Mineola High School Welcomes Classes of 2015 & 2016

For at least the past 10 years, the has held a special outdoor barbecue for the incoming freshman class on the first day of school, welcoming the newest students to the building which will be their homes for the next 4 years.

“It’s a little because we have two grades,” Mineola High School Principal Ed Escobar said. “This is a very, very big year.”

Due to the , while typically there are about 200 students at the event, being able to fit in the outdoor courtyard and picnic space to the rear of the building just outside the track, there were close to 400 because of the combined movement of the classes of 2015 and 2016, the ninth and eighth graders, respectively.

Despite the larger numbers of incoming students and the rain pushing everyone but a few hardy students into the cafeteria, both the student organizers and physical education student leaders the barbecue helped out teachers and administrators with handing out plenty of hotdogs, hamburgers, chips and sodas to the new students.

“We both started out small as freshman, we just joined the teams, we got to know people and then we made friends and now we’re both leaders in the school,” senior Danielle Cohen, senior secretary and a drum major in the marching band said of herself and fellow senior Joe Massaro, who is the class president in addition to his athletic duties.

“You have to work hard to make yourself, each other and the school look good,” Massaro said. “The more you guys work together as a grade, the more friendships you’ll make and the more bonds you’ll make.”

Both Massaro and Cohen were asked by Escobar to speak to the incoming students before the barbecue in order to give them a taste of life at the high school.

“Maybe you don’t see that in yourselves right now but eventually you will and I think that’s what makes Mineola a wonderful place,” Escobar said, offering three pieces of advice to the incoming classes.

“Do well in school... as well as you possibly can. Get involved... being involved doesn’t just mean you’re on the team or in the group or in the organization; being involved means you have to take responsibility for your actions, that means you have to be committed to doing something. Make sure you choose the right friends. When you want to be friends with someone make sure that that person is doing the right thing because it’s a reflection on yourself, it’s a reflection on your friends, it’s a reflection on your family.”