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Bronxville High School Principal Terence Barton gave his students a gift at their graduation Saturday evening. "I give you one quiet moment. Just sit there and think about those who have helped shape and mold you into becoming who you are today," he said. "They are truly here with you."
Barton presided over the 89th graduation ceremony for 97 students held on Saturday evening on the front lawn of the high school.
As bells chimed from the nearby Reform Church of Bronxville and the strains of Pomp and Circumstance, performed by the Bronxville High School Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Denise Lutter, played in the background, the students were welcomed by family and friends
Bronxville High School has a long history of not opting for the traditional cap and gowns for the ceremony. Instead, all of the girls wear long white dresses and carry a dozen red roses, and the guys where a white jacket with a red rose in its lapel.
Class President John Gray addressed his fellow graduates, noting that he was not always the most gregarious kid. "For the first two years of high school I didn't really know anyone and I didn't care to know anyone," he said. "....then at the halfway mark, I got horribly lonely and decided I probably wanted to know some people."
Gray went on to say he shyly began to reach out to his classmates and given the accepting nature of the student body, wound up being class president.
As his classmates looked on, Gray summed it up with a simple message.
"Don't forget your friends. Help them when they need you and lean on them when you feel burdened," he said. "Chase your dreams, do what you will, but keep your friends close no matter what awaits you."
SFL President Jack Begert also addressed his classmates. "It is extremely difficult to speak at you own high school graduation because you are expected to impart some kind of advice or lessen to your peers," he said. "I struggled with this mainly because I too am in high school....I am still ashamed to admit that I, like most of you, have had relatively minimal experience with the real adult world."
As he and his classmates go on to college, turns out that Begert did impart some advice,
"People always say 'be yourself', but meeting people making friends and joining a community is about more than that. It is about opening yourself up to everything and everyone around you, taking risks, and purposefully exposing yourself to new ideas and opinions," he said. "Stay classy and I love you all."
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