Since kindergarten, the members of Newark Charter School's Class of 2024 have spent the last 13 years together, supporting each other, learning from one another and experiencing together the various milestones of high school.
Now that the students have received their diplomas it's time to experience what awaits them outside of the comfy confines of Newark Charter, graduating senior Krish Shajpaul said.
“There is so much more to us we will never discover about ourselves in this safe haven. We are little settled snowflakes in our little shared snowglobe,” Shajpaul told his classmates during Sunday's graduation ceremony. “And whether we want to or not, it’s time for us to shatter our glass walls and break into the blizzard of adult life.”
He said he will remember his class as one that was always willing to help those in need.
“We won’t bear the latest fruit of NCS’s ever-expanding campus, but we were there every step of the way to show the rest of the world that our community has so much more potential,” he said. “From leading the charge for our first Friday Night Lights to our almost doubled fundraising for B+, we have become leaders, not followers.”
Shajpaul, who is heading to Georgia Tech to study computer engineering next year, was one of nearly 200 Newark Charter seniors who received their diplomas at the Bob Carpenter Center on Sunday.
Kate Li, who's planning to study engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, was named the valedictorian. Molly Shay, who will attend Smith College, was named the salutatorian.
Head of School Sam Golder said the graduating seniors give him hope in a world filled with strife.
“So how do I answer the question of 'What is it with kids these days?'” Golder said. “I answer, you want to feel great about the future, you want to feel great about the present? Come visit Newark Charter School for a couple of days. Meet this group and smile at the limitless potential.”
He encouraged the graduates to live every day to its fullest.
“When you end each day, know that you’ve given it what you’ve got, made a fellow human smile, engaged in something productive, contributed to something greater than yourself,” he said.
Principal Dan Bartnik noted that members of the Class of 2024 were accepted into some of the nation's most prestigious colleges and universities.
“You have proven time and again that you possess the skills and character necessary to conquer any challenge that lies ahead,” Bartnik told the graduates.
Wiley Gong told fellow graduates that “an infinite horizon stretches out before you today.”
“You are the conquerors of the 21st century,” said Gong, who is also planning to study computer engineering at Georgia Tech. “You may not be prepared, but you are capable. You have two hands. You have strong hearts. You have good heads on your shoulders.”
“You’ll build this reality to your dreams, to the limits of your will,” he added.
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