“Ladies and gentlemen, the class of 2013.”
With those words the graduates of Great Neck South High School, in blue robes with tassels uniformly resting on the right side of their mortar boards, began their march through the auditorium of Long Island University Post’s Tilles Center to applause and the flash of cameras.
With the class gathered for the last time in their high school careers, salutatorian Marc Fishman spoke about the years shared between his classmates and teachers.
“In the past four years we have lived, learned, grown, laughed and made lifelong friendships,” Fishman said. “With the help of our parents and teachers we survived high school and grew to become the amazing people we are today.”
And though Fishman and his class are soon to become, as he put it, “little fish in a big pond,” he said the coming years are something to look forward to.
“And so we gather here today not to say goodbye to high school but to say hello to the future,” Fishman said.
The link between the end of high school and the beginning of new challenges and experiences for the class of 2013 was a theme among the several student speakers who addressed the crowd of family and friends.
Benjamin Zander gave his farewell to his classmates in the form of a poem, delivering rhyming couplets about the past four years and what lies ahead for him and his class.
“This is the beginning and not the end, and I hope you will remain my friend,” he recited.
Anoush Baghdassarian took her class through their past 13 years of schooling through a film metaphor, rewinding and fast-forwarding between times they had shared together.
“All of our beginnings have started with an ending, and today is one of the most important endings of our lives,” Bagdassarian said.
And David Hyun Kim, one of the class valedictorians along with Nola Gordon, asked his classmates to keep their time together present in their minds.
“It saddens me that I now have to part with the place that created to many memories,” Kim said. “Do not forget the past and where we came from, because, class of 2013, the end is only where we begin.”
And if new beginnings were on the minds of many at the ceremony, so were enduring friendships – marked by a performance of the sitcom “Friends”’ theme song, “I’ll Be There For You” by the Rembrandts. A group of students sang it like an anthem, accompanied by piano, drums and bass guitar.
The afternoon also featured a performance of a song from the musical “Wicked” by student instrumentalists.
Principal Susan Elliott sent off the class with a farewell.
“Class of 2013, we will miss you,” Elliott said. “We’ve enjoyed working with you, getting to know you and watching you grow.”
Elliott also sent the graduates off with some advice – to show appreciation for their good fortune by treating others well.
“You reciprocate with the universe by being kind to others,” Elliott said.
