FASNY Says Farewell to 2nd Ever Graduating Class

Mamaroneck's French-American School of New York said goodbye to their second senior class ever on Sunday afternoon, gathering students, faculty, alumni, friends and family at the Woman's Club of White Plains for an uplifting and intimate commencement ceremony.

After adding an 11^th grade to the school in 2008, followed by a 12^th grade in 2009, FASNY teachers and administrators were glowing with pride as they prepared to send off the 24 bright graduates of the class of 2010. A warm, family atmosphere underlined the ceremony, which featured a number of speeches by school officials, students and even Consul General of France in New York Philippe Lalliot.

Also recognized were the spirit and camaraderie of the Class of 2010, a close knit group that, in the eyes of the FASNY faculty, truly excelled both inside and out of the classroom, leaving their mark on their fellow students and community, despite having the pressure of following in the footsteps of the school's first ever senior class.

"They are, as one would expect of FASNY students, bright, they're capable, they're talented," said head of school Robert Leonhardt. "Academically, they were very successful. But I would say their remarkably distinguishing characteristic is what nice people they are. To me, niceness, la gentillesse in French, because niceness doesn't exactly translate the word, it's a high form of intelligence. What they've been able to do in the school is set a tone for consideration, concern for other people, dialogue between those who don't necessarily have the same point of view, and general civility, which provides leadership in a community. When a senior class embodies those motions, it sets the tone for the entire school."

The ceremony was held half in French and half in English, and featured such FASNY traditions as the presentation of the class gift, this year's being a mosaic, as well as the "Passing of the Key" from the 12^th grade class delegates to the class delegates of the 11^th grade. "Lifelong FASNY Students" were also recognized, including Alejandro Sierra, Lucas Noble-Beeck, Margaux Bigotte, and Charlie Javice, who have been with the French-American School for over 14 years. For a lot of FASNY teachers, Sunday's graduation symbolized the ending point of a significant transformation on the part of the students.

"It's amazing to see this," said Social Studies teacher and student government advisor David Ellinghaus. "It's only our second graduation and to have these kids to go on, most of them going to amazing universities just like last year's group, to first meet them as eleven year olds and see them walking out the door as eighteen-year-old young adults is pretty amazing for all of us."

FASNY's Class of 2010 will go on to pursue further studies in the United States, France and Canada next year after receiving acceptances from 76 different colleges and universities, including New York University and Cornell in New York; Rhode Island School of Design; University of Pennsylvania; McGill University in Montreal, Canada; Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.; and Math.Sup. Lycée Louis Le Grand in Paris.

For a number of FASNY students, Sunday afternoon was a chance to reflect on the countless challenges, successes, and unique experiences met in their time as high school students.

"I've been at FASNY for eight years, and today I feel that it passed really very quickly," said Haythem Laaribi, student government president for two years. "I think it's only at the end when you really realize how important these formative years were for us. I can especially say that in the next years I'm definitely going to take with me the memories of these past years and hopefully I can try to really make the most of my future experiences."

For Javice, Sunday's graduation was a final opportunity to thank the institution that afforded her a variety of once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and openings.

"I am extremely grateful for the administration and teachers who understood me and helped me pursue things outside of school," said Javice, who organized a soup-kitchen and book-drive out of FASNY, on top of creating her very own student-run micro-finance organization. "I think that's what really made me grow and they were a tremendous help for that."

Master of Ceremonies and deputy head of school Joël Peinado concluded FASNY's second commencement by wishing all of the new graduates good luck in all of their future endeavors, "et bonne chance."