“In 1901, Mark Twain sent
a card to the Young People’s Society of Greenpoint
Presbyterian Church here in Brooklyn. If you haven’t
already guessed, I’m a rabid Brooklynite. In
it he wrote, ‘Always do right. This will gratify
some people, and astonish the rest.’ I think
this class is going to astonish everyone. Best of luck.
I look forward to joining all of you on the front lines
for progressive social change in the years to come.”
—David R. Jones
Guest speaker, 2003 BFS Commencement
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Class of 2003 Receives Diplomas…
and so it begins…
Commencement 2003 and College Matriculations
On Wednesday, June 11, 2003, the 36 members
of the senior class of BFS dressed in their finest
and invited friends and family to the New York Marriott Brooklyn
to join them in celebrating the completion of high school.
Following the processional, Head of School, Dr. Michael Nill,
offered reflective opening remarks, and was followed by guest
speaker David R. Jones, who elicited smiles and laughter
from the Class of 2003 and their guests. As a man who has devoted
his life to rectifying inequality, Jones spoke about inequalities
in the area of access to quality education, and he reminded our
students that they are privileged to have had a BFS—a Quaker—education.
“I know most of us don’t feel special all the time,
and things haven’t worked out perfectly for anyone here
tonight, but I think as members of a privileged few—as
we arewe have an obligation to do two things—both in the
Quaker tradition: not to sneer at those who haven’t been
as successful because they didn’t have our options and
to try our damnedest to see that particularly children are given
an even shot in our society.
The inequality of education is not accidental. We are the only
first world country that allows rich communities to get better
public education than poor ones. For example, in New York State,
the difference in state funding for education for the richest
and the poorest school districts can be more than $10,000 per
student per year. Accidental? No, it’s the law.
In San Antonio School District v. Rodriguez, a 1973
case, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote a dissent
to a decision where the majority of the Court decided that unequal
funding of urban and suburban school districts, based upon their
disparate tax bases, was constitutional. In his dissent, Marshall
asserted: ‘The right of every American to an equal start
in life’ had been tossed out. It is one of the critical
issues facing your generation, just as it did mine.
Jones also spoke to the need for continued action.
“In addition to the problems of educational inequality
that I’ve mentioned, there are the questions of war and
peace presented by Vietnam and the current conflicts in the Middle
East—and American intervention.
The growing gap between the rich and the poor both in America
and abroad. Despite the War on Poverty and the Peace Corps begun
in the 60’s, we have higher levels of income inequality
than ever before—40,000 homeless New Yorkers housed every
night in city shelters.
The struggle against racism in America that really framed my
adolescence, but still remains as a major obstacle to a just
America—residential segregation by race is worse now than
it was in 1954.
And, of course, on top of those issues your generation has
ones we should have addressed involving discrimination against
women and the destruction of our natural environment.
How or when you go about dealing with these issues, I can’t
direct you; not even which one to focus on. Because the issue
of what part of societal change you pursue is unique to the individual—like
fingerprints. And the fire for it has to come from within—because
you just can’t make it up.
What I can urge is you look for it—search for it—whether
that’s a protest involving cleaning up a waste dump, or
helping to feed the hungry, or circulating petitions against
the war, or against sexism or racism—do it. It will have
to fit into your priorities of college, meeting people, getting
jobs, becoming self-sufficient, building a family.
But now, looking back over 40 years, what I remember most is
not the courses in constitutional law, but rather the March on
Washington; not how well I did in Geology 101 (I passed), but
meeting Malcolm X; not even my first oral argument as a lawyer
on behalf of Shell Oil, but kicking off Bobby Kennedy’s
presidential campaign on college campuses in Connecticut, just
before he was assassinated.
Everyone has these images of social action as some sort of
glorious self-sacrifice, and that is part of it. But think of
the very best rock concert or party you’ve ever attended.
As many of you already know, when you take on social action for
a righteous cause, it’s so much better. The feeling of
not sitting back, but trying to bring about human good against
resistance is one feeling you shouldn’t miss. It will last
you a lifetime. I think the need must be hardwired into our DNA.
It’s just that some manage to suppress it.
Let me close with this. In 1901, Mark Twain sent a card to
the Young People’s Society of Greenpoint Presbyterian Church
here in Brooklyn. If you haven’t already guessed, I’m
a rabid Brooklynite. In it he wrote, ‘Always do right.
This will gratify some people, and astonish the rest.’ I
think this class is going to astonish everyone. Best of luck.
I look forward to joining all of you on the front lines for progressive
social change in the years to come. Thank you.”
Read the entire speech.
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Jordan Foster receives his diploma
from Nancy Black, Clerk of the BFS School Committee.
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Then Michael Nill presented the George Fox Distinguished Alumnus
Award to Edisa
Weeks ’83. Weeks, a dancer and director of her own
dance company, offered a brief talk, then turned to face the Class
of 2003 and presented a brief dance in their honor. The Class of
2003 and their guests offered applause.
Weeks said, “This year I attended my 20th BFS Reunion.
I started as a student at BFS in third grade. It is amazing to
realize I have been connected to BFS for thirty years. BFS has
nurtured me as a student, and also as a choreographer. I created
my first dance in ninth grade. It was a 10-minute solo, which was
ten minutes too long. Marna Herrity has been wonderful in giving
my dance company, Delirious Dance, rehearsal space in the fifth
floor dance studios. It has allowed me the opportunity to develop
as a choreographer and develop the company. Marna recently asked
me to choreograph a dance for the students where I had the pleasure
of working with a few of the seniors. I have worked with a lot
of high school students—I teach at Saint Ann’s and
in the New York public school system—and I was really impressed
by the students here.
“I was impressed by their:
• Dedication—they were willing to sacrifice Saturday mornings for
rehearsals
• Their openness to absorbing and applying new information
• And especially how supportive they are of each other as a group.”
Weeks added, “Also, in watching their choreography I was
impressed that they weren’t creating fluffy MTV rip-offs,
but were asking questions, taking risks, and addressing issues.
They created dances against war, about the power of love to overcome
obstacles, and interfaced dance with technology.”
Read the entire speech.
Day Rosenberg, selected as the faculty speaker, offered
a humorous short talk, and then senior Alap Vora, chosen
by his class to speak for the students, elicited numerous laughs
from the audience and his classmates. Vora had also been selected
class speaker as an eighth grader.
Congratulations to the College-Bound
Brooklyn Friends School Class of 2003
Sasha Blamberg—Georgetown University (School of Foreign
Service)
Brian Bower—Connecticut College
Garrett Bradley—Smith College
Sarah Crow—Bennington College
Alden Davis—Bates College
Edson Elcock—Old Dominion University
Foster, Jordan—Allegheny College
Eddie Francis—Ithaca College
Jamie Garaufis—St. Lawrence University
Danielle Garson—Allegheny College
Axel Galeano—St. Lawrence University
Glenn Hilton—Morgan State University
Audrey Jaynes—Brown University
Mathew Kennedy—Goucher College
Ellie Kilpatrick—Oberlin College
Erin Kinney—Emory University
Chad Levy—Tulane University
Hart Lowry—New York University, TISCH
Ondriona Monty—Skidmore College
Kenneth Muigai—Dartmouth College
Sarah Natoli—CUNY at Kingsborough
Kyle Neptune—Lehigh University
Amelia Norvell—Vassar College
Daniel O’Connell—Washington University in St. Louis
Jasmine Ortiz—Dominican College of Blauvelt
Darnell Paul—La Salle University
Volana Rakatomihamina—Amherst College
Danielle Scoon—University of Maryland
Jasper Shapiro—University of Vermont
Amanda Singer—St. Andrew’s University (Scotland)
Ilana Stuart—Manhattanville College
Ian Thomas—Tulane University
Lorin Tomassetti—George Washington University
Karen Urgo—Mississippi State University (Veterinary Program)
Alap Vora—George Washington University
Amanda Welch—Amherst College
2003 Brooklyn Friends School
Special Citations for Academic and Personal Excellence
Bausch and Lomb Science Award—Harjashan Veer Singh
Kodak Young Leader Award—Rush Perez
Xerox Award in the Humanities/ Social Sciences and Scholarship—Ariana
Kolins
Rensselaer Mathematics and Science Award—Emma Skove-Epes
Wellesley College Award for Writing—Dana James
New England Society History Award—Sasha Blamberg
Brown University Book Award—Erinn Morrison
Public Advocate for the City of New York Award—Edmund
Francis & Amanda Welch
Joan L. Millman, Assemblywoman 52nd District, Acknowledgement—Edson
Elcock & Axel Galeano
Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General, Acknowledgement—Dominic
Hackley & Miriam Krim
National Latin Exam Award—Dominic Hackley
Smith Book Award—Sylve Rosen-Bernstein
BFS Pearl Award—Brian Bower, Mathew Kennedy & Ellie
Kilpatrick
BFS Community Leadership Award—Barret Wall
BFS Community Spirit Award—Mathew Kennedy & Chad
Levy
BFS Recognition for Raising Social Awareness—Camille
Almada, Arianne Dunstan-Halliday, Hannah Bary, Maggie Cowles, Samantha
Elinson, Dana James, Julie Kalin, Ellie Kilpatrick, Erin Kinney,
Arianna Kolins , Zoe Stampfel, Perrie Wilkoff
BFS Jack R. Ramey School Spirit Award—Max Nager & Alap
Vora
BFS Martin R. Norregaard Prize for Excellence in Writing—Kenneth
Muigai
BFS Lucy G. Adams Recognition for Academic Excellence—Kenneth
Muigai & Karen Urgo
BFS George Fox Award—Amelia Norvell
BFS Foreign Language Award—Sasha Blamberg
BFS Visual Arts Department Award—Amanda Singer
BFS Panther Press Recognition—Kevin Hendricks, Mathew
Kennedy, Savannah Lewis Rachel Rosenblatt, Nora Vizzini
BFS Yearbook Recognition—Whitney Bernard & Max
Nager
BFS Perfect Attendance Recognition—Lindsey Barr,
David Bess, Courtni Clarke, Timothy Gagnay, Jenna Garrett, Rush
Perez
BFS Award for Superior Academic Achievement—Alexander
Blamberg, Amelia Norvell, Volana Rakotomihamina, Karen Urgo, Amanda
Welch
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