Great Neck Superintendent of Schools Thomas Dolan on Thursday tasked students graduating from Great Neck North High School with protecting the public school system, which he said was “under attack.”
“Your mission is to preserve the institution that honors you today,” Dolan said at the school graduation ceremonies at Roger Tilles Center at LIU Post.
Dolan told the 221 Great Neck North High School graduates who received their diplomas that the there were people seeking to “privatize” and “discredit” public schools.
Dolan said the continuation of the public school system was the “duty” of the class of 2014, the same way winning World War II was the duty for the class of 1944 and proclaiming world peace was the duty of the class of 1964.
“You have a moral obligation,” he said. “Proclaim [public school’s] success.”
Dolan said the class of 2014 “embodiment of [public school’s] success.”
“That makes your mission that much more important,” he said.
Great Neck North High School Principal Bernard Kaplan gave his former students a different challenge: to be their own hero. Kaplan urged the graduates to follow their own dreams and to not be persuaded by the suggestions of others.
“Your dreams are already embedded in your heart of hearts,” he said.
Kaplan finished his speech by performing Astrid’s “Be Your Own Hero” on the guitar while singing with students.
Student speaker Tyler Bloom also urged his fellow graduates to follow their own dreams.
Bloom, during his speech, told graduates they faced the choice of selling “shares” of themselves in college or keeping them.
“I urge you to keep your shares,” Bloom said.
Bloom said selling too many “shares” of “You, Inc.” takes away from a person’s main goal in life.
“The company should stick to a vision,” Bloom said.
He said as a high school freshman, he had sold a majority of his “shares” by enrolling in too many extracurricular activities.
Bloom said he felt more fulfilled in the few extracurricular activities he remained active in after buying back his shares of “You, Inc.”.
“Each meeting and rehearsal was fuller and meant more to me,” he said.
The ceremony also included several musical performances by the Great Neck North Symphonic Band, directed by conductor Joseph Rutkowski.
The band performed an excerpt from “Romeo and Juliet” by Tchaikovsky and two pieces from West Side Story, “Scherzo” and “Mambo” by Leonard Bernstein.
