Rocky Point High School Celebrates Graduation

ROCKY POINT, NY — Rocky Point High School’s Class of 2021 was feted at the district’s annual commencement ceremony last Friday.

The students were greeted by members of the community as they walked onto the school’s football field to “Pomp and Circumstance,” and the ceremony began with a welcome from Principal Jonathan Hart, who thanked the students for their “patience, understanding and trust in the year’s challenges and making it to this milestone,” according to a school district news release.

Hart credited the district’s administrators, board of education members, educators, parents, and family members for “the collective guidance and support along the students’ path to success,” school district officials said.

Students Grace Benedetto and Jillian Carley sang “The Star-Spangled Banner,” said school district officials, adding that was followed by exhortation speaker Emmarose Hansen, who “shared her gratitude, lessons learned, and the challenges and changes that helped the students become closer as a school community.”

The ceremony also included a special talk about the class’ history which was led by Schools Superintendent Scott O’Brien, who served as their principal in elementary and middle school, and finally, their superintendent, “sharing in an amazing educational journey together,” the news release stated.

Salutatorian Fiona McEvoy and valedictorian Ashlynne Xavier each addressed their classmates, “sharing words of remembrance from their time spent in Rocky Point, as well as encouragement for their peers’ new journey ahead,” district officials said.