Adelberg: You're a Class That Leaves a Legacy

It is with pleasure and pride that I address the Class of 2011.  You are a class that will, without question, leave an indelible mark on Fox Lane High School.  Academically, you’re a class of high achievers.  You’re a class of superstars on the athletic field, on the stage, and your art work dons the walls of our school.  Among you are published poets and writers, ConEd scholar athletes, and National Merit Semi-Finalists.  You will be remembered as a class that entered our school in 2007 as individuals. Today, you graduate as a class that found its collective voice and that leaves as one, the Fox Lane High School Class of 2011.  Congratulations to all of you.

I want to share the story of an extraordinary woman featured in one our local newspapers earlier this month, a grandmother who earned two college degrees in two weeks, after overcoming tremendous adversity throughout her life. 

Randi Weiner profiled the accomplishments of Margaret “Peggy” Reilly, a 77 year old Irish grandmother, who received her master’s degree in public administration from Pace University this May and her bachelor’s degree from SUNY Empire State earlier this month. 

Reilly graduated high school in Yonkers in 1951.  She had to give up her own plans to attend college, first, when her father became ill, and then, again, after the births of her five children.  She worked a variety of jobs to help support her family.  She passed her Civil Service exam to qualify as a probation assistant and enforcement officer, but was told by her union representative that she could not get the job because she would potentially earn a salary that was meant for a man, not a woman.  She fought the system, and was ultimately given the job of investigation and enforcement officer.  She went on to a distinguished career in volunteerism and advocacy for victims of domestic violence.  While traveling to Ireland in 1997, Reilly fell down some stairs, hit her head, and suffered severe brain damage.  Surgery was performed to remove a piece of her brain. 

Still determined to get a college degree, Reilly first went to Westchester Community College, and then to SUNY Empire College. Her youngest daughter, Kathleen Hymes, quoted in this article, states that her “strength, determination, optimism and unconditional love are family legend.”  At the age of 77, Peggy Reilly finally achieved what she sought to earn but could not 60 years earlier, not one, but two college degrees.

I want to introduce you to another woman I recently learned about, a little more celebrated perhaps, but not an individual I had studied before, Dorothy Irene Height, profiled in an education journal article written by Lea Williams.  Height passed away in 2010, at the age of 98.  She was an activist for the causes of civil rights and women’s rights.  Upon her death, President Obama proclaimed that our nation’s flags be flown at half-staff.   

In his eulogy for Dorothy Height, President Obama acknowledged her fight “to make us see the drive for civil rights and women’s rights not as a separate struggle, but as part of a larger movement to secure the rights of all humanity, regardless of gender, regardless of race, regardless of ethnicity.”  Over the course of her life, Height was awarded 37 honorary doctorates from schools all over the country, as the author of this article noted, “from Howard to Harvard.” 

Much like Reilly, family mattered tremendously to Height.  She was raised by educated, hardworking parents, who were limited in their opportunities due to the racial laws and bigotry of the times.  For instance, when Dorothy was a young child, her mother, a nurse, had to work as a domestic, because hospitals in Pennsylvania, where they lived at that time, would not hire her because she was African-American. 

Height graduated high school during the depression and her family could not afford to send her to college.  To attend, she entered a national public speaking contest and won a four year scholarship by speaking about the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, those ending slavery, and protecting citizenship and voting rights to all regardless of race.

She chose to study psychology and social work and tried to enroll in Barnard College, though she was denied admission because Barnard had filled its quota of two African American students per class.  Refusing to give up, she enrolled instead at NYU.   Throughout her life, Height confronted racism and sexism.  She was refused service at restaurants and rooms at hotels.  She was denied membership in organizations and places in colleges she was absolutely qualified to attend.

During the 1960’s, Height participated in voter registration drives in the South.  She urged all races to come together for the cause of human rights.  She fought on, even when her own opportunities were at times held back by her own race or gender.  Though seated at the head table during the 1963 March on Washington, famously led by Martin Luther King, Jr. and others, she was not allowed to speak, as was the case for black women activists in the civil rights movement at that time.

What is remarkable about Dorothy Height is that she never gave up.  Nor, did she ever use her personal hurt or tribulations to deter her efforts on behalf of the causes for which she believed.  When denied membership to whites-only sororities and clubs, she formed her own.  When denied admission to her first college of choice, she applied to another.  When refused the opportunity to speak, she continued to participate in all efforts on behalf of the greater good, believing better times would come.

In his remarks at her memorial service, President Obama stated, “She understood that the movement gathered strength from the bottom up, those unheralded men and women who don’t always make it into the history books but who steadily insisted on their dignity, on their manhood and womanhood.  She wasn’t interested in credit.  What she cared about was the cause.  The cause of justice.  The cause of equality.  The cause of opportunity.  Freedom’s cause.”

Why was I so moved by these two amazing role models of perseverance and tenacity?  I was moved because I see in these two individuals inspirational stories that I believe, having gotten to know the Class of 2011, should resonate for many of you. The ultimate successes of Reilly and Height exemplify for all of us that there is the capacity for what is good and right in our world.  Despite personal struggle and growing up in the most difficult historical times, these two women fought on.  Not only did they succeed despite racism and prejudice, they dedicated their own lives to speaking out for those who could not advocate for themselves.

While thankfully, we live in a world with many more opportunities, and with greater protections against injustice, there are still too many causes calling for the wisdom, foresight and initiative that will be expected of each of you as you leave Fox Lane. Certainly, much in our world and right here at home seems unsettled today.  We face challenges locally, nationally, and globally.  But, there is some reason for optimism.  

At Fox Lane, you’ve taken courses that have taught you to think critically, to challenge the status quo, and to think out of the box.  In classes, in after school activities, in travel to other parts of the world, you’ve been taught that you can make a difference.  You are a class of individuals who have each reached for and realized your own personal best.

Some of you came to us, just a few years ago, not speaking a word of English, and today you graduate from an outstanding American high school.  So many of you advocated for yourselves and challenged yourselves in college level courses right here at Fox Lane.  Among you are students who connected with nationally renowned researchers in our science research program.  Some of you found that our alternative schools could better meet your needs and match your learning styles and aspirations.  When others around the world or here in the U.S. have suffered the consequences of natural disasters or manmade wars, you came together, raised conscientiousness and funds and made a difference. 

You’re a class that leaves a legacy.  A legacy of standing up for those who are different, a legacy of a new program to support incoming Fox Lane students, a legacy of not remaining silent when you see something that needs to be challenged, confronted or corrected.  I hope that these are some of the lessons and memories you’ll take with you as you leave Fox Lane today.

When you each picked up your cap and gown yesterday, you were also given a copy of The U.S. Constitution, a gift from Dr. Hochman.  Along with your own copy of the Constitution, I also want you to realize the power in the certificate you’re all receiving today, the high school diploma you have so well earned.  The diploma should serve as a reminder to each of you of the hard work you had to complete to get to this important milestone in your lives. 

In looking at the models of the two women I introduced to you today, understand the value they saw in this piece of paper as their passport to the opportunity and obligation to change the world for the better.  See today as both an end and a beginning.  We’re so proud of each of you for what you’ve become and for the great potential that today marks in your lives. 

I join your parents, grandparents, friends, relatives, teachers and everyone gathered here today to tell you how proud we are of each of you.  As Dorothy Height and Peggy Reilly ultimately saw their dreams come true, my wish for each of you is that all of your dreams come true, that you go on to great accomplishments, and that each of you finds success, happiness and fulfillment in whatever you do and wherever life takes you. Congratulations, Class of 2011!