Selfie sticks and Tinder jokes. Beach balls and a flash mob. Blackbirds singing in the dead of night.
Following an hour-plus-long commencement Thursday outside the Herricks High School filled with its own unique hijinks, the 176 graduates of the school’s Class of 2015 received their diplomas and tossed their caps into the air.
When the ceremony concluded, so too did the tenures of school Superintendent John Bierwirth and Herricks High School Principal Jane Modoono, who are both retiring.
“The great joy in my job is facilitating and supporting he great ideas of teachers and students. That is what I have always wanted to do. What I see in you is the power of that dream,” Bierwirth said in his remarks to graduates. “Thank you for letting me be part of your lives. It has been fun.”
Modoono, whose first day on the job at Herricks was also the Class of 2015’s first day of kindergarten, recalled the graduates’ first field day as fourth graders and when they came to the high school as eighth graders for the district’s annual “freshman focus” event.
“Thank you for this incredible privilege of being your high school principal,” she said. “It could not have been any better.”
As Bierwirth and Modoono finished their joint speech, the students stood and applauded before clearing the center of their seating arrangement and breaking into a rendition of Pharrell Williams’ 2013 hit, “Happy,” complete with the graduation band playing along.
It was the third musical number of the evening, after the choir’s performance of the district’s alma mater and the Beatles’ “Blackbird.”
Prior to addressing his classmates for the last time, class president Dustin Liu pulled out a selfie stick, turned around and snapped a smiling photo of himself, the graduates, and all in attendance.
“I’m 17 years old, my favorite movie is ‘Legally Blonde’ and I love bowties,” Liu said, introducing himself, before invoking the popular mobile dating application Tinder: “If you think we would be a match, please swipe right.”
He noted that, although are more than 3.3 million graduating seniors within the overall Class of 2015, no school has experienced the variety of achievements that his Herricks class had in its four years.
“It isn’t the fact that we’re graduating that’s significant, it’s the achievements we have gained, it’s the community we have created and the memories we’ve shared,” he said “…You may not remember these things, but what you will remember are the emotional connections tied to these moments.”
Valedictorian Michelle Vancura urged the class to count its blessings amid the world’s atrocities, while economics teacher Michael Timms suggested the graduates make “kindness your default state of mind” in becoming successful adults.
In his address, Herricks Board of Education President Jim Gounaris said his wish for the graduates was the same as it is for his son, William, who also graduated Thursday: “Use this day as your launching pad. Go our and build your lives, build on your character and build on all the goodness the world has to offer.”
“Building on these pillars will build all the goodness within you, and then share it with the rest of the world,” he continued. “We are entrusting this world to you, so please, leave it better than we have. We are counting on you to do so.”
