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WEEKS of June 18 & 25, 2007
@BFS! archives

Brooklyn Friends Graduates Are Off and Running—
Ready to Face the World with Courage and Confidence

by Joan Martin

Academic excellence, close community spirit, and the passion and commitment of their teachers have prepared the graduates of the Brooklyn Friends School Class of 2007 to face their futures with courage and confidence, said speakers at the School's commencement exercises on June 13, 2007. 

Head of School Michael Nill, School Committee Clerk Benjamin Warnke, and Upper School Head Roxanne Zazzaro presided at the evening commencement exercises, in which 40 seniors received their diplomas in the joyful presence of 650 family members, friends, and faculty. Held at the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge, the ceremony had one over-riding theme—that Brooklyn Friends School students and the enduring values that they learn and practice at school exemplify all that is right about education in the United States today.

“Your academic success and growth is important to us, but always remember that at Brooklyn Friends, your teachers were engaged in your success on many fronts,” Dr. Nill told the graduates. “They have been invested in your sensitivity, your empathy, your creativity, your emotional intelligence, and your moral commitments. They have subtly or not so subtly given you the message that success should be broad. I urge you to continue to view success broadly as you move out into the world.” He also encouraged the graduates to continue to seek out community and internalize Quaker Meeting. “Use silence to get your priorities right and remember what is truly important.”

In addition to Dr. Nill, there were three other speakers at the graduation ceremony: Jamal Davis ’07, representing the graduates, Commencement Speaker H. Bruce Franklin of the Class of 1951, and Faculty Speaker Mark Buenzle. Senior Scott Gentile also took part in the exercises by performing a classical music composition on the piano.

A noted cultural historian and professor of English and American Studies at Rutgers University, Dr. Franklin told the graduates to “choose paths that will lead to a life you can believe in. If you’re looking for a calling or a mission, you have great choices,” he continued, referring to global poverty, the environment, racism, social injustice, and issues of war and peace. “Help lead us to a much brighter future. Understand your choices and why they are so important, not just to you, but to the rest of us.”

Faculty speaker Mark Buenzle, a psychology and visual arts teacher, urged the graduates to be “noncompliant with popular culture” and to become activists for change, using the Quaker values of peace, simplicity, equality, integrity and compassion as their guide.  “I hope one thing we’ve taught you here is to think critically—to look beyond the obvious to underlying causes and motives, to question authority (as you have endlessly with us), to listen more than you speak and speak only what you mean, to embrace complexity even though it might be confusing. Commit yourself to keeping a disciplined mind, and if you encounter a friend, a teacher, or a president of the United States, who tries to sell you anything short of the truth, cut your losses and look for someone better.”

Among the graduates, seven students—Jamal Davis, Alexandra Emanuel, Scott Gentile, Leah Krieble, Emily Martin, Ariel Teal and Barbara von Salis—were recognized as “lifers” for having spent their entire educational careers thus far as Brooklyn Friends School students.

See PDFs of the commencement speeches by H. Bruce Franklin ’51 and Mark Buenzle.

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