Wheatley School holds belated graduation

Elliot Weld
Dr. Sean Feeney gives a speech to new Wheatley School graduates. (photo by Elliot Weld)

Although it was not what they expected, members of the class of 2020 at the Wheatley School echoed a tone of hope and gratitude at a drive-in graduation ceremony on Sunday morning.

Ashley Vincenzo, who graduated, said when the lockdown was first announced, she did not think it would last long enough to affect events such as prom and graduation. As time went on and the end of the school year got closer, it became clear that a traditional graduation would not be possible.

Families came in cars and parked in the school parking lot. The stage that graduates walked across was situated adjacent to the cars and families could hear speeches and students’ names called over the radio and see them on a large screen at the front of the lot.

When the time came, students and two guests walked, six feet apart, to the stage and formed a line to walk across and receive a diploma. Celebration came in the form of car horns.

Vincenzo was one of three students whose essays were read at the graduation. Vincenzo’s was entitled “The 94 Percent” and reminded her classmates that the coronavirus pandemic only affected 6 percent of their time at Wheatley and should not define the experience.

“You have to look at the whole picture of things. You can’t just fixate on four months of time,” Vincenzo said.

In his speech, Wheatley Principal Sean Feeney compared the graduates to the generation of young people in the 1930s and 1940s, who endured the Great Depression and World War II. Because this generation sacrificed so much for the country, Tom Brokaw dubbed it “The Greatest Generation.”

Feeney said that some have already referred to young people today as “the COVID Generation,” but he had a different name for them because of the sacrifice they have made to assist in holding the novel coronavirus at bay and having grown up in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

“I truly believe that these students before us will become part of the New Greatest Generation,” Feeney said.

East Williston Board of Education President Mark Kamberg’s son, Adam, was part of the graduating class. Kamberg told a story of how many years ago, his son shot a Nerf dart up in the air and it stuck to the ceiling, remaining there for years, until a few days ago, when it fell down.

“Of course it did. It’s 2020, everything goes wrong,” Kamberg said, quoting his son.

Kamberg said that it has been frustrating for the students to see events that are considered hallmarks of the high school experience canceled, but that one wish they made clear was they wanted to be together.

“I think that in life there’s all sorts of memories and this will just be another memory in the book,” Kamberg said. “What they’ll remember is the friends that they made and the experiences they had throughout high school.”

Diane Cumming, who assisted in planning the graduation, said Feeney worked with the surrounding school districts to try and come up with the best idea possible for graduation. She said parents lobbied him to postpone the ceremony to July so as to have something closer to a traditional graduation, as opposed to the virtual events that some schools have held.

“Which was very important to everyone, not to have just a virtual graduation,” Cumming said. “Under the guidelines of New York State, this is the best that we could do.”

Brian Cumming, who graduated Sunday, said he was disappointed to see the second half of his senior year canceled, but he did not want to be at home for graduation. The most important thing was for the class to be together to graduate, he said.

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