North Salem's Top Students Share Words of Wisdom at Graduation

NORTH SALEM, N.Y. - On June 17, friends, family, and faculty gathered at Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts for the graduation of the North Salem High School Class of 2024.

Leading the class academically were valedictorian Cassandra Pelosi and salutatorian Daniella Freedman, who offered words of wisdom for their classmates and reflected on their time at North Salem High School.

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Cassandra Pelosi - Valedictorian

I would like to start off by congratulating the Class of 2024. I also want to thank everyone for making this special night possible including Dr. Wilson (who my friends and I bugged incessantly trying to get him to open up the weight room for our civics project), Dr. Vanderstuyf (who had to deal with my sister for her options project), Dr. Vasquez (who had to deal with me when I was sent to his office with Andi Bordoy in fifth grade), Mr. DiGrandi (who knows just how to embarrass people, in my case, let’s just say I won’t be going to Carvel in Carmel anytime soon), Dr. Murphy (who I was fortunate enough never to have been sent to see), and finally the Board of Education (to whom I once made an impassioned speech, on behalf of a certain JV coach).

I am sure I am not the only one who has stories about almost every single administrator or teacher at this school. These connections are the fabric of the close-knit community that makes North Salem so special. For many of us seated on the stage here tonight, this town of 5,000 has been our home since birth and by my count, roughly three fourths of us have been together in school for 13 years.

As classmates all these years, we’ve competed on field day together, begged for and cherished extra recess, gone on trips to the Bronx Zoo and Ellis Island, had slumber parties and camp outs, spent afternoons at Carvel, and made pit stops at Red Rooster. We also entered high school during Covid, one day staring at screens and the next wearing masks. Having the opportunity to reflect on our journey, I’ve realized a few things about what made our experience unique.

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This small-town community is snug-fit, warm, supportive, comfortable and, yes, sometimes confining. It’s like a cocoon, both offering an intimate environment, isolation from external chaos, a sense of security, and strong guidance. Like a cocoon, our school has provided us with ample resources to ensure maximum growth.

The support I have received at North Salem has been invaluable and integral to my development dating back to the day I climbed on the bus for kindergarten orientation. Given the small class sizes, I have been fortunate enough to establish genuine relationships with a plethora of teachers. I have countless stories of staff members and classes throughout the years that I’ll never forget.

To name a few of my favorite memories, Mrs. Orellana took my 10th grade Spanish class including Lola, Anna, Daniella, Connor, and Izzy to eat authentic Spanish food at Tablao in Ridgefield. Mr. Moste allowed Aidan, Alexia and me to lay him on the pavement outside the high school, splatter him with fake blood, and film him as part of our kinematic murder mystery film.

That same year we ate banana cream pie with Mr. O’Callaghan for his 62nd birthday and Mrs. Bratt encouraged the month-long filming of Calculus Island. During senior year, Mr. Valenti gave me Ted Lasso stickers when I was going through a rough patch. This touched me so much because the show inspired my parking spot and the tattoo I later got. Mr. Collea ripped out old textbook pages for me to take on a plane ride so I didn’t have to lug the heavy book around. Finally, a shout out to Mrs. Loughran, who has been the victim of and solution to too many of my meltdowns.

For many, our strong athletics program has also been a source of tremendous community. (I imagine others found the same in musicals and clubs). Typically assuming the role of the underdog, North Salem athletes are often put in situations that build the confidence required to compete in the real world.  I love the Mark Twain quote given to me by Mr. Regan for an old Tiger Times article, “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” It epitomizes my and many others’ experiences as a North Salem athlete. We are resilient and courageous in spite of obstacles. This stems from our tradition of playing much larger schools. We always find a way to compete in spite of the odds being stacked against us. Whether that was stunning the largest school in section 1, New Rochelle, to a 0-0 tie the first game my sophomore year in soccer, to sweeping a AA Carmel team two years in a row, or borrowing players from JV several times when our numbers got so low. Despite our small size, North Salem sports have taught us how to collaborate, provided us with the ability to lead (as heavily emphasized by Mart), and shown us how to stand up to challenges. It’s also given us so many memories including, most recently, a record four sectional titles this Fall.

None of this would have been possible without the support of all the moms, dads, siblings and family friends who have helped us all get to this point. So a huge thank you to all of you. Family truly is everything to me. My mom is my biggest supporter. She will do anything and everything for me. We also share a brain wavelength so she probably knows what I am going to say next. My dad is my partner in crime, driving me thousands of miles to soccer games and practices and teaching me to ride a bike and parallel park in the same North Salem parking lot (just 10 years apart). And my sister Gabby has served as a role model for me. The only unfortunate thing about being related to her is when her former teachers are disappointed that I don’t have her same magnetic personality.

So now our time at North Salem Central School District has come to an end. We have spent years developing and growing, not just physically, and we’ve started to figure out who we are and who we want to be. It’s time to leave this cocoon.
Whether you’re nervous or nostalgic about departing from the environment you’ve known for so long, or can’t wait for the chance to spread your wings and fly away; whether you are going across the county or across the country, North Salem will always be a part of you, and I believe, it has given all of us everything we need to thrive in our next stages.

As we embark on new journeys, let’s carry with us the strength, resilience, and courage that North Salem has instilled in us. Let us celebrate our release into the next phase and look forward to our continuing transformation and yes, our metamorphosis. Once caterpillars, I can’t help but imagine how we have almost become the same monarch butterflies that we released years ago on PQ upper during kindergarten. Thank you.

Daniella Freedman - Salutatorian

Good evening Board of Education members, administrators, faculty, guests, and graduates. My name is Daniella Freedman, and I’m honored to be giving this year’s salutatorian speech.

If you know me, you probably know I’m not usually one to jump at the opportunity for public speaking (and by that, I mean it’s a miracle I haven’t passed out yet), so I’ll keep this brief for all of our sakes.

I’d like to open with a quote from one of the great philosophers of my generation, that of course being Hannah Montana. She says, “everybody makes mistakes; everybody has those days.” In the spirit of this profound revelation, I want everyone in the audience to raise your hand if you’ve ever in your life made a mistake. This can be school-related, at work, a sport - anything. So now that we’ve established that everyone here is capable of failure, I want you to raise your hand again if, despite this mistake, you survived.

Thus far, we have all survived 100% of our missteps. But despite this comforting statistic, I would guess that most of us have, at times, fallen victim to one of the most common fears in the world: fear of failure.

Someone once told me, “never let the fear of falling keep you from flying.” And even though I can’t for the life of me remember who said this, their words have stuck with me. In the past few weeks, I’ve noticed how worries about falling short have affected me--particularly in regards to this very speech. Nightmares about falling off the stage are actually more common than you’d think, and by now I’ve probably spent hours coming up with every disastrous outcome and convincing myself that they’re all going to happen.

This fear of failure isn’t specific to me; I’ve recently learned that valedictorians and salutatorians across the country are experiencing lower success rates than their peers after graduation--and it’s all because of an unwillingness to take risks. Clinging to what’s known, what’s familiar, and what’s achievable is all-too tempting, but by doing so, we limit ourselves in a million different ways.

Though I can’t say I know the cure for fear of failure, or even that there is one, I have learned to let go a little—though certainly not without help. After all, it’s the people around us—the ones who see us through both our triumphs and our failures—who make us stronger. Because of that, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my tried and true support system: my family. Thank you to my grandparents Joanne and Philip Freedman and Gustavo and Lilia Villota, my parents Doris and Jon, my sisters Samie and Alyssa, and ESPECIALLY my dogs Loki and Bibble. You have guided me through life’s twists and turns, and I am the person that I am today because of you.

Now I know I’m not qualified to give advice to anyone, but I’ll just ask one thing of my classmates: take some time during today’s celebrations to thank your own support systems. This day may be about the Class of 2024, but we share our achievements with the people who love us. They’re the ones who raised us up, the ones who watched us grow, and the ones who encouraged us to fly--even when we were terrified to fall. Thank you.

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