Four-hundred-and-seventy-two Cherry Hill East graduates flooded the Liacouras Center at Temple University in Philadelphia in a sea of red and white for their graduation on June 19.
They were met with encouraging words from student leaders and administrators, who reflected on the past four years and what the graduates have achieved as a class.
Class advisors Michael Mancinelli and Susan Melograna listed advice for the students, including being present, being intentional and embracing the struggles and situations life may throw at them.
“Pruning is painful, but it’s been a proven path to healthy growth for many of the world’s greatest leaders,” Mancinelli said. “Every trial you face is an opportunity for growth.”
“Choose to embrace your role in leadership,” Melograna remarked. “Leadership begins with influence, from words, attitudes and behaviors, all three of which you choose. Choose wisely, use your influence for the good of others, not just for yourself.”
Principal Dr. Dennis Perry encouraged the graduates to continue learning as they mature into adults and acknowledged the trials they’ve faced as a class.
“Your four years at East have been remarkable,” he noted. “As I have visited your classes, attended your sporting events, enjoyed your shows and celebrated all of your accomplishments, I’ve often reflected on the experiences and I’ve been filled with gratitude. None of us knew what to expect of the school experience as we returned from our post-COVID reality.”
“ … As a class, you have been active,” Perry added. “You showed up, you excelled in great numbers. From senior sunrise to senior sunset, the Class of 2023 has remade East.”
The class had 13 valedictorians: Akshay Anand, Jazz Ch’ng, Vox Chn’g, Vinayak Chidrawar, Joelle Kang, Eric Li, Sean Li, Gina Liu, Christopher Shin, Brianna Swartz, Sabriye Yilmaz, Grant Yoon and Alena Zhang. One-hundred-and-nine students graduated with the Seal of Biliteracy, which includes Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Kazakh Korean, Latin, Russian and Spanish.
Outgoing Superintendent Dr. Joseph Meloche gave his last graduation speech at East, highlighting the graduates’ resilience.
“Today. I look into your faces and I know the path to high-school graduation has not always been an easy one, and one (in which) so many of you in your cap and gown have refused to let circumstances that have been beyond your control to define you,” he remarked.
“Rather, you have chosen to seize the moments of opportunity in front of you and to move ahead.”
Meloche also encouraged the students to be kind, and reminded them that their thoughts, perspective and voices matter.
“You are our future, and we have grand expectations and a significant need for your class, for your generation to do so much better than our generation has done,” he said.
