Schools
Eighth Graders Move Up to the High School
The eighth grade class celebrates their Move-Up Day at Codey Arena.
The Millburn Middle School Moving Up Ceremony at Richard J. Codey Arena in West Orange was quite different than the high school graduation Monday afternoon.
First, the temperature wasn't in the 90s, but in the frigid low 60s as the ceremony occurred atop of a functioning ice rink. Next, the rising freshman class had about 80 more members than the graduating Class of 2010. But yet, the ceremony lasted 90 minutes, as it featured musical performances, commencement speeches and the quintessential certificate ceremony for all of the approximately 400 members of the MHS Class of 2014.
After arriving through the main doors of the arena, the eighth graders and the faculty took their seats. Student speakers at the Moving Up Ceremony included members of the MMS Leadership Council, a select United Nations-esque committee consisting of one member for every Peer Leadership group in the school.
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The student masters of ceremony for the morning were eighth graders Jacob Cohen and Sarah Feigelman. Evan Hartwig and Lawson Penney led the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. Following them, a group of select choral singers (Caroline Casey, Chase Harrison, Eleanor Konrad, Anya Parker-Lentz, and Aanchal Sahay) led the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner, our National Anthem, conducted by MMS choral director David Huneryager.
Principal Michael Cahill followed, offering a welcoming address that emphasized on the achievements (commitment to leadership and character education; academic success) and setbacks (going through seventh grade with only three academic teams instead of four; the 2009 swine flu epidemic) on the eighth graders' journey through three years at Millburn Middle School.
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The eighth grade band, under the direction of band director Fred Czarnecki, played a selection for the audience for a final time together as a band.
Student Jessica Reedy was next, addressing her fellow students, highlighting the individual academic achievements of the class, which included the sixth grade's study of Greece and Rome, the seventh grade math cartoon enlargement project and the eighth grade word essay, in which all students choose a word, and are prompted to write an entire 7-10 page paper surrounding that word, citing references from Shakespeare, the Bible, a film, a novel, and an etymological dictionary.
After Reedy's speech, the eighth grade class of 2010 officially became the Millburn High School Class of 2014, as leadership teacher and Sally S. DeVeer Award Recipient Steve Chernoski and math teacher Dana Longo formally called each student to the podium by name to receive packets proclaiming their completion of the MMS academic and service learning curriculum, among other extracurricular activities.
When Chernoski formally introduced the Class of 2014, the envious class threw up their baseball caps (given as complementary souvenirs) to imitate the throwing of graduation caps customarily done at graduation ceremonies. The parents and families were not permitted to applaud until after the recitation of all 400 names, so as the final student (Erin Zuck) approached the podium, the huge crowd that filled most of the arena presented her and the rest of her class with a riveting ovation.
John Rogers, guidance coordinator at the middle school, followed with a speech that congratulated the class on fulfilling 100 percent of their service learning mission. Whether as part of the Peer Leadership Program, the Mental Health Players or SLAM (Service Learning Altruistic Mission), each of the members of the class of 2014 has done something of significance for the betterment of the lives of other people. A theme of Rogers' speech involved how the students have been serving as metaphorical life-rafts to others, helping others' lives through empathy, and bringing hope and new direction.
The MASH (Machine and Software Help) peer leaders presented an original slideshow montage on the JumboTron screen, with hundreds of photos highlighting the strong bonds between those in the class of 2014, and the memorable moments of the year, including the 8th grade field trip to Fountain Spring Lake, Damn Yankees, and the Student-Faculty Basketball Game.
Students Jason Claman, Caroline Levine, Julie Ahn, Emily Feigelman and Ashley Dasti then presented gifts of recognition to four dedicated staff members of Millburn Middle School who are retiring. These faculty members include physical education teacher Steve Buesser, foods teacher Christine Helfrich, guidance secretary RoseAnn Keenan and general music teacher Barbara Nowicki. The students also honored outgoing Schools Supt. Richard Brodow.
The eighth grade chorus, under the direction of Huneryager, came together for a final time to sing Langston Hughes' "I Dream A World," which they recently sung at the Spring Concert.
Brodow closed the morning's ceremony by giving his final graduation address as part of the Millburn Public Schools, honoring the students and faculty for their consistent achievements, leadership and perseverance.
Jessica Reedy's full speech follows:
Some students say that they have changed more in the past three years than they have in their entire lives. I think I speak for every 8th grader when I say that I am glad to have experienced so many changes at Millburn Middle School. This school has been a part of our lives for three years, and when we go on to the High School in September, it will almost be like a part of us is missing. Today is like looking through a baby book, remembering all the good times we have experienced in the past three years.
When we entered MMS in 6th grade, we went from being the big kids in elementary school, to the babies of the Middle School. We were all nervous, even if we would never admit it. In 6th grade, Starbucks became our second home and on one Friday a month, TGIF was the place to dance all night or play basketball in the hottest room in the world. In Social Studies, we learned about ancient Greece and Rome. I still remember walking down the halls and hearing arguments about who was more powerful, Poseidon or Athena. In Science, we all grew to love those videos about waves and electricity. We first became aware of the TV show Numbers in 6th grade Math. Who knew that we would all still beg our math teachers to let us watch it this year? In Spanish, I remember dancing in a conga line to the song, Si No Te Tengo A Ti during class. Who could also forget reading The Outsiders? By the time we finished the book and the movie, no one ever wanted to talk about themes or the climax ever again.
In 7th grade we became the "middle of the middle and proud of it!" In one short year, we were no longer the babies. Mr. Rogers and Mrs. Worthington visited each subject throughout the year and taught us a mini lesson. One thing we learned is what kind of learner we are, visual, auditory, or kinesthetic. We also learned how to take notes, which they tell us is very important preparation for High School. In Social Studies we traveled around the world to China, Japan, and Africa. In 7th grade we also got to create our favorite cartoon character out of coordinates in math. Our school's walls were covered with Mario's and SpongeBob's. Although 7th grade was fun, at the end of the year, Millburn was affected with Swine Flu. I was sitting in 9th period Social Studies when I learned that the school was to be closed. Although I felt sorry for my sick friends, I was excited for my extra day to sleep in. At that point, the number of students in my classes decreased each day. Those couple weeks in 7th grade we will all remember for a long time. At the end of 7th grade, a lot of us applied for the 8th grade peer leadership program at Millburn Middle School. The day the peer leader results were posted in the hallway, many students were late to class because people were surrounding the results board.
In September 2009, we stepped into MMS as 8th graders. As every student knows, we worked extremely hard this year. The word essay was a big part of our year. We had to choose one word and write an entire essay on that single word. After all that work on my word, I NEVER want to talk about solitude or use it in a sentence ever again. Peer leaders were a big part of our year. The peer leaders were all there on induction night in October. We recited the pledge to stay drug and alcohol free. We learned that there is more to peer leadership than just wearing the shirt and showing up to the meetings. Peer leaders is a way to show New Jersey, Millburn, and our families that we are involved and we can be trusted to be role models for everyone. Towards the end of the year, we are both happy and sad to leave MMS.
So after a short three years, we are moving onto the High School in September. Hopefully none of us will ever forget all these Middle School memories that happened here. We worked hard to get to where we are today. So congratulations Millburn Middle School class of 2010!
