Marlborough High Embraces Brown as Speaker

Students at Marlborough High School are enthusiastic about their first graduation speaker in over a decade after Scott Brown agreed to speak at commencement.

"I ran through a list of people in my mind that would be all-around acceptable to the student body ... someone who has meaning to people and is widely accepted," said Senior Alex Pelletier. "Scott Brown came to mind as a respected person in the local community. A lot of people think he is a great person and I agree."

Brown will speak at the school's commencement on June 2 after Pelletier contacted him with a list of students who had signed on asking him to speak. Having a speaker will add to the day, said Pelletier who independently decided to secure a speaker for the ceremony.

"You can walk across the stage or you can walk across the stage and hear from someone who is renowned in the community," he said. "That helps to make it a little more special.

Students are happy about their first speaker since Bill Belichick addressed a graduating class in the early 2000's, said Pelletier. Brown is someone who sits in the middle of party lines, he said, allowing him to be appreciated as a speaker by a wide audience.

"A lot of people in the class like him for that. It's not like he is extreme in one direction or another, so that keeps the doors open," said Pelletier.

Some students questioned why they were not going to have Elizabeth Warren, who defeated Brown's bid for re-election, speak because "she's a winner."

"I don't think you'd find as much support for her, in this school at least," said Pelletier. "A lot of people are excited to hear him speak. I have a waiting list of like 30 people who want to meet him."

After graduation, Pelletier is looking forward to attending UMass next year for industrial engineering and going on to law school afterwards. Before that, he plans to vote in the upcoming local election, after missing November's election by a week.

"I know one vote would not have made a difference," said Peletier. "But I would have liked to vote."