Due to the threat of rain, the Herricks High School 52nd graduation was held in the Herricks High School Gym.
The graduation opened with the Pledge of Allegiance and the Star Spangled Banner spoken and sung beautifully by Ryan Singh.
Herricks High Principal Jane Modoono then welcomed the graduates, their families and guests and turned the podium over to Herricks Board President Christine Turner who explained that it was always the tradition that any board member who had a graduate would then be the board member who made the opening speech. This year it was Richard Buckley, a teacher who gave the talk. His daughter Emily was one of the approximately 350 graduates in the Class of 2011. Buckley gave a very poignant outline about his own father, who, due to the fact that he had no one to care for him, was sent to an orphanage at five years old. He served in World War II and when he finally grew up and married and had his own children he made sure they were all educated and could read and write, even though he could not. Buckley said, “His granddaughter is in this year’s graduating class, my daughter, Emily.”
The guest speaker for the day was English teacher, Michael Stein, who opened up his speech with a series of excuses his students have used throughout the years for their lack of homework assignments, which was very amusing.
Herricks Superintendent Dr. John Bierwirth gave a very brief welcome that ended with the line, “Good luck and come back and visit.”
