Caps Fly as Rye High School’s Class of 2025 Graduates

The Rye High School Class of 2025 graduated on Friday evening at Nugent Stadium, its bleachers filled with proud families and loved ones.  

The ceremony marked the school’s 94th annual graduation. To commemorate the special occasion, the scoreboard read RYE 20/GARNET 25, and the clock was frozen at 20:25.

Coming Full Circle

“My extremely handsome, intelligent grandson is graduating tonight,” Elizabeth Getlik, grandmother of John Getlik, told The Record. Attendees were still trailing in, but Getlik had already claimed her seat.   

“Graduation is probably one of the nicest ceremonies, events that will be in their lives,” said Getlik, who was in the school system for 32 years as a speech therapist, teacher, and administrator. “I don’t know if they realize it yet.”  

(“GOOD EVENING…  if you lost your CAR KEYS, it’s a HONDA. Come find us at the tent on the side,” someone interrupted through the loudspeaker. “Oh, they still didn’t find the Honda … oh dear, dear,” Getlik murmured.) 

Also in the crowd was Madalena Vieira, there for her niece, Ava Vieira Cross.  

“It’s a big deal,” said Vieira on graduating from high school. “And they should celebrate themselves and celebrate, you know, all they went through.  

“And now they’re going off to college.” 

Most of the Ivy League schools, Stanford University, New York University, Northwestern University, and UC Berkeley are included in the list of colleges and universities the Class of 2025 will soon head to.  

(“ONCE AGAIN, if you lost your KEYS to a HONDA, WE HAVE THEM…”)  

Stuart Poll, father of Sophia Angelene Poll, said he and his family had moved to Rye from Australia “a couple of days” before schools shut down in 2020 because of the pandemic.  

“She had to have, like, a year and a half or so remote … so it’s been a really unique experience for her,” he said.  

Having begun high school in the throes of COVID-19 and remote learning, an in-person graduation felt an apt bookend for the Class of 2025.

The Fish March Out of Water 

On American high school graduations, Poll said: “As an Australian, this pageantry is something else.”  

And eventually, with most attendees settled in their seats, the music switched to “Pomp and Circumstance,” and the Class of 2025 began their march into the packed stadium. 

There was the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by the National Anthem sung by graduating senior Vincent Sculti. A student band composed of Zoe Loizeaux on vocals, class salutatorian Bill Chen on piano, Parker Canna on bass, and Joseph Cavatoni on drums, played “Changes” by David Bowie (“Ch-ch-ch-changes/Pretty soon now you’re gonna get older”).  

Principal Andrew Hara delivered the first speech — for his first graduating class since joining RHS in August. “Once a Garnet, always a Garnet,” he said.  

For Schools Superintendent Eric Byrne, this graduation also was momentous, as it marked his last in Rye — he is set to exit, on June 30, after an eight-year run.  

“Have fun and be a good listener,” Charles Cosenza said, quoting his father during his senior oration.  

“I’ve always wanted to be cool,” Bill Chen said in his salutatory address. “I studied Yo Mama jokes like they were SAT vocab.”  

Chen eventually found that being cool meant “living by our own values, not chasing ones that aren’t our own.” 

Valedictorian Juliet Rotondo referenced David Foster Wallace’s commencement address at Kenyon College in 2005.  

In his speech, Wallace told the parable of two young fish who met an older fish, who asked them, “Morning boys, how’s the water?”  

The younger fish swam for a bit, before one turned to the other: “What the hell is water?”  

“Rye is the water Wallace describes in his speech. Something so familiar to us that we take it for granted, something we fail to appreciate,” Rotondo said.  

Board of Education President Jane Anderson also delivered remarks, and then, one by one, the Class of 2025 began walking across the stage to receive their long-awaited diplomas.  

“Let’s go Justin!” yelled a group of boys on the bleachers.  

A few seats over sat a family with matching t-shirts that said “LATANYA CONGRATS.”

A Bittersweet End

Following the utterance of the last Z-surname, and the turning of the tassel, it was time for the Class of 2025 to toss their caps. The cap toss, though brief in the eye of the spectator, may as well represent a lifetime for the graduate.  

The split second the cap is suspended in air before inevitably falling back to earth is a bitter reminder that all things do come to an end, even if it sometimes feels like time can stop in its tracks.   

Nugent Stadium turned into a swarm of black and red as the newest alumni of Rye High School rose from their seats to greet their loved ones.  

Celebrating together on the field were Aerin Delizia, Sophia Bubeck, and Sophia’s mother, Karina Bubeck.  

When asked what their future plans were, Bubeck and Delizia grinned. “We’re actually both going to Cornell together,” said Delizia.

Michael Verille, another newly crowned graduate, is going to the University of Colorado- Boulder and is “excited to go out West. See something other than Rye.  

“It’s beautiful out there,” he said. He’s looking forward to skiing and studying cybersecurity and pursuing a career in law.  

But Verille said he would miss seeing the same people every day.  

The graduates are about to move on from “something familiar to something a little scary,” in Elizabeth Getlik’s words. 

But for now, on the field, there was still time to hold on — to give hugs, to snap a few more photos, and light a celebratory cigar.  

As smoke filled the air, one graduate could be heard saying, “I’m scared, it’s too much pressure.”  

Perhaps it was her hesitance to reach for the cigar. Or perhaps it was the haze lifting, and with it the clarity — and weight — of adulthood coming into view.