Columbia grads are moving on

The first class that never had a year of normal high school due to the COVID-19 pandemic finally threw their tassels in the air as the Columbia High School Class of 2023 ended their careers in the South Orange-Maplewood School District.

Students, staff and their families celebrated the many triumphs of the now Cougar alumni at Codey Arena in West Orange on June 21.

“I think in our time here, we accomplished everything possible,” graduate and CHS Student Council President Bridget Heindl said in her speech at the ceremony. “We have won countless dance, art, music and theater awards. We have excelled in every sport, becoming multiple county and state champions. We have more clubs than any high school I know, and we have all achieved so much. Columbia is a very unique place, and that is because of the people here.”

Heindl thanked the faculty and staff before praising her class for how they handled adversity over their high school careers.

“In the past four years, the world has pushed us down a number of times, but we got back up,” she said. “We have shown how strong of a generation we are and how we can overcome so much. We have walked out of school together, attended vigils together and marched in protest together. In the midst of a global pandemic, we brought this community together.

I am confident that we will continue to make change for the good and leave this world better than when we found it. We have so much to be proud of, and this is only the start.”

Class of 2023 President Zoila Mafla-Mills described what watching her classmates grow up was like before encouraging the graduates to support causes they believe in.

“The fights we are facing now are going to be bigger than ourselves,” Mafla-Mills said at the ceremony. “Like the fight to protect reproductive rights and access to safe abortions so your daughters won’t have to worry about not having a choice, or the fight to protect minorities and lower socioeconomic families who barely survive but help to make this town the diverse utopia everyone claims it is.”

Mafla-Mills also discussed climate change, active shooter drills and affordable healthcare in her speech.

“I know we all claim we want to change the world, put some cute little infographics on Instagram and participate in school walks,” she said. “But genuine actions with intent truly do speak louder than words. Nothing is ever going to change unless someone does something first.

“I know I’m not going to be spending the rest of my life complaining about this country that we live in when I know I can do something to fix the broken system.”

Burton Alexander was the Class of 2023’s salutatorian and Benjamin Hanselman was valedictorian; they were both recognized at the ceremony by student council Vice President Carrie Saney.

Principal Frank Sanchez joked that he tried to use the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT to write his speech for the ceremony, asking it for a “rocking graduation speech in the style and wittiness of Kurt Vonnegut with a spit of Taylor Swift flair.”

“But I’m not going to read that one,” Sanchez said. “It didn’t feel genuine because of how I feel about you. We’ve worked together since our return from COVID, and I can’t express in words how much I feel about you, how impressed I am with your tenacity, your spirit, your smarts and your talents.”

Instead, he yielded his time at the podium to three students; Jessica Hutchinson and Scarlett Choi, who both graduated that evening, along with junior Ayla Novemsky.

They performed the song “Stay Gentle” by Brandi Carlile.

In his own speech, Superintendent Ronald Taylor claimed this year’s graduates as “his” class, as they are the first group of students he has seen all

the way through their high school careers; Taylor began his time as the head of the district in 2019 as the class of 2023 was entering their freshman year.

“You left your freshman year in March of 2020 for what was thought to be a two week pause,” Taylor said. “All of us here now know that a life changing disruption followed and left our world shrouded in fear and uncertainty. Yet the Columbia High School Class of 2023 persevered through something that none of us experienced during our formative years. You pushed through and continue to strive toward your goals.”

The superintendent told graduates to enjoy being in the moment at their commencement ceremony.

“When this event is over and you disperse, you’ll have reunions, but you’ll never be in a space with all of your classmates again,” he said. “When you go home today, ask your family members if they recall their high school graduation ceremony. Ask them if they remember the speaker or other details. Most, including myself, will likely say it was a blur. It flew by. So just take a mental snapshot of how you feel right now. Take a snapshot of how happy you were to line up in the hallway today with your peers.

Lock in that joy, pride and sense of accomplishment. You’ve earned it. You deserve it.”