The 17 members of Bridgehampton High School’s class of 2019 left “the Hive” in style on Sunday, with tears and cheers from family members, awards for all, words of encouragement and gratitude aplenty, and even, for one student, family members celebrating with posters of his face.
Kwame Yirenkyi, a third-generation Bridgehampton student whose 30 family members surprised him with those posters, called his high school education “a great experience and a family legacy.”
“I’m going to miss the family I graduated with,” said the Pace University-bound graduate, who’s now looking forward to his next step. “I plan to be a concert manager someday. Tour the world, take my family with me, and take Bridgehampton with me as well.”
Michael Miller, the school principal, surveyed the seniors’ memories of their time at Bridgehampton. Two common themes emerged as Mr. Miller quoted the students’ replies. As Hannah Baker put it, “having my teachers’ and peers’ unconditional support to strive to be better” made a difference. And in the words of Janatan Braia — who has enlisted in the Air Force — “the fact that our school is so small, everyone knows each other, and it’s like a small family” had an impact.
Mr. Miller also asked the seniors what they were thankful for. Michelle Lopez thanked her uncle, Franklin Paucar, for giving her a home in Bridgehampton for the last five years so she could complete her studies. And almost every senior thanked their teachers and counselors, not just for the academic lessons and skills they imparted, but also for unwavering emotional support.
The graduation ceremony served as a 50th reunion for the Class of 1969. It also served as the launch pad for what Erick Saldivar plans to be the annual Erick and Pablo Saldivar Memorial Scholarship, given in memory of his late brother, Pablo Saldivar, a Bridgehampton student who died in a car accident in April 2009 at the age of 16. Erick Saldivar recalled how his brother would walk four miles home from basketball practice at Bridgehampton and improved his grades from Ds and Fs to Bs.
“It’s been 10 years since his passing, so I wanted to commemorate his memory in the best way I could,” said Mr. Saldivar, who is a member of the Southampton Town Opioid Task Force. “That’s by giving back to the place that helped him turn his life around and turned me into the man that I am today. Before we moved to Bridgehampton, my brother had been what you could consider to be a troubled child. . . . Once we moved to Bridgehampton, everything slowly but surely started changing.”
The scholarship awarded to Monasia Street was one of many totaling more than $42,000 given to the seniors by community members and organizations. Mr. Miller thanked the community at large for its generosity.
Edwina von Gal, the landscape designer and founder of the Perfect Earth Project, an organization that promotes pesticide-free landscapes, was the keynote speaker. She urged the graduates to “go outside” and make friends in nature. She also said the responsibility of stewardship of the increasingly threatened natural environment will be in the hands of this generation and those moving forward.
“We know this connection to nature is the key to our happiness,” Ms. von Gal said. “Watching the Nature Channel is not knowing nature. You need to get out in it. This is how you will be able to know what’s right when difficult situations start presenting themselves.”
In his remarks, Mr. Miller urged the graduates to be someone who brings people together. “Be an instrument of good,” he said. Robert Hauser, the school superintendent, advised students that two types of change are on the horizon — changes they will not be able to control, and changes they can make themselves. He called for students to look for “simple, small, and manageable ways to change the community you’re in.”
Nat DePasquale, who will attend Hunter College in the fall, said the words of the speakers resonated with him. “A lot that Edwina von Gal said was very motivating and important, and the same with the administration,” he said. “They did a lot for me in my high school career, and I want to thank them for that.”
He’s nervous and excited now that he’s graduated from high school. “But it’s great,” Nat said. “It’s a new part of my life now and I’m excited to see what I’m going to do.”
Paige Hoyt, who will attend the University of North Carolina at Wilmington next year to study exercise science with the goal of being a soccer coach, said graduation day was “amazing.”
“I was very nervous, but it was great to see everyone come together and create such a special moment for all of us,” Paige said. “It’s going to be weird not coming here anymore, but I’m excited to move on.”
Autumn Coffey, the Stony Brook University-bound salutatorian, said it was fulfilling to get all her academics in order and to graduate. “It feels great to be here with everyone, making memories of our last day being together,” she said.
In his remarks, James Fairchild, the class valedictorian, echoed the comments made by Hannah and Janatan, and gave a shout-out to a fellow senior who made Bridgehampton a particularly warm and welcome place: Aziza El, who extended a friendly hand right away when James was the new kid in ninth grade and knew no one among a student body that had largely been together since they were 3 or 4 years old.
“So many of my personal achievements and unforgettable experiences are connected to you,” he told his classmates. “Wherever you find yourself, bring a piece of Bridgehampton with you.”
