fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Holiday Gift Subscription
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

Kingston grads cap a challenging year with large in-person graduation 

by Crispin Kott
July 6, 2021
in Education
0

Graduates waiting in line to receive their diplomas.

Kingston Class of 2021 recording secretary Joshua Townsend, valedictorian Jason Chen and class vice president Brenden Arbiter while waiting on line to enter Dietz Stadium. (Photos by Phyllis McCabe)

Though their senior year was anything but traditional, the Kingston High School Class of 2021 had a classic sendoff last Friday, with friends and family packing the bleachers at Dietz Stadium for the event.

The COVID-19 pandemic ebbed and flowed both locally and globally during the 2020-21 school year, but with vaccinations ramping up in the weeks leading up to final exams, a sense of semi-normalcy began to take hold. But until mid-June, a full-on traditional ceremony was still not possible, with two socially distanced, attendance-limited events planned; even that would have been a step forward from the 10 small ceremonies held over two days for the Class of 2020. But with infection rates dropping across the state, school districts were given the option of opening up their high school graduation ceremonies, and other than a request that unvaccinated people continue wearing masks, it may as well have been a commencement exercise from a pre-pandemic era.

KHS class president Alexandra Mitchell welcomes the graduates.

Except, of course, that COVID-19 and the ongoing response to the pandemic informed how the Class of 2021 lived their lives, both on and off campus. It was anything but a traditional school year, but in her class president’s welcome speech, Alexandra Mitchell said her fellow graduates are familiar with the unfamiliar.

“We were kindergarteners as the first African-American president was elected, as America underwent the largest recession since the great depression,” Mitchell said. “We experienced, not just hurricanes like Sandy; and terrorism, such as the Boston marathon bombing; and school shootings including Sandy Hook Elementary and Parkland, Florida. We’re the generation that has been engulfed into social media, such as Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. We lived through two tense presidential elections in 2016 and 2020, and felt the widening division in society based on political ideology. We watched movements such as Occupy Wall Street, March for Our Lives and Black Lives Matter pursue change in our country. And oh yeah, we went to school in the middle of a pandemic.”

Mitchell called hers the “guinea pig class,” and not just because of their unprecedented senior year, but for much that preceded it.

“We were the first fifth graders in the middle schools, one of the first classes to undergo the transition to Common Core, and the first ninth graders in the brand-new East and West buildings. We watched as the MJM and Tobin buildings were torn down…We experienced bomb threats and middle school clowns where there shouldn’t have been clowns, and power outages due to a transformer on campus blowing up. Despite all of this, we’re standing here, somehow about to graduate.”

A senior congratulates her friend who just received her diploma.

Mitchell added that fully remote learning early in the 2020-21 school year was no picnic either.

“I’m going to be honest: It is incredibly difficult to force yourself out of bed on a Tuesday morning when your education is defined by an 8×13 inch screen, and when there seems to be little to no hopefulness in the world. And for that, I’d like to applaud every member of the class before me.”

Kingston High School valedictorian Jason Chen giving his address.

Student government president Brenden Arbiter said he struggled with writing his speech.

“To be honest, I couldn’t decide if I wanted it to be funny, or if I wanted it to be motivational, or if I should just address the pandemic like every other speech we’ve heard this past year,” he said. “As individuals, we have our entire lives to do whatever we want. We can go and excel in college and get any degree we want. We can try to expand our dreams and become singers or rappers or movie stars. We can simply just do nothing and take in the world for what it is. But the point is we have the power, to do whatever we put our minds to. Throughout my four years of high school I struggled so much trying to understand what happiness truly means and how to achieve that for my future. However, the older I get, the more I realize that happiness is built off of standards that we set up for ourselves. Life is meant to be a journey that we explore and where we go is based off of our own decisions…Life is deeper than just grades, college, jobs and family. Life is about experiences and memories that last a lifetime.”

Graduates waiting in line to receive their diplomas.

 

Caps off!!

 

Friends Lindsey Boye and Kailey Cook.

 

Twins Ty and Minh Quach and friend Brendan Ortlieb.

 

Graduate Lindsey Boye with her grandmother, Micki Mills and mother, Michelle Mills Boye.

 

Kingston High School graduates along with their family and friends in the stands at Dietz Stadium.

 

L-R: Kingston High School Class of 2021 class president Alexandra Mitchell, corresponding secretary Joshua Townsend, vice president Brenden Arbiter and recording secretary Allison Bovee carry the banner into Dietz Stadium.

 

Graduates Jacob Internicola, Sarah Lekaj and Anastasia Maritsas sing the Star Spangled Banner and KHS’s alma mater

 

Remembering mom on graduation day.

 

Graduates returning to their seat after receiving their diplomas.

 

Superintendent Dr. Paul J. Padalino presenting diplomas to graduates.
Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher
Previous Post

High school days end for Saugerties seniors

Next Post

Letters to the editor (6/30/21)

Crispin Kott

Crispin Kott was born in Chicago, raised in New York and has called everywhere from San Francisco to Los Angeles to Atlanta home. A music historian and failed drummer, he’s written for numerous print and online publications and has shared with his son Ian and daughter Marguerite a love of reading, writing and record collecting.

 Crispin Kott is the co-author of the Rock and Roll Explorer Guide to New York City (Globe Pequot Press, June 2018), the Little Book of Rock and Roll Wisdom (Lyons Press, October 2018), and the Rock and Roll Explorer Guide to San Francisco and the Bay Area (Globe Pequot Press, May 2021).

Related Posts

News & notes (4/21/21)
Education

Kingston School District weighs priorities as federal COVID funding set to expire later this year

January 30, 2023
“The School will be shot up” written on Miller Middle School’s bathroom wall
Crime

“The School will be shot up” written on Miller Middle School’s bathroom wall

January 30, 2023
Wild Earth collaborates with the KCSD to get kids out of the classroom and into their natural surroundings
Education

Wild Earth collaborates with the KCSD to get kids out of the classroom and into their natural surroundings

January 23, 2023
Onteora faces “unfathomable” choices as district’s enrollment dwindles
Education

Onteora faces “unfathomable” choices as district’s enrollment dwindles

January 22, 2023
In-person learning delayed once again in New Paltz
Education

New superintendent of New Paltz Central schools hopes to enhance the district’s social media presence

January 20, 2023
Lenape elementary students wow families with presentations on natural disasters 
Education

Lenape elementary students wow families with presentations on natural disasters 

January 19, 2023
Next Post
Letters to the editor (6/30/21)

Letters to the editor (6/30/21)

Trending News

  • New Paltz police chief responds to newly released body cam footage of Tyre Nichols’ murder 1.3k views
  • Who is Howard Harris, and why is he so angry at Woodstock town supervisor Bill McKenna? 1k views
  • Stockade FC will play at Marist College’s Tenney Stadium while Dietz Stadium is being renovated 895 views
  • Little Rabbit Wears Boutique gets “girly” in New Paltz 860 views
  • Hunter Mountain’s ski weekend nightlife is staging a post-pandemic comeback 773 views
  • Rosendale Library seeks public input after Town nixes letter of support for Belltower purchase 680 views

Weather

Kingston
◉
43°
Mostly Cloudy
7:10 am5:08 pm EST
Feels like: 43°F
Wind: 2mph NW
Humidity: 67%
Pressure: 30.09"Hg
UV index: 0
TueWedThu
34/19°F
36/19°F
41/19°F
Weather forecast Kingston, New York ▸

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Holiday Gift Subscription

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing