SSHS hosts 'Graduation 2.0' after Hofstra mishap

The South Side High School community came out in force on June 29 to support 14 graduates who didn’t get the chance to be recognized at their graduation the week before.

The first commencement, on June 23, was cut short when a sprinkler head malfunction set off fire alarms and sent smelly water raining down on a section of the audience in Hofstra University’s David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex, triggering an evacuation before all of the graduating seniors could receive their diplomas. The school held a second ceremony on June 29, dubbed Graduation 2.0 by South Side faculty, in the school auditorium. An education official in attendance joked that the venue change was fitting, given that, as an older part of campus, the auditorium was not outfitted with sprinklers.

Principal John Murphy began the proceedings by reminding the crowd that this was a continuation of the commencement rather than a separate event. “So, where were we?” he asked, and then opened up a large umbrella, drawing laughter. Several school officials followed suit. Murphy informed the audience that all of the graduates who came that day would receive umbrellas, gifts from the school board, bearing the school insignia and with note cards reading, “May this be the last time anyone rains on your parade.”

Despite the humor, the mood was relatively somber. About 100 seniors who had graduated the week before came to support their classmates, who had suffered what Ronni Trott, the mother of Scott Trott, one of the remaining 14, called “an emotional hurt.” Asked to describe the feeling, she said, “When you work so hard for so long to get to some place, and it just gets kind of pulled right out from under you.”

Graduate Alex Klein described his classmates’ reactions to the evacuation. When the fire alarms went off, Klein said, “Everyone started cheering, because they were like, ‘Oh, I guess it’s over now,’ so everyone threw up their caps … and the 14 people who didn’t get to graduate turned around and they were just like, ‘Now what?’ It took us like 10, 15 minutes to get out, and then after we got out, the people who didn’t graduate were just upset, and the people who did were, like, celebrating already.”

Trott said that even those who did receive their diplomas had a special moment in their lives taken from them. “They didn’t get to move their tassels,” she said. “They didn’t get to throw their hats.” She talked about the happy chaos that normally ensues outside the Hofstra venue. “You go through the crowds of people, you find your friends, you take pictures,” she said, adding that no one in the class of 2017 got to do that. “They just wanted everybody out.”

Graduate Katlyn Kirby said, “I got to take, like, maybe two pictures, with the family members that got drenched. And then they had to leave, and I didn’t get to take pictures with anyone else.”

Klein added, “The Fire Department came and made us leave and everything. They just kind of shooed us off.”

Before Graduation 2.0, several South Side faculty members expressed uncertainty about how many students would come to show their support. Rob Siegel, a parent, said he expected a big turnout. “This school is pretty good about supporting each other,” he said.

“We wish we didn’t have to do this,” Murphy said, but he also noted a silver lining. “It’s a living testament to the fact that bad things do happen, but even under the worst of circumstances … the loving kindness does seem to piece through, and we see people coming together, and in that regard, we’re fortunate.”

The remaining seniors received their diplomas, each presentation accompanied by raucous cheering by classmates, family members and faculty. The audience was treated to a video montage of the high school careers of the class of 2017, accompanied by an instrumental performance of “Stand By Me” by guitarist Josh Kellner and bassist Christopher Heins, both seniors, and the high school choir’s rendition of OneRepublic’s “I Lived.”

Senior class President Paulina Kenny gave the closing speech, highlighting the role that the South Side High lobby played in the graduates’ young lives. “The lobby is the hub of life at South Side,” Kenny said. “It’s the place that everyone walks through at least twice a day. Whether you’re getting to school early to make up a test or rushing to make it to class on time, the lobby is a stop on your way, or your destination. It’s a place that brings all kids in the school together, no matter what classes you take, what clubs you’re in, what sports you play or what elementary school you went to.”

“Of all my high school experiences,” she added, “the ones that have been the most meaningful to me are the ones where we have all come together as one united class.”

After Kenny directed the newest graduates to move their tassels from right to left, they and their families shuffled out of the auditorium and into the lobby, where their umbrellas awaited them, along with a table of refreshments. The lobby quickly filled with animated chatter, as graduates weaved through the crowd, greeting friends and taking pictures with one another and with beaming family members.