South Country seniors become graduates

Bellport High School celebrated the Class of 2024 during its annual graduation ceremony on Friday, June 28 on the school’s football field.

Student Council president Brynn Johnsen and Bellport High School principal Erika Della Rosa both welcomed the approximately 300 graduates following student entrances to the tune of “Pomp and Circumstance” performed by the Bellport Wind Ensemble.

“It’s hard to believe so much has unfolded since September of 2020 when you walked through the doors of Bellport High School for the first time. Life has veered in a variety of directions, and so much continues to change,” Della Rosa said.

Essayist Daniel Lewkoski, who will be attending New York University in the fall, then delivered a speech telling graduates not to view moments that don’t have a material benefit as “wasting time.”

“This mindset can make us feel pressured to constantly perform. To view rest and leisure as wasted time, and to overlook the intrinsic value of moments that do not directly contribute to our ambitions. As you embark on the next chapter of your lives, I urge you to balance these perspectives. Yes, be mindful of how you use your time, set goals work hard, and strive for success, but also remember that not all valuable experiences can be measured in terms of productivity or achievement, sometimes the most meaningful moments are those that do not have a clear return on investment,” Lewkoski said.

Salutatorian Jordan Truce, who will be attending the University of Florida, agreed with Lewskoski about treasuring the little moments, and not letting work overcome every part of life, advising fellow graduates to value the journey, and not just the destination.

“I realized my equivalent to a sport, dance, music or theater was academics. Now I realize that because of my focus on academics, I missed out on a lot of what was going on around me and you may be able to relate. While we achieved so much through our dedication and hard work, it was easy to have tunnel vision to always look ahead to the next goal, rather than living in the present. We immerse ourselves so deeply in our passions that some of us forget to live outside of them,” said Truce.

Valedictorian Samantha DeLillo, who will be attending Vanderbilt University, then reflected on her time in the South Country School District, comparing life to stars in the night sky.

“Each lesson is a sparkly new addition to the sky that we are continuously building. we have navigated obstacles and overcome circumstances that seemed impenetrable each time leaving a star behind. We have spent 18 years collecting stars, 13 of which in school, and yet there is still black in our night sky to fill. There will never be a point where any one person can know everything. Never a point where you look up and see the stars without the sky behind,” DeLillo said. “Let these diplomas be a checkpoint in your journey, a timestamped map of your sky. But this is nowhere near the end of construction. Our skies will forever be in progress, always loading, changing, and rearranging to accommodate all of the new lessons we will learn.”