At a sunny outdoor graduation, Village School graduate Nick Barrow took his classmates back into his own time of darkness.
After failing to succeed academically in a conventional high school setting, Barrow said, he began to lose hope in his abilities as a student and recede into a depression.
Coming to Village School, he said, helped to take him away from what he considered to be the lowest point in his life.
“Maybe I wasn’t surrounded with the right people,” he said he realized during a therapy session. “And maybe that’s why I hadn’t find the happiness that I was desperately seeking.”
On that same day, he made the decision to transfer to the Village School, where he met principal Steve Goldberg.
Barrow referred to him as the man “who would go on to change the rest of my life.”
“Coming to Village didn’t immediately cure all of my problems,” he said. “I still struggled, but now, I had teachers and friends there for me in ways that I had never experienced before.”
Barrow will be attending SUNY Plattsburgh in the fall. He thanked his teachers, family, and friends and Superintendent of Schools Tom Dolan for supporting him and the Village School during his four years of high school.
Barrow concluded his speech, which was held outside the school at 614 Middle Neck Road, with a piece of advice to his fellow graduates.
“Remember, as you move forward with your lives, find people who make you happy — and be with them,” he said.
Board of Education Vice President Lawrence Gross spoke of the founding of the alternative learning environment at Village School 45 years ago and praised the nine students who were graduating for the work they put in to create the environment that currently exists at Village.
“Each succeeding class birthed a new Village School in a form that best met their needs,” Gross said.
At the ceremony, the graduates also honored Dolan’s retirement with an Irish folk song that served as a tribute to the Dolan name.
Graduate Stephanie O’Hara served as the lead singer, with instrumentalists including principal Steve Goldberg and Great Neck North High music teacher Joseph Rutkowski.
When speaking with the students, Dolan cited the words of Tom Sobel, a past assistant superintendent of the district who was involved with the founding Village School.
Dolan chose to read some of Sobel’s words in a 1996 graduation address to the students.
“The real credit, the unsung glory, belongs to you,” Sobel had told the graduates in reference the formation of the Village School.
Dolan also recognized the success of the Village School over the course of its existence, referring to it as “an institution, not an experiment.”
“A school can be alternative, experimental, and even slightly informal — and still be an absolute success,” he said.
Graduate Ruben Heinemann gave the second student speech, explaining how Village finally gave him the chance to feel comfortable being himself.
Despite initial academic struggles, Heinemann said that his friends and teachers took him in and provided him with a family.
“Nowhere else did anyone put up with me and give me so many second chances,” he said. “Village showed me that there is not only a place where everyone can see each other for who they really are, but that a place exists where there is always someone to lean on during the most difficult times.”
O’Hara introduced Goldberg as the final speaker before the graduates were awarded with their diplomas.
“Because of you, I’m in a place I never thought I’d be,” she told Goldberg. “I’m graduating!”
In his speech, Goldberg thanked the Board of Education for their persistent efforts and commended Dolan for his work as he moves on to retirement after six years in the district.
“Tom worked for me, so that I could work for my staff, so that they could work for the children,” he said. “No ego, no pretense, no power trip — just compassion, hard work and faith.”
The graduation concluded with a Village School tradition.
Goldberg called up the first graduate, and each successive graduate called up his or her classmate to receive their diploma.
“I believe each and every one of you is capable of knowing what I believe to be the true secret to a happy and successful life,” Goldberg said in concluding his speech. “And that is knowing how to seize control over that which you have control, and relinquish control over that which is out of your hands. That’s it.”
