Southampton Graduates Look Toward The Future

Last Friday evening, June 24, on the Southampton High School football field, 150 men and women walked across the stage, taking the first steps toward the rest of their lives — toward two- and four-year colleges, trade and technical schools, or the workforce, toward futures that they cannot yet imagine.

But this much is clear: The Class of 2022 is officially on its way.

“They are just an amazingly resilient bunch. Really, they have worked through a lot of adversity and they did it, a lot of times, with a smile on their face,” Southampton High School Principal Brian Zahn said. “They were never a group that gave up, that said, ‘Poor me.’ There were challenges thrown ahead and they were always there to problem solve with us, to try and find ways to make their overall high school experience the best that it could be through the current situation.

“So I just can’t say enough about this group just because of everything that they went through, and how they carried themselves throughout it,” he continued. “They did an amazing job. They really did and I’m just so proud of them.”

Despite three of their four high school years defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, 14 seniors graduated with honors, 25 with high honors and 22 with highest honors, and at least one third of the class took Advanced Placement courses in subjects ranging from biology, calculus, Spanish and environmental science to human geography, physics, computer science and world history.

Forty students received the New York State Seal of Bi-Literacy and 14 graduates have been involved with a BOCES vocational program. Come the fall, 121 students are expected to continue their education.

“These kids have gone through so much,” Zahn said. “They’ve lost so much along the way, yet they’ve really tried to reinvent and rediscover themselves throughout it.”

Of the 150 graduates, 84 will attend four-year colleges, including Dartmouth College, Fordham University, Elon University, University of Michigan, Tulane University, United States Military Academy, Gettysburg College, Howard University, Boston College, Stony Brook University, New York University, and more.

Thirty-seven are headed to two-year colleges and trade and technical schools, among them Suffolk County Community College, Manhattan Community College and Advanced Technology Institute, and three students began their education at the United States Military Academy at West Point last Monday. The remaining graduates are expected to enter the workforce, Zahn said.

“They have just proven to be extremely resilient, very hard working and passionate about finding success and earning their way into the colleges and careers that they are moving toward,” he said. “So I am so proud of this group because they’ve had three tough years to navigate and they did it. They did it. It was not easy.”