‘All you need is within you’

132 graduate from Malverne High School

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A beautiful summer day gave way to an equally beautiful ceremony last Friday evening for the 2016 graduating class of Malverne High School.

At 6 p.m., 132 students in caps and gowns made their way down to the high school’s football field for the ceremony, as their loved ones waited in anticipation, packing the bleachers for a glimpse of a ceremony four years in the making.

Malverne Superintendent Dr. James Hunderfund told graduates that the district marked history in many positive ways this year. For the first time, the school received the New York State Reward School designation, the highest honor a school can receive from the State Education Department, he said. The high school produced 38 Advanced Placement scholars, the most in its history, and 96 percent of the graduating class earned Regents diplomas. The graduating class was offered nearly $4 million in college scholarships, Hunderfund reported.

“This class has accomplished many notable thing, both as individuals and as a family of classmates and friends working together as a team,” he said, adding that this year’s production of “West Side Story” was one of the best he’d ever seen.

While the mood was celebratory, Hunderfund also noted the many who are still suffering from oppression and racism around the world, and reminded students, “In this country, one of the greatest things we take for granted is our freedom. Mankind’s most intimate struggles have mostly been about the loss of freedom. Just look at what’s happening in the world today.”

With a note of encouragement, he told the students, “All you need is within you — your strength and your ancestral family.” He mentioned the lessons of strength and resolve demonstrated in the TV miniseries “Roots.” “We love you, God bless you, and may all your dreams come true.”