Nora Grace-Flood photo
Graduate Blessing Boateng with her parents.
“Be present, be bold, be yourself,” Hamden High Valedictorian and Class President Ezekiel Daye urged his peers. Then he broke out into song.
Commencement crowd on Hamden’s football field.
Daye was one of 412 students to graduate from Hamden High School on Monday night. He did so in front of a football stadium packed with hundreds of friends and family members.
The message of his speech — and song — was clear: Pay attention to and take advantage of the moment.
Graduate Rayyan Ibet: Off to the University of Connecticut to study pediatric nursing.
Principal Nadine Gannon praised the senior class for doing exactly that. During a year of unique hardships and academic obstacles, Hamden high schoolers found ways to step up to the plate, she said.
This year, Hamden High was one of eight schools in Connecticut to achieve a “No Place for Hate” designation. The school’s National Honors Society held a food drive and collected 120 pounds of groceries. The Black and Hispanic Student Union hosted an assembly to celebrate Black History Month. The Health Professions Club met regularly over Zoom with medical students from Quinnipiac University and ultimately developed Covid-19 themed capstone projects.
And lastly, among a multitude of other achievements listed by Gannon during the ceremony, students participated in a town-wide competition called “The Happiness Project,” which encouraged youth to create billboard visuals highlighting strategies for dealing with anxiety and depression.
Graduates Ava Carter (left) and Linda Pham (right): “Best friends” planning to attend the University of Connecticut and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, respectively.
Salutatorian Sophia Groff offered one such tactic during her own speech: “Wherever life takes you, always allow yourself a moment to step back and breathe.”
Those words held an inevitable weight, recalling George Floyd’s final sentence.
Hamden Superintendent of Schools Jody Goeler recalled the isolation and distancing that defined this time last spring: “Last year this time I looked out to a field of cars, and instead of applause the field echoed with blowing horns as demonstrations of approval, appreciation, and acknowledgement.”
“How great is it to be here this evening and see human faces, at least half of faces, and hear the sound of human voices again?” he asked. The crowd cheered in response.
Graduate Emma Kennedy with mother, Elisabeth. It’s Oberlin in the fall!
Watch the full ceremony below. Skip to minute 41 to hear Daye live up to his own advice and raise his voice by singing “My Way” to a captive but captivated audience.
lol "captive but captivated." well put