NEW ROCHELLE, NY — It has been a week of cheers, school colors and “Congrats, Grad!” balloons as all the City School District of New Rochelle schools held their graduations and moving-up ceremonies starting last Friday.
While New Rochelle High School’s McKenna Field draws the largest crowd for its commencement, the middle schools and elementary schools reveled in pride and pomp as well. On Wednesday, blue-robed eighth-graders at Albert Leonard Middle School held their transition ceremony. This morning, Isaac E. Young Middle School eighth-graders – boys in green, girls in white – held their graduation in the high school.
Over the past week, six elementary schools also held ceremonies for their fifth-graders to move on to middle school. And the Henry Barnard Early Childhood Center held a graduation for its top class – the second-graders.
They were congratulated by their principals and New Rochelle Board of Education members who attended.
IEYMS Principal Anthony Bongo urged students to “do something nice for someone this summer without asking for anything in return.”
“Let’s look at the positive side of one another and find common ground in everything we do, and that way everybody wins,” he said. “I wish you all the best of health.”
ALMS Principal John Barnes invited students leaving his school to come back in the future and let everyone know how they were doing.
“You don’t say ‘Good-bye.’ Your family gets bigger,” he said.
NRHS Principal Reginald Richardson attended both middle school ceremonies to welcome the students who will step into his school as ninth graders in September.
“It is really a gateway to the rest of your life, and we are so very fortunate to have in our community, really one of the finest high schools in the country,” Richardson said. “At New Rochelle High School, you will find unlimited opportunities. As you explore and discover who you are, you’re going to find things you didn’t even know you were interested in,” he said.