College graduates parade through East Meadow

While many college graduates missed the chance to don their caps and gowns on their campuses because of the coronavirus pandemic, college seniors from the East Meadow and Salisbury communities didn’t let that stop them from celebrating together.

Roughly a dozen cars driven by local college graduates lined up in front of Bowling Green Elementary School in East Meadow last Sunday. Gathered on the lawn of the school was a crowd of about 20 supportive friends and family members who cheered for the graduates as “Pomp and Circumstance” played from a Bluetooth speaker held by one attendee. The sound of sirens followed, as trucks from the East Meadow and Westbury fire departments escorted the graduates west in a circle around the neighborhood before they returned to the school parking lot.

Lulette Infante, of Salisbury, hosted the parade and drove with her daughter, Kaitlyn, who is graduating from St. John’s University, where she studied marketing, international business and international marketing.

“I’ve been seeing so many high school parades, but I didn’t see anyone doing anything for the college grads,” Infante said.

Leading the procession as grand marshal was Jasan Stewart, 23, who recently graduated from Nassau Community College, riding with his brother, Karl Bouyer. 

Bouyer is graduating from W.T. Clarke High School, where he was on the football and wrestling teams. Stewart, who has cerebral palsy, is known throughout the community for the support he has shown at his brother’s games.

“At every football game and every wrestling match, Jasan is there to cheer on Clarke,” Infante said. “Now it’s our turn to celebrate him.”

Bouyer will join the LIU Post men’s wrestling team in the fall.

High school graduations

Meanwhile, the East Meadow School District is still deliberating whether it will hold in-person graduations at W.T. Clarke and East Meadow high schools.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Sunday that outdoor, socially distant graduations of up to 150 people would be permitted beginning June 26, as long as there aren’t any significant upticks in Covid-19 case numbers or deaths in the interim.

Patrick Pizzo, the East Meadow district’s assistant superintendent of business and finance, said that there are a lot of “moving parts” that the district must consider. “Everything’s under review right now,” Pizzo said, adding that school officials must parse any legal conditions of Cuomo’s order before taking advantage of it. “We need to make sure [we’re] interpreting it correctly,” he said.

On Sunday, the district also announced an extension of the deadline to vote on the East Meadow School District budget via absentee ballot. The vote includes two additional propositions: an addendum to a $58.8 million joint school district and East Meadow Public Library bond; and the library budget and the Board of Education and Library trustee races.

“Fortunately, this gives us the opportunity to get more votes,” Pizzo said.

As the school year comes to an end, another tradition that East Meadow seniors had to miss was the annual walk through the hallways of the district’s elementary schools, when the seniors greet their old teachers and the current students.

As a virtual alternative, Carly Salzman, a guidance counselor at the high school, created a compilation video in which elementary school teachers sent messages to graduating seniors along with their old class photos.

“I wish we could see you in the hallways of Parkway and give you a big hug and take pictures and probably cry,” said Jane Dunne, a teacher at Parkway Elementary School. “I just wanted to say that you will always have a special place in my heart.”

To watch the video, go to https://youtu.be/HosPWKH3Z88.