An outpouring of congratulations

Sprinkler malfunction cuts South Side's commencement short

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As South Side High School seniors were announced one by one to receive their diplomas at the school’s graduation last Friday evening, startled screams interrupted the procession as a shower of smelly liquid descended from the ceiling of Hofstra University’s David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex.

“Water started falling, and I was like, ‘I didn’t know they do this at graduations. Maybe it’s a new thing,’” said attendee Sean Murray, who chuckled as he stood outside the arena in a white shirt sprinkled with dark gray dots. “Then it smelled, and I was hoping it wasn’t plumbing.”

With just 14 more graduates waiting to be called to the stage, more than 250 seniors, along with hundreds of friends and relatives, were forced to evacuate after the liquid sprayed down on a section of the audience. As the teenagers on the arena floor realized that the ceremony had abruptly come to an end, they erupted in celebration — as if a teacher had dismissed them from class before the bell — and flung their mortarboards into the air.

According to a statement by Hofstra posted on the Rockville Centre district’s website, the sprinkler head malfunction, which triggered a fire alarm, was “unfortunately totally unpredictable,” and the burning smell came from water hitting the arena lights. The statement added that the water contained pipe-cutting oil residue, but posed no health risks. The university also assured that the sprinkler system is tested frequently, including once earlier this year.

“Again, on behalf of the university,” Hofstra wrote, “we apologize that the malfunction interrupted the celebration of the South Side High School seniors’ great achievement.”

Local fire departments arrived outside the building as the unfazed graduates posed for photos with their families and classmates.

“It was a freak accident, but they’ve been really good,” SSHS Principal John Murphy said of Hofstra officials, adding that the university has been “more than fair” in making amends monetarily.

Before the evacuation

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer showed up at the ceremony unannounced, to share a familiar story about how he earned a scholarship to travel around the world for a year when he graduated from high school. He chose instead to stay home with a girl he had fallen in love with, he told the crowd, but she dumped him by Labor Day.

He encouraged the class of 2017 to “go for it” — with his signature fist pump — in a changing world.

“Your generation is better equipped than any generation that has come before you to adapt to these changes, to overcome the obstacles they present and seize the opportunities they afford,” Schumer said. “The key, graduates, is not to fear the unknown. Embrace it, relish it, soak up every possibility it has to offer.”

In her address, Salutatorian Grace Feiner thanked the community and school faculty for the many experiences offered at South Side — which allowed students to find an area, or areas, to excel in — and wondered aloud who among her classmates would become the next Amy Schumer or Howard Stern. “They say it takes a village,” she said, “and Rockville Centre is the perfect example of it.”

Board of Education President Mark Masin told students to take photos on their phones with the people around them, and the graduates were only too happy to oblige. “These pictures will be among those that tonight, tomorrow, a month from tomorrow and for years, you will look back and say, ‘Oh, I remember him or her. That’s what we wore? I can’t believe we used a cellphone back then to take pictures, and now we use a fill-in-the-blank,’” Masin said. “Somebody here may be that person to fill in that blank.”

Amid the speeches that touched on the changing world and innovation, Principal Murphy reminded students of the rooted principles of community and kindness that played a large role in the class’s success.

“Maybe, just maybe, the extensive list of individual accomplishments came as a result of a spirit of togetherness and unity that you created,” Murphy said, adding that kindness is a two-way street, and that attitudes are contagious.

Valedictorian Morley Hawriluk spoke of how humans can make a difference by investing in clean-energy initiatives. “As much as I can talk about saving the polar bears and trees, I’ve realized that romanticizing nature can only get you so far in today’s world,” Hawriluk said. “As the saying goes, ‘Money talks.’”

He noted that the United States’ long-term thinking led to investments in computers and pharmaceutical drugs decades ago, both of which were fledgling industries at the time and have since grown immensely. “Clean energy is an infant industry,” he added. “When you drive on Sunrise Highway, you don’t see solar-powered parking stations, do you? No, you see gas stations and Taco Bell.”

Hawriluk concluded by alluding to the 1990 photograph taken by the Voyager 1 space probe, which shows the Earth 3.7 billion miles away, appearing only as a pale blue dot against the vastness of space.

“From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest, but for us it’s different,” he said, quoting astronomer and author Carl Sagan. “…There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”