Orange High School’s Class of 2017 had its graduation ceremony in the Essex County College Gymnasium in downtown Newark on Friday, June 23. The Orange High School girls softball team recently completed an outstanding season, finishing with a final record of 17-3, thanks in large part to a graduating player. The team was undefeated at 16-0 in its division and it will be hard to replace the player next year.
ORANGE, NJ — At the commencement ceremony for Orange High School and the Career Innovation Academy of Orange’s Class of 2017 in the Essex County College Gymnasium in downtown Newark on Friday, June 23, Mishell Quispe was the valedictorian and Silas Bond the salutatorian. Mayor Dwayne Warren and Orange Board of Education President E. Lydell Carter offered congratulatory remarks to the graduating seniors.
But as great as the moment was for the graduating seniors and those assembled to cheer for them, it was also bittersweet, because it marked the end of the students’ secondary school careers and the beginning of something new, different and hopefully better in their lives.
“I have a couple girls that graduated, so I’m out to support them; also, current students that I taught, so I’m here to support them, too,” said Orange High School girls soccer and softball head coach Joseph Naumowicz on Friday, June 23. “You build bonds … along the way. You know what colleges they are going to. You know what their plans are for the future and you just hope that they succeed and keep doing what they’ve been doing to get this far.”
The Orange High School girls’ softball team recently completed an outstanding season, finishing with a final record of 17-3, thanks in large part to a graduating player. The team was undefeated at 16-0 in its division and it will be hard to replace the player next year, Naumowicz said, adding that part of but the winning tradition she began is a part of her legacy at the school.
“This was the first time, winning the division, in school history,” said Naumowicz. “In soccer, I have three players going, but I have a couple of good eighth-graders coming up, so we should be good for next year. I only have one senior in softball, so softball, we’re looking really good for next year as well.”
The Orange High School Athletic Department had its annual awards ceremony prior to graduation and, according to Naumowicz, it was just as bittersweet as the commencement ceremony.
“We had an awards dinner and, even though we can’t say ‘better luck next year’ or ‘we’ll get them next year,’ you still wish them a happy future and better luck in college,” Naumowicz said. “Some might play on the college level and you just hope that they can succeed and keep up what they’re doing. But regardless, I want to say good luck and never stop achieving the highest you can achieve.”
Orange High School Assistant Principal Mohammed Abdelaziz, who also serves as the school’s athletic director, participated in the graduation. He had also acknowledged the girls softball team’s historic accomplishments on Friday, June 2, at scholarship dinner at the Elks Lodge.
“They had a great run,” said Abdelaziz on Friday, June 2. “They made it to the state playoffs and lost to Cranford High School. They won their division. They went 16-0 in their division the Super Essex Division. So they had a great, fantastic season.”
The accomplishments of the girls softball team’s student athletes was icing on the cake of an overall exceptional scholastic sports year, as they led the way for other Orange High School individual and team sports in 2017, success that is reflected in their records. Abdelaziz and Naumowicz said this is largely due to the teamwork and character-building exercises that all the student athletes have been involved in off the field, in addition to competing on it.
“Our track team right now is in the group meet with three or our student athletes in the high jump, long jump, triple jump and javelin,” said Abdelaziz. “Community service is what it’s all about. It’s what we all do. That’s why we coach, that’s why we teach and that’s what (we want) our kids to know, because that’s how we better the community. There are more people doing right than there are doing wrong and we need to show people in the communities that.”
Abdelaziz and Naumowicz acknowledged that every ending is just the start of a new beginning for students who graduated and are moving on to bigger and better things and the teachers, administrators, faculty and staff they are leaving behind, who now have the task of shepherding the next crop of students and student athletes through their secondary school careers.
“It never ends,” said Abdelaziz. “The schools shouldn’t close. They don’t close. Kids just get a break. And the teachers as well.”
Stellar athletics highlight OHS Class of 2017 added by Chris Sykes on
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