Fourth Grade Recognition Ceremony � � � � � � � � � � �

2 HACKLEY REVIEW COMMENCEMENT SUPPLEMENT 2020 Zoom Video at: click here  First ever 4th Grade parade at: click here 

Fourth Grade Recognition Day

Director of the Lower School Lisa Oberstein celebrated members of the fourth grade in a virtual Recognition Day Ceremony held on June 4.

Welcome Class of 2028! Welcome families, as well as many teachers and administrators, to our first ever virtual Fourth Grade Recognition Ceremony! This year has had its moments of both positivity and challenge, full of exciting experiences, as well as difficult ones� I am thrilled to have gotten the chance to be your Lower School Director, to spend some time with you both on campus and virtually, but also sad that it was only for one short year�

Fortunately, it was long enough for me to learn what a wonderful group of people you are. You are, according to your teachers — inventors, readers, artists, musicians, nurturers, jokesters, space explorers, sock collectors, athletes, and performers, just to name a few! As a group you are also thoughtful, insightful and extremely hard working, good friends to one another and deeply kind individuals, full of the virtues that make Hackley so special. How do I know all of these things about you? Because you told me! When I asked you what advice you have for next year’s Lower School students, these are some of the things you said: • Work hard! It will pay off and if you fail get back up and keep trying. • Push past your limits and always do your best • Make sure to meet one new person a day.

That helps you make friends. • Listen to everything closely, if you miss something you shouldn't be embarrassed to ask the teacher to repeat, though. • Even if you think you can't do something, always believe you can. • Think positive! • Well, honestly I'm not sure. There isn't really anything to worry or prepare about. Hackley is a great school! I guess that they should always be kind to others. Well, you should be kind to others everywhere. As a grade, some of your favorite memories included • Kingsland Point Park, Kayaking on the Hudson River. • Square dancing • K buddies

• Field day • All of the essays I got to write! • Sitting on a branch of the oak tree overlooking the

Hudson during 3rd grade Thank you, fourth graders, for sharing your thoughts and observations with me. I’m sure your advice will be well-received by our students next year. Today’s ceremony is obviously a little different than it might have looked in previous years, but it is no less important or special. It is the culmination of several years of hard work, whether you joined Hackley this year or have been with us since Kindergarten. Keeping very much in line with one of Hackley’s core values — “United, We Help One Another” — I would like to take a moment to thank the people who made today possible and without whom we would not have this lovely experience — Ms. Lynskey, Dr. LeTard, Mr. Dioguardi, Mr. Tonken, and of course the 4th grade homeroom and specialist teachers, Ms. O’Lunney, Ms. Lopez, Mr. Lopez, Ms. Van der Heijden, Ms. van Buren, Ms. DiStefano, Mr. Diaz, Ms. Steinberg, Ms. Chisholm, Ms. Bueso, Ms. White, Ms. Gaven, Mr. Stanek, Mr. Frolo, Mrs. McKay, Mrs. MacDonald, and Mrs. Murray-Jones, who came together to help celebrate and send off our fourth graders to middle school.

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Although I love them all, my favorite of our mottos is “Go Forth and Spread Beauty and Light.” My wish for you is that you go joyfully onto Middle School sharing and spreading your individual and collective beauty and light to all. Now I would like to turn it over to this year’s fourth grade speaker. We had many excellent applicants, including Evelyn M., Hannah C., Erys B., Sofia I., Lyla T., Katie Y., and Mariana D.. I thank you for your unique and compelling thoughts and I wish I could have chosen all of you to speak today. It was a hard decision, and ultimately William S. was selected by a panel of Hackley teachers and administrators, to deliver the speech you are about to hear. William has been hard at work for several weeks preparing the words you will hear today. Thank you all for being here and enjoy the program!

The Class of 2028

4 HACKLEY REVIEW COMMENCEMENT SUPPLEMENT 2020 Zoom Video at: click here  First ever 8th Grade parade at: click here 

Eighth Grade Recognition Day

The members of the Class of 2024 chose Cole S. ’24 as their Recognition Day speaker in a virtual ceremony held on June 4.

Good morning everyone, thank you all for joining today to acknowledge this milestone in our lives and congratulations to Hackley’s class of 2024� I’m Cole S� and it is an honor to have been given the opportunity to speak today� Any school can have a motto or mission statement� However, there is a significant difference between merely having one and actually living one� At Hackley, we live and breathe ours everyday� “Enter here to be and find a friend” � “United we help one another� ”

These words have incredible meaning for all of us. They are embodied and exemplified by everyone to have stepped foot on the Hilltop. I remember my arrival at the Hilltop at the start of sixth grade along with 15 other new Hackley students. On and before that first day we all were aware of the fact that many of our soon-to-be classmates had already been together since kindergarten. Naturally this contributed to some uncertainty as I thought this might affect the variety and quality of relationships I would build with the other students. Instead, what I found…what we all found…time and time again throughout the years we have been together, the contrary has been proven. The Hackley community along with our class, specifically, quickly formed an incredibly strong bond that has given and will continue to give us all the resilience we need to deal with whatever comes our way. Looking back, I recall my first month at Hackley and the grade-wide trip to Silver Lake. Unfortunately, I had broken my wrist a week or so prior to the trip making it fairly difficult to partake in some of the activities, especially when our group was tasked with building a functioning boat. Because I couldn't get my cast wet, I thought for sure I would be unable to participate. I remember that as I began to explain this to some of my peers, a classmate of mine set out in the opposite direction of the lake and returned with a plastic bag to keep my cast dry. It didn’t work that well, but that didn’t matter. What mattered then and what still matters now, is that someone I had possibly never even spoken to had gone out of their way to help me. The next year, at the beginning of seventh grade, we ventured out again as a whole grade, this time to the wondrous Poco-macready. While some of us enjoyed the activities, what made these memories so special to all of us is, instead, the simple fact that we were all there together…in the bunks, on the bus, and in the nonstop, pouring rain. That same year, I decided to play soccer in the fall for the first time and was, admittedly, not very good. But, what I remember most from that season is not the missed balls or shots but is instead, the unwavering support and unprompted encouragement offered by my teammates. They made it so that I enjoyed, not dreaded being out there on the field and by the end of the season I ended up… not terrible. But once again, this didn’t matter. What mattered then and what still sticks with me today is that my teammates had given up their practice time to help me. And of course, there was the Adirondack trip with Ms. Budde, Mr. Hasslinger, and Eli. I’m sure a lot of you have heard the story before so I’ll just give a brief overview. This was a Hackley week-long summer camp offered and organized by Mr. Hasslinger and Ms. Budde. For our first day, we were camping a few miles into the woods. When we left our campsite to go make dinner, all of our group’s food was eaten by what they think was a bear. Unfortunately, the next day, we were supposed to go on an extensive full-day hike up Mt. Marcy that we obviously would struggle to do on empty stomachs. The other group on the trip was considerate enough to offer us some of their food so that we could all hike together. These are just some of the many examples of the Hackley community that I, in particular, have experienced throughout these past years. Throughout middle school we have also joined together to help make a change and a difference, speaking out and

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showing support even and especially in regards to the challenging and complicated issues of our time. Whether this be the various walkouts or days of silence, our unifying community at Hackley continually shines through. The Hilltop is a special place and the principles we strive to live by do not cease when we leave campus, we instead take these ideals out into the world and home with us. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to adapt to changes in everyday life that we never could have imagined. However, as the pandemic unfolds before our eyes, I take comfort in the knowledge that the incredible Hackley support system, and the community that I became part of just 3 short years ago, are there for all of us. In a matter of weeks, the leadership at Hackley and our dedicated teachers took us out of the familiar confines of the physical classroom…something educators and students alike have been utilizing for hundreds of years…to the virtual classroom…something never done before. No, online school is not perfect or ideal to any extent, but it’s there, along with all of you, and the sense of community that has not been lost with distance. While the situation may seem daunting now and is indeed unlike anything any of us have ever experienced, we have been and still are there for eachother, as always. Together, we have experienced, dealt with, and endured other challenging and serious

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events that have certainly impacted all of us. Whether this be the destructive climate change, terrifying school shootings, or unfathomable injustices, we have been there for one another, together and united. While it is true that we are not physically together as of now, this does not discount or diminish in any way, the strength of our relationships with one another. The Coronavirus has certainly put this to the test but let me ask you something … have we not just completed our middle school career, have we not still spent hours on zoom with our classmates and teachers, and are you not watching/hearing this speech and sharing this important milestone in our lives right now, all together? While we have lost physical contact with one another and are disappointed that we couldn’t finish the year in-person, the fact that we still finished this year, as together as we can be, truly shows the incredible resilience we all have, individually and as a community. Moving on to the upper school will not be easy, I do know that. But I also know, as the Coronavirus has shown me and hopefully all of you, we are capable of so much; we will adapt to and eventually conquer whatever life throws at us. We will not only come out of this historic and monumental time with this knowledge, but also with a keen sense of appreciation for each other that could only have come with the deprivation of physical interaction. I also trust that the warm welcome that I received when I started here in 6th grade will be given to our new classmates joining us this next school year in 9th. From the overnights, to the field days, to the activity nights, these middle school years with all of you have been nothing short of incredible. The Pandemic has helped teach me about life's unpredictability, that uncertainty is and WILL always be with us, and that we should never take the incredible community we have here at Hackley for granted. So I now understand, better than ever, that we don’t HAVE to spend another four years together, we instead have the privilege of doing so, and I will no longer take that for granted. So I leave you all with this final thought…what happens these next four years is not something we can predict or control, we do not have jurisdiction over the challenges we may face together but, what we can control is how we react, adapt, and most importantly, embrace with confidence, not fear, what is next to come.