Locust Valley High School grads socially distanced

LVHS’s unique graduation goes as planned

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Locust Valley High School graduates experienced a unique graduation on Monday, but some components of the day remained the same. Seniors wore caps and gowns and were accompanied by their families, though this year guests were limited, and as the graduates made their way to their seats outside the high school they did so socially distanced.

There were four graduation ceremonies, and each included speeches, praise for the graduates’ achievements and advice to help them meet their goals.

Many traditional events had to be eliminated this year when the coronavirus pandemic caused schools to abruptly close. The seniors were contacted by the district, and asked what their top three priorities were for the end of the year. The majority said graduation, prom and Flags For Freedom.

The annual Flags for Freedom ceremony is usually held during an assembly. The district included the tradition of giving each senior a flag during the graduation ceremony when they received their diploma.

“When the school called a month and a half ago, I was shocked,” said Kaye Weninger, president of Operation Democracy, which promotes freedom and peace through education aimed at young people. Weninger is in charge of Flags for Freedom at LVHS each year. “They told me that the seniors included Flags for Freedom as the top three things they would like to have this year. I felt like after five years of doing it, the students realized how important it was that they got their own flag.”

Veterans Terry Price and Joe Rydzewski, from Locust Valley American Legion Howard Van Wagner Post 962, attended the graduation. Usually veterans hand out the flags, but this year both sat nearby.

Rydzewski said that he had participated in Flags for Freedom since it began five years ago, and added that he thought the district did a good job, considering the challenges it faced with the pandemic.

“I was surprised the kids wanted this,” he said. “It’s important for them to receive the American flag, because a lot of them don’t know what went on in my era. I was 10 when World War II broke out. When I graduated high school, I had to sign up for the draft. Life was hard back then.”

Price said he missed handing the flags to the graduates, and having one folded during the assembly by an active-duty military member and a veteran. “It was more personal,” he said. “But the only problem for me during graduation was that many parents were not wearing masks, and half of the kids weren’t either. But overall, being there was a great experience.”

Salutatorian Julia Forte addressed her classmates at each ceremony.  “We are made up of a class unlike any other,” she told them. “A class of all-around amazing people: brilliant, athletic, artistic, kind.”

Valedictorian Michelle Hsu shared memories of school as well as advice for her classmates. “High school was a special time that cannot be replicated,” she said. “But the emotions, the relationships, the community, they don’t end here, and neither does the learning. If you immerse and invest yourself, you will feel joy and pride in whatever you do and build close friendships wherever you go.”

Principal Patrick DiClemente led the ceremonies. Later, he offered his thoughts to the seniors. “Graduates, as a parent shared with me this week, ‘The wind is not always at our back and the tide sometimes pulls us away from the safety of the shoreline,’” he said. “As Walt Whitman writes, ‘If the wind will not serve, take to the oars.’ Keep trying, adapt, fail, try again, get a little better with every experience, be a lifelong learner.”

Interim Superintendent of Schools Dr. Thomas P. Dolan reached out to the kindergarten teachers who taught the class of 2020 in the year 2007. He shared advice from those teachers, which included reminding the graduates of some of the same lessons they were taught as 5-year-olds. One kindergarten lesson reminded students that “one act of kindness changes everything for a person.”

While members of the class of 2020 had a senior year they will no doubt always remember for its unique circumstances, graduation focused on hope and the opportunities waiting for each of them in the future.