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Published: June 14th 2015
YCS Class of 2015 program
Saturday 13 June 2015, 92Y, Lexington Ave, NYC where all the action took place. The Yorkville Community School (YCS), which Grace and Rupert attend, only opened as a Junior School in 2009. An initiative of Principal Samantha Kaplan and members of the local community, prior to their occupation of the building it was a High School whose closure was the result of lack of student enrolments.
Saturday 13 July was the first graduation of students, amongst whom was Grace. While some of the students had been at the school for the six years from kindergarten to fifth grade, it has only been Grace and Rupert's school since they arrived in NYC in November 2011.
The graduation took place at the 92Y on Lexington Ave and when Kev and I arrived around 9.30am there was already a large queue of parents, siblings, grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and friends waiting to get into the Kaufmann Concert Hall where the action was to take place.
It was a fantastic event, so exciting and with such a celebratory vibe in the place that it almost made me want to go back to school! The students came into the hall to the music of the 'Pomp and Circumstance' march which was followed by them all singing 'Best Day
Our tickets to a wonderful event!
A great souvenir to remind us of Grace's big day! of My Life'; a tearjerker if ever there was one. The students sang other songs during the morning interspersed with talks by some students, the PTA Co - Presidents, Principal Miss Samantha and others. First cab off the rank was Ben Kallos, a 34 year old Democrat who is on the NYC Council representing Manhattan's Upper East Side. An advocate for the environment, equality of opportunity and other very laudable programs, like all pollies he spoke for possibly a tad too long. But I enjoyed listening to him and he certainly gained my tick of approval.
But Principal Samantha Kaplan certainly deserved the 'Number One approval spot' to my mind. Becoming very emotional towards the end of her speech (rightly so as she has so much to be proud of) I'd encourage you to follow this link to read an interview with Samantha which gives you a great run-down of her trajectory which led her to forming YCS. http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120305/upper-east-side/samantha-kaplan-builds-yorkville-community-school-with-engaging-curriculum. Samantha finished her speech with a quote from Frank Zappa; "A Mind is like a Parachute. It doesn't work if it's not open."
The ceremony finished with the awarding of the diplomas. Then the final songs from the students
Audience members wait expectantly
It didn't take long for the hall to fill and the excitement was infectious were 'Count on Me', See You Again' and 'Together Tomorrow'. I'm pleased to say that all through the proceedings we were a very rowdy approving audience; you could almost taste the joy in the room and Grandma and Grandpa were so proud to be part of it.
Once the official part of the event was over we met some of the other parents and I was lucky enough to get a chance to have a short chat to the Principal Samantha Kaplan and congratulate her on the wonderful job she's done on the formation of the school. Samantha was responsible for all the curriculum planning, hiring of the teachers etc so she can be extremely proud of the success of 'her' school.
Now all we have to do is to wait for the graduation DVD which will be a wonderful memory of a fantastic event.
Congratulations Grace, and all the other YCS 5th graders on a job well done and best wishes for your future endeavours! The future is yours.
Once everyone began to leave, together with Vanessa, who'd joined Kerrii, Seb, Rupert, Kev and I for Grace's graduation, we went to Nicks Pizza Parlour for
a celebratory lunch. Joining us there were parents Antonia and Mark together with their two daughters Helena (Graces's friend who also graduated) and Esther; later joined by Mark's brother Keith and his partner. Great company, good food and a nice way to end what was the highlight of our NYC visit.
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