Allan Appel Photo
Paola Morales, after she spoke.
Four years ago Paola Morales came to New Haven from Colombia. The only English she knew was “yes” and “no” and friends communicated with her – or tried to – through Google Translator.
She persevered with language and more, and finished High School in the Community (HSC) a year early. She has already completed a semester of courses at the University of New Haven.
She was back Tuesday evening, wearing a white gown, and a broad smile of pride as the valedictorian of the 2018 graduating class of HSC
Allan Appel Photo
Grads and BFFs Laurel Cubellotti and Alondra Martinez.
Morales was one of several inspirational speakers among 67 graduates who were hailed by more than 300 of their family members and friends at HSC’s ceremonies in picture-perfect Wooster Square Tuesday evening.
The featured speaker — apart from the students — was HSC grad and currently New Haven Board of Ed member Joseph Rodriguez, who works as state director for the office of U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal.
“We reject the notion of fitting into a mold or pattern. HSC students are trailblazers, ceiling-breakers, independent, and doers,” he said. “We will change the world.”
The teacher-run, experiential social justice-themed magnet school is small, with 230 students total. The 67 grads walked in their gowns — white for the girls, teal for the boys — across the dais at the center of the tree-lined square to receive their diplomas and to begin their so-called adult lives.
“We couldn’t wait to leave and now we don’t want to,” Student Council President Ny’Asia Marie Davis’s said from the bright, sun-lit podium. “God, we’re adults now. That’s scary. Once you leave here, take care of yourselves.”
What was clear from stories told from the podium as well as among the students themselves was that the small size of HSC has enabled the teachers, guidance counselors, and the kids themselves to form a community of caring that helped many students overcome considerable challenges on their way to their mortarboard day.
For example, Laurel Cubellotti became pregnant in her junior year. During her senior year she had to learn to balance the responsibilities of being a new mom with all the challenges of academics and high school life.
Her good friend Alondra Martinez said that her particular challenge over the past year was encountering and overcoming bouts of depression. “Anxiety and depression hit,” surprising her, she said.
What was not surprising was how her peers helped, and teachers as well. “I felt like the teachers understood,” she said, when she had periods when she was out of school or had to be off for appointments.
“The smallness of the school makes it so that teachers notice if something is wrong,” said Cubellotti.
Building Leader Matt Brown, who is in his third year at HSC.
School“Building Leader Matt Brown — called so and not a “principal” because HSC democratizes leadership as a model for the kids — gave a shout-out to Cubellotti during his remarks along with several other students who, he said, embody the school’s social justice values in action.
He cited their “capstone” senior projects: Sean Nelson “rebooted our social action trips to Nicaragua.” Tymaine Lowery organized a warm clothing drive. Laurel Cubelloti showed how to balance personal responsibilities and school. Andrea Bryant set up a tutoring programs with the kids at Booker T. Washington Academy over on State Street.
The number of skyward-rising balloons on strings rivaled the number of trees in Wooster Square. The balloon bouquet held by HSC grad Inaya Rauls’s dad Travis and her aunt Tiffany won the prize.
Why so many?
“Because she’s come so far,” Travis Rauls answered. He credited the patience of HSC teachers and staff and the “tutoring and extremely good guidance counselors.” They were on the phone to him many times, he said. The smallness of the school was a key as well.
Their plans for the evening; Out to eat and then getting Inaya off to college in North Carolina, where she’s thinking of becoming a teacher herself.
Matt Brown said HSC plans next year to deepen a partnership with Gateway Community College by having up to 25 students take courses there. The first course would be sociology and then ethics, he said.
At a time when the city’s magnet schools are struggling to maintain their minimum enrollment from surrounding towns in order to continue the funding formula, Brown said, HSC is doing pretty well, with about 20 percent of his kids coming from outside of New Haven.
