Uniondale High School’s bittersweet graduation

The auditorium of Hofstra University’s David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex was filled last Saturday with proud parents, family members and the 470 seniors who graduated from Uniondale High School this year — the second-largest senior class in the school’s history, behind only 2004’s 505 graduates.

Although there was no shortage of joy and celebration, there was also grief and a bittersweet feel, as the graduates mourned two fallen Knights who should have been there to walk across the stage with them — David Brutus, a talented musician and scholar, and Jomani “JoJo” Wright, star of the Uniondale High School basketball team and an NCAA Division 1-bound standout.

Members of Brutus’s and Wright’s families accepted their diplomas, honoring them and their high school accomplishments.

“As I look into the crowd, I see a never-ending collage of color, courage, strength and education,” Uniondale High Principal Mark McCaw said. He praised the members of the Class of 2023 for their resilience, determination and success in the face of adversity and heartache.

“You faced a pandemic,” McCaw said. “You have faced learning loss and you have faced tragedy — but you have also built on a strong sense of community and culture that has guided you through the toughest of times.”

The commencement ceremony featured performances by the high school’s Show Choir, music from the school band, and speakers including Board of Education President Mary Bediako and District Superintendent Monique Darrisaw-Akil.

“You all have broken all kinds of records in terms of college acceptance rates, scholarships, awards — everything!” Darrisaw-Akil said. “You guys did all those things this year, and that’s why you’re phenomenal.”

She also praised those who doubted they would walk across the stage this year. “Some of you have faced incredible obstacles,” Darrisaw-Akil said, “but you are here today — and that just shows your strength, your courage, and your resilience.”

Valedictorian Triston Mohamed and Salutatorian Yesica Arriola-Hercules spoke about their high school experience, the lessons they learned and friends they made along the way, and shared messages of hope and ambition with their classmates.

“When I look back on the past four years, I don’t look back fondly on the homework or the exams,” Mohamed said. “I wouldn’t be able to tell you what I got on my 11th-grade U.S. history midterm or in my ninth-grade physics class, but I am able to vividly describe the people I’ve met and the conversations I’ve had. The graduating Class of 2023 is so much more than merely a collection of grade point averages.”

Mohamed will attend MIT in the fall on a full scholarship, and plans to major in math, while Arriola-Hercules will head to Princeton University, also on full scholarship.

After the ceremony, families gathered outside the stadium to take photos and socialize. Eighteen-year-old graduate Samuel Ortiz said it was a surreal feeling to finally be finished with school and to prepare to join “the real world.”

Samuel’s mother, Silvia Cruz, said she was beyond proud of her son for graduating and making it through his high school career despite the pandemic. “He is my last one of my four to graduate high school,” she said. “I am so proud of him.”

Then, having successfully put all of her children through school and seen the mature adults they’ve become, she added, “I’m finally done!”