John Jay Class of 2025 looks forward together

Paige D'Aleo accepting the diploma for her sister, Brooke. Jim MacLean Photo

Valedictorian Dakota Cameron addresses her classmates. Jim MacLean Photos

Read The Recorder's special graduation section.

By JEFF MORRIS

The weather on June 17 gave no hint of the heatwave that would come a week later. Skies were cloudy and the weather cool as the John Jay High School class of 2025 gathered with families, friends, teachers and administrators inside the big Venetian Theater tent at Caramoor in Katonah.

The school’s 69th Commencement Exercise began with a rousing rendition of the National Anthem by the combined Notables, Treble Makers, and Vocal Jazz ensemble. The Notables and Treble Makers would later return for performances of their own that spanned the generational spectrum: the Notables singing a song by Phoebe Bridgers, who was born in 1994, and the Treble Makers doing one by Joni Mitchell, who was born in 1943. 

JJHS Principal Steven Siciliano welcomed everyone. He began on something of a melancholy note, with a tribute to Brooke D’Aleo, a member of the Class of 2025 who passed away on June 27, 1994, after a battle with cancer. [See separate story]

There was the ceremonial presentation of the Key of Knowledge, and the handing out of 229 diplomas — but most of all, there were speeches.

Salutatorian Kate Stevens framed her address with the song “I Lived” by OneRepublic. “The lyrics talk about wanting to experience every part of life — the good, the hard, the joyful, the painful,” she said, “and walking away being able to say, ‘I did it all.’ And honestly, that’s exactly what our time at John Jay feels like.” She added, “This song reminds me that living fully isn’t about having everything figured out. It’s about showing up, saying yes, making mistakes, laughing through the chaos, and loving every second of it.”

Valedictorian Dakota Cameron posed a question she said was used on the field hockey team, “You can, but will you?” She adapted it to multiple situations: “You can play the game but will you sweat through practice the week before  so you are ready for their offense? You can take the test but will you review the equations one last time so you ace it? You can toss that plastic bottle in the trash, but will you take that extra second to help the environment and recycle it? With every decision, we are faced with that same quiet challenge, ‘Will you?’” She concluded, “One of the reasons I am so proud to be a part of this graduating class is that since our first day at John Jay our answer has always been that we will.”

The keynote address by English teacher Jason Mahlke focused on the “dangers of certainty.” “This moment, while no doubt exciting, may also be tempered with the tremble of uncertainty. Let me be the first to say, uncertainty is NOT a weakness, it is the beginning.” Zeroing in on the phrase “if you know, you know,” he warned that politicians have cast the “spell of certainty to captivate, calm, or incite us,” that on social media, “certainty is currency,” and that the certainty of AI “has commandeered our Google searches, written your physics labs, U.S. history chapter summaries, even the emails you sent to teachers (evidenced by the lifeless, ‘I hope this email finds you well’ opening) all with breathtaking speed, clarity, and decisiveness.” He ended with, “REMEMBER! If you know you KNOW there is always more to question and always more to wonder! Stay curious!”

It was up to Emilia Viders to wrap things up with the senior class address. She spoke rhapsodically about the unified basketball game at the recent JayFest as emblematic of the Class of 2025. “Imagine every seat in the gym is filled. Every single one. Every voice is loud. Imagine every basket scored by our life skills students being met with the kind of eruption you’d expect at a championship game. And it was never about the scoreboard, but something so much bigger. The spirit of a class that shows up for each other.” She spoke of a palpable exuberance “that had nothing to do with winning, but everything to do with celebrating each other’s effort and joy.”

Said Viders, “This is who we are. Who we strive to be. A class that understands that the moments that matter most aren’t measured in trophies or titles, but in the way we support each other — loudly, proudly, and wholeheartedly. And that spirit — that refusal to hold anything back — tells you all you need to know about the Class of 2025.”

Siciliano and Superintendent Raymond Blanch bestowed diplomas and handshakes, and then, with a final tassel flip, the class of 2025 left the tent.