New Haven Academy Grads Remember When …

New Haven Academy’s Class of 2023 took one last moment before graduating to recall four years worth of memories together — including singing High School Musical songs in the middle of classes, overcoming the fallout of remote learning, and putting on the school’s first ever theatrical production. 

New Haven Academy celebrated 62 graduates at its 17th commencement ceremony on Wednesday afternoon.

Principal Greg Baldwin reminded the now-departing students that ​“you are ready to move on” and that New Haven Academy’s doors are always open for them to return. 

The graduation was hosted in the auditorium of Fair Haven School on Grand Avenue. Over a hundred family members packed into the space to celebrate their students with balloons, flowers, framed posters, and cutouts of their graduates’ heads. 

New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) Assistant Supt. Keisha Redd-Hannans gave brief welcoming remarks at Wednesday’s ceremony. She encouraged students to go on to accomplish more milestones by being ​“change agents and agitators.”

During the ceremony’s presentation of diplomas the school continued its tradition of having an educator give a short personalized speech about each graduate before they receive their diploma. 

Educators recalled specific moments with students over the past four years, like when graduate Salvatore Michael Ardizzone would randomly break out into song in the middle of class.

Or when Mikayla Renee Gardner co-founded a nonprofit called Our Kids Swim Too which focuses on combating the underrepresentation of Black children in competitive swimming. 

Or when Asia Gause-Aiken started her freshman year off quiet and shy and ended her senior year as an advisory leader. 

Or when Jake Granoff always asked odd questions or made statements like he’s ​“immune to large doses of caffeine” and said aliens are fuchsia. 

They remembered the helping hands of students like Ariana Guzmán, who often answered phones and helped the school main office. 

The resilience of students like Stephanie Hernandez who transferred to New Haven Academy her senior year and always kept a positive attitude. 

And memorable students like Ronnell Higgins Jr. who always brought energy and positivity to Zoom classes while remote and was a model scholar-student athlete. 

They remembered the obstacles faced by graduate Kiarra Jones who ​“held down the fort” at home after her mother had a baby and needed lots of recovery time, leaving her to often take care of her siblings. 

Students like Christopher Laurent who explored his interest in community advocacy by volunteering with Junta For Progressive Action. 

And student talents like Anasia Monet Mitchell’s skills with baking a cupcake from scratch and Randy Sebastian’s love for 80’s rock and roll music. 

Graduate Paris Feliciano, 18, crossed the stage Wednesday with a cap painted with the Puerto Rican flag and the words ​“Somos Más” meaning ​“We are more.” 

Feliciano, who is a New Haven native, also was decorated with her purple seal of biliteracy cord.

She recalled learning a lot about herself over the past four years at New Haven Academy. She described herself as an outgoing people person, and said this caused her to struggled significantly during remote learning. 

“Being at home was hard, my anxiety and mental health went downhill,” she said. 

As a result however she said she learned to be independent and advocate for herself as she went to therapy for her anxiety. 

She said one of her proudest accomplishments was being a part of New Haven Academy’s Hispanic Heritage club and have three huge performances this year. 

“In four years I learned that the harder things are the best things for you,” she said. 

Kyrell Carter, 17, said even after crossing the stage Wednesday and receiving his diploma, he was still nervous but proud. 

He recalled the most difficult part of the past four years being the shutdown of schools and the difficulty he had with waking up and staying awake for remote classes. 

Carter plans to go to school in the fall for real estate. 

Senior class president and student graduation ceremony speaker Chasity Trotman also recalled being rushed to senior year due to the pandemic. 

She acknowledged and celebrated her classmates who spent the past four years as student athletes, taking college courses, leading clubs, and overcoming personal challenges. 

“We did it,” she said. 

Trotman will head off to Southern Connecticut State University in the fall. 

Graduate Taylor Council, 18, is heading off to SCSU to follow in her grandmother’s footsteps of becoming a nurse, which she has aspired to do since she was 10 years old. 

Council was a Hamden cheerleader who used cheerleading to keep her motivated throughout the ups and downs of high school. 

Her advice to current and incoming high schoolers was to ​“take it one day at a time” and to never give up. 

Isaiah Becton, 17, will attend Hampton University to study kinesiology with the goal of becoming a sports team physician. 

Despite the challenges of high school like social media, Becton said, his family and friends pushed him to always remember ​“what does my end goal look like.” 

Thailyn Geter, 17, is heading off to her dream school, Howard University, in the fall to study business and shared her student testimony during Wednesday’s ceremony. 

She thanked her village for the support over the years and took her classmates on a trip down memory lane. She recalled the 360 turn to their lives thanks to Covid, as well as the struggles to wake up in the morning and focus during Zoom classes. She appreciated their teachers working hard to keep them entertained while remote. 

When students returned hybrid, she said, ​“it just wasn’t the same” and the Class of 2023 went from remote to having to plan out their lives during junior and senior year. 

She recalled writing a 10 – 15 page junior thesis essay then learning about ​“balance, hard work, and discipline to get to the end of the tunnel” for senior year. 

She graduated with 3.8 GPA despite the struggles of remote learning and led her basketball team to a 27 – 0 season as captain.