HANC Middle School’s Eighth Grade Graduation took place on Thursday, June 20. It was held in the school’s auditorium. The room looked very festive with balloons and a “2019” arch through which the students walked down the aisle. The graduates looked extremely proud as they walked down the aisle, and their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents were certainly shepping a lot of nachas.
After the procession and the national anthems, Shira Rothbort and Leba Weissman, Pras Hitztaynut Award recipients, delivered the invocation. They spoke about the theme of the graduation, which was L’maan Achai v’Rei’ai – for the sake of my brothers and friends.
Following the invocation, Mrs. Morey, the assistant principal, offered words of greeting. She spoke about how the students started in seventh grade not even knowing how to open the lock to their locker, and now as they graduate, they accomplished so many fantastic things. Judah Ehrenhaus, one of the Torah Umada Award recipients, spoke next. Judah spoke about two meaningful experiences he had that related to the theme of the graduation. One was when he volunteered with his family at a Thanksgiving banquet run by an organization that offers support to the Jewish elderly population. The second was the Names, Not Numbers© program that our school participated in.
The program continued with a performance by the graduates on the theme of the evening. This was followed by a montage of the students’ years in middle school. Adina Lippman, Torah Umada Award recipient, spoke about the mitzvah of tz’dakah and how everyone in HANC has a big heart full of love and devotion towards everyone. Rabbi Hecht, principal, spoke about realizing that everything comes from Hashem, and He can change anything in an instant.
The evening concluded with a benediction delivered by Yishai Kaufman and Moe Newman, Pras Hitztaynut Award winners, who spoke about hakaras ha’tov (recognizing the good that someone does for you) and derech eretz (being respectful of one another). The boys shared that these were messages imparted to us by our beloved Dean Emeritus, Rabbi Moshe Gottesman zt”l, who passed away earlier this school year. We wish all of the graduates and their families much brachah and hatzlachah!