The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
The 2024 senior class from the Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter School was told of the importance of building relationships during their lives and their careers during their graduation ceremony held June 10 at Middlesex College’s Performing Arts Center in Edison.
The 32 soon-to-be graduates heard from keynote speaker Harold Lee, president of the New Jersey Public Charter Schools Association.
“You all are the chosen ones,” he said. “You have a purpose, you have a mission, you are to be a light in this very messed up world that we’re in.”
You have a choice every single day, reach out to people, develop new relationships, to not only benefit yourselves, but also to help others,” Lee said. “You have a choice every single day to do what’s good, and right, and passionate, and I implore you all to choose wisely.”
Lee said of his position leading the association, “it is not fundamentally to share facts about charter schools. When it comes to politics, which is the world I live in, sometimes people don’t care about facts. Ultimately the business that I am in is the relationship business.”
“In order to succeed in life, it is not just about academic achievement, being book smart,” he said. “What is even more important is good relationships. There may be a time when you need help; you need people in your life who will support you and assist you. You can’t ask a stranger for help.”
Class Valedictorian Udgita Pamidigantam told her classmates that when they encounter future challenges, they should look inside themselves for the answers.
“We shall seek within, turning to our inner guru for guidance, and then try to act without,” she said. “So let our mantra be, seek within, act without.”
She said the class is not celebrating graduation, rather, it is celebrating the opportunity to unlock new chapters in their lives.
“School, as we all readily recognize, is more than just an academic pursuit,” she said. “It is a means to find and develop the social being in us through all the friendships, cross-learnings and arguments. From conducting caffeine-induced hyper discussions to collectively abstaining from once a favorite coffee shop, our class can be proud of itself for crafting a culture of value-based unification and team spirit.”
“Now looking ahead, challenges abound,” Pamidigantam said. “We will continue to be surrounded by influencing forces, some unintentionally misleading us and some incentivized to pull us away from the truth. If we’re not alert, we may chase the wrong rings, celebrate the wrong ideals and lose ourselves in the process.”
Class Salutatorian Yusuf Ansari noted that his classmates have always helped each other.
“Throughout high school, we have always been there for one another, helping each other through our toughest times and celebrating our successes,” he said. “It was the last two months that brought us together closer than ever.”
“As we conclude our 13 years of schooling and celebrate our graduation today, we must remember those who are oppressed are unable to have this privilege that we do,” Ansari said. “As Martin Luther King Jr. said, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
“We now have the power to vote in elections and make our voices heard through the exercise of freedom of speech and assembly,” he said. “It’s up to us to decide how to use those powers.”
Maryam Masud, the Student Recognition speaker, talked to her classmates about the various meanings of “home.”
“They say home is where the heart is,” she said. “Four years later, I guess I could give it to you, TEECS. You could be a place I could call home.”
“I am truly proud of how far we have come, and I am so proud of all of you,” she said.
Here are some scenes from the day:
