From the audience’s view, the Peekskill High School graduating class of 2011  took a short walk from their seats to the stage, but truly,  some of the journeys were much longer. Everyone noticed and cheered for Miles Banks, the graduate who miraculously received a heart transplant recently, but there were  other students whose journeys to graduation were also truly miracles. There was the graduate who is legally blind, the graduates who were teenage parents, the graduates who entered high school not speaking English, the graduate with severe learning problems who spent his 5th year of high school working on passing one last test, the students whose emotional and family problems resulted in their taking  5 or 6 years to graduate high school . Yes, many of our students also  graduated by taking the “traditional” path, but the true flavor of what makes Peekskill High School great is that Peekskill High School supports all of its students, and that the staff helps ALL STUDENTS work towards graduation.

To paraphrase Dr. Licopli’s comment that it takes a whole community to raise a child, at PHS it takes  “a whole community to make a community”. The staff and the student body of PHS make up a community that  consists of  members that are both unique and diverse . The staff, from the security guards to the para- professionals and faculty, come to school each day united in trying to  make the lives of the  students a little better. The students bring a diversity and a compassion for each others’  differences that  is very rare to see at any high school.  Everyone brings a different flavor to the “melting pot” that is  Peekskill High School and when you add to the recipe some hard work, time, and patience, the resulting meal is almost always a success. Good luck to the Class of 2011 and may they bring the best of the ” Flavor of Peekskill High School” with them wherever their journeys may lead them.

See more pictures from Ms. Anita Prentice here

Click here to see the School District’s Pictures

LoHud’s Pictures are here

More from The Peekskill Cortlandt Patch here.