Oceanside and Island Park districts celebrate graduation

Graduation Day 2022 at Oceanside High School was a day of motivation-a look back at the motivation that brought them to graduation day and motivation to reach their goals in the future.

In fact, Salutatorian Sara Brobston said she needed motivation to get up in front of her peers and deliver her speech.

“Those of you know me know I do not like to be in the spotlight,” Brobston said. “Being up here is the last thing I wanted to be doing  but I did it with the motivation provided by my teachers, family and friends and it is the same motivation that  you are here graduating from Oceanside High School,.”

She said that motivation was the key factor that allowed her academic success.

“Some are motivated by desire to reach a certain goal or others by something they heard or read somewhere,” Brobston said. “My motivation for doing well in school was learning; it may seem obvious since we come to school to learn but I tried to take it further than that at Oceanside High School; I read books, asked questions, looked things up online and took every other action to learn.”

Valedictorian Thomas Eldho took the time during his speech to share three lessons.

The first was “find a community.”

“When my parents immigrated from India in 2009, my family faced the challenge of assimilating to a new culture,” Eldho said. “As challenging as it was, at the conclusion of my education in Oceanside, I’m thankful to be part of several communities such as French class and the tennis team; each of these communities dramatically shifted part of my life.”

The second was “meet new people.”

“Each person you encounter will always have life of their own with unique experiences to share,” Eldho said. “By talking to these people, you overlap their hobbies with your interests and therefore expand your worldview.”

His last lesson was “continue reading books.”

“No matter what career path you choose, continue to learn from the humanities,” Eldho said. “There’s a beauty in understanding the world through the words of past poets, historians and authors.”

Additionally, Island Park’s littlest students enjoyed a day of celebration.

Francis X. Hegarty’s fourth-graders recognized their advancement to Lincoln Orens Middle School. Principal Cynthia Cameron facilitated a moving-up ceremony which featured song performances, a carnation ceremony and the presentation of certificates of completion.

Lincoln Orens Middle School celebrated their 60th Annual Commencement Ceremony which was attended by the Board of Education, administration and faculty members and students’ proud families.