By Carol P. Bartold     

Jun. 22, 2016: On Saturday evening, June 18, the Bronxville High School Class of 2016, 117 members strong, emerged from the school's new auditorium and filed down the ramps from its patio to walk in procession to the school's front steps for the school's 94th commencement ceremony.

Family members and friends and members of the administration and board of education, as well as faculty from the elementary, middle, and high schools, gathered on the school's front lawn to help celebrate this significant milestone in the seniors' lives.

“It is up to us to continue to discover our talents and make them our drive, Kathleen Conaton, 2016 class president, said in her address to her classmates. “Wherever we are in the coming years, I hope we can apply what we have learned to make the most of our new surroundings.” She encouraged the seniors to be brave, to have the courage to ask questions, and not to stop when things are “good enough.” Don’t ever stop, she said.

“I hope that in whatever encounters you experience,” Conaton said, “you take time to think, ‘I am being the difference.’”

Student faculty legislature president Natalia Kaminski, in her speech, posed the question, “Are we going to show up to our lives?”

“Graduation is perhaps one of many occasions when we can decide whether we are going to live our lives or merely preserve them,” Kaminski said. Many external influences will come into play, she noted. She added that, although no one has been exempt from authoritative influences, the cultivation of one’s own voice is essential. “Authority, in whatever form,” Kaminski said, “should serve to guide but never to dictate. People who truly want to guide you will work with you and not with the image of who they want you to be.”

Selected by the members of the class of 2016 as the parent speaker, Kimberly O’Toole, mother of Brennan O’Toole, addressed the graduating seniors. “I believe that this is the perfect age to have the freedom to explore your interests, to learn what you’re good at and how you want to challenge yourselves, and to begin to think about what you might want to do when you grow up.” At this point, she said to the seniors, your potential for growth and discovery is limitless.

O’Toole encouraged the students, especially those who feel they know what course they intend to chart for themselves, to keep their eyes and ears open and consider a path they might not have seen. “It is nothing short of a gift to have the chance to immerse yourself in a new community where intellectual curiosity is embraced and celebrated,” she said.

Departmental Achievement Awards for Excellence were given to:

• Brennan O’Toole for English and Latin

• Christopher Miller for Mathematics

• Noor Banihashem-Ahmad for Science

• Daniel von Albade for Social Studies

• Natalia Kaminski for Spanish

• Caroline DePaul for French

Brennan O’Toole received the award for Overall Academic Excellence.

The Bronxville Teachers' Association awards an annual scholarship to a graduating senior who has demonstrated enthusiasm for lifelong learning, a willingness to help others, a positive attitude, and an interest in entering the education field. Kathleen Conaton received the 2016 scholarship.

Receiving the Gwinn Arts Awards for Excellence were: 

• Henry Anderson for Instrumental Music for Orchestra

• Celia Haims for Fine Arts

• Caroline Schetlick and Alekzandra Thoms for Vocal Music

• Lauren Gray and John George Brakatselos for Drama

Retiring board of education president Denise Tormey presented the members of the class of 2016 with their diplomas.

High school principal Ann Meyer encouraged the graduating seniors to live lives of innovation, discovery, and creation and to make something new from what they know. “Engage the world around you and make it a better place,” she said. “We hope this is a promise you make to yourselves as you embark on lives outside of these walls and this community.” She added the hope that, during their time at The Bronxville School, the seniors found opportunities and the courage to change.

Congratulations to Bronxville High School’s Class of 2016!

To see photos of graduation, click here: Bronxville High School Graduation 2016.

Pictured here:  Bronxville High School Class of 2016.

Photos by Scott Burge