Apponequet Grad Stuns Classmates With a Touching Goodbye

In a year that has seen rich people giving significant money away to graduates, Apponequet Regional High School's class president pulled off something that has never been done before.

While Mason Macuch didn't have a spare $1,000 to hand out to each of his classmates, he did think of a way to go the extra mile to bid farewell.

During his heartfelt speech at Apponequet's 2024 commencement ceremony, Macuch regretted not having time to acknowledge each of his classmates individually. Instead, he pulled off something that is believed to be unprecedented.

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Macuch asked the students to reach underneath their seats to find a handwritten note that he had prepared as a farewell to each of them.

Macuch told Michael and Maddie, the Fun 107 morning show, that it took him roughly 10 hours to write the 181 notes.

He arrived at Apponequet's campus about an hour early to complete his mission of taping the personal notes under the graduates' chairs.

"They all loved it," he said. "They were all appreciative and grateful for it."

Macuch said for some of his closer friends, he got really personal with his goodbye letters, while for other classmates he talked about the memories he had with them and wished them luck.

The teen said the idea came from writing thank-you notes to his teachers.

"I just kind of thought of it as I was writing thank-you notes to all the teachers that I had in high school," he sad. "I thought of how I could carry this onto my speech for all the students in our class."

Apponequet's 2024 class president will study at Fairfield University in Connecticut this fall. His major is biochemistry on a pre-med track.