Harrison High School Celebrates the Class of 2013

Harrison High School bid a fond farewell to the Class of 2013 on Friday, June 21 in commencement ceremonies held at SUNY Purchase College.

The 253 graduates were treated to accolades and advice from HHS principal Dr. James Ruck, who is retiring this year, Board of Education Vice President Abby Mendelsohn, and Superintendent of Schools Louis Wool.

Four years ago, Harrison High School students worked with administrators and Board of Education members to develop a system that would reward not just the school’s valedictorian and salutatorian but rather create a tiered system of honors as determined by a student’s cumulative weighted grade-point average.   From this group, seniors Sara Purinton and Mikie Sakanaka were selected by their peers to speak on behalf of the Class of 2013.

Senior Class President Raymond Corona, who has been class president for all four years at HHS, spoke nostalgically about the highlights of this senior class - the first class to earn International Baccalaureate Diplomas, representing the State of New York at the Pearl Harbor Day parade in Honolulu, Hawaii, and beating cross-town rivals Rye in football.  He even reminisced about the Driver’s Education instructor whose favorite saying was “Don’t use a Smartphone to make a dumb decision.”

As the sports editor of the Harrison Herald school newspaper, Corona, an avid sports fan, quoted the great North Carolina State coach Jimmy Valvano, who guided his Wolfpack team to an improbable NCAA Championship and later valiantly fought cancer.  Corona urged his classmates to persevere through the adventures and potentially difficult times ahead by channeling the immortal words of Valvano, “Try to do three things every day – laugh, think and find emotion that brings you to tears.  It is also important to remember where you started, where you are, and where you’re going to be….Don’t give up- Don’t ever give up.”