Shanghai was the class salutatorian.

This was Northfield Mount Hermon’s 141st commencement. To view the graduation, go online to nmhschool.org and click on “commencement.”

Graduates from Franklin and Hampshire counties

Yanling Zhang, Adam Mazur and Willow Kwak of Amherst; Sailor Cohen of Bernardston; Leilani Aires, Faith Hargrove and Adam Albik of Gill; Jolie Giordano, Erick Chen, Lindsay Davenport, Joseph Robinson, Maya Baudrand and Zeben Fletcher of Greenfield; Lily Goldsmith of Leeds; Lola Wiemeyer and John Senn-McNally of Northampton; Luke Stoneham of Shutesbury; Lucia Doulette of South Deerfield; Owen Kiernan of Wilbraham; and Samuel Boillot of Williamsburg.

Local Award Recipients

Adam Mazur, Howard and Margaret Jones Farm Award; Willow Kwak, Valedictorian, Cum Laude Honor Society, Bannwart Choir Prize, Joseph T. Elliott Jr. Prize in Music, Phyllis Tournier Spanish Prize; Sailor Cohen, Proctor Publications Prize; Leilani Aires, Cum Laude Honor Society; Joseph Robinson, Cum Laude Honor Society, Track and Field Coaches Award; Maya Baudrand, Piscuskas Day Student Prize; Zeben Fletcher, Nancy Angell Rickenbacker Art Prize, Cum Laude Honor Society; Lily Goldsmith, Thora E. Johnson Award for contributions to the physical education and athletics programs, Lacrosse Coaches Award; Adam Albik, Volleyball Coaches Award; Luke Stoneham, Baxter Prize in Classics; and Owen Kiernan, David H. Shorer Lacrosse Award.