Science teacher Sierra Dennehy shouted out Jaylah Jones’s positivity. Literature teacher Marco Cenabre spoke about Alec Pedersen’s senior social action project. Social Studies teacher Jake Crutchfield wanted to see more people like his student Antonio Bianco, whose existence alone is making the world brighter.
Those were just a few of the testimonies teachers shared Friday, as New Haven Academy (NHA) graduated 70 members of the class of 2024 in the auditorium of Fair Haven School. As in years past, teachers commended students’ “understated confidence” and “unwavering kindness.” They spoke with delight—and detail—about forging close relationships after a freshman year hamstrung by remote classes.
“When we go to prepare for graduation, it is amazing to me how true it is every year that every student has more than one teacher who has special personal things to say about them,” said NHA Program Director and Co-Founder Meredith Gavrin. “It’s so natural to the teachers and it means so much to them.”
The tradition of recognizing each graduate with a personalized comment stretches back to the school’s first graduation ceremony in 2006. Eighteen years later, things are virtually no different.
Dennehy, who teaches science, said that Jones’s “positivity is neither faked nor forced but authentic to her core.”
Cenabre, who helped ring in the 2023-24 school year for the district, spoke about his student Alec Pedersen’s 12th-grade social action project—a jazz show in the school’s library addressing the separation of church and state.
“He gathered his family, friends, teachers, as he, alongside his band, immersed us in music, poetry, history, emphasizing the fundamental right to spiritual freedom and the power of love,” Cenabre said. “I walked out inspired, and with a simple, yet important, understanding: ‘When there's so much suffering, where do we start?’ We start together.”
Crutchfield had a simple thing to say about Bianco: “This world could use more Antonios.”
The day also marked the end of an important chapter for Legacy Studios, NHA’s drama club. Tyheed Scurry, the school’s drama teacher, started the club two years ago and made an immediate splash in New Haven’s high school theater scene.
On Friday, seven students in the club’s inaugural cohort graduated (five were from NHA and two were from other NHPS schools that participated in the club). As they walked across the stage, they stood out from the crowd with their custom “NHA Drama” black and gold stoles.
“When Ty came to New Haven Academy my junior year, it was just really mind-blowing,” said outgoing club president Ale Cruz. Cruz brought the spirit of the theater all the way to the graduation stage, performing “For Good” from Wicked with fellow NHA drama star Carlie Mathews-Ramos as the class of 2024’s senior song.
“I had no idea one guy could make such a huge impact on not only New Haven Academy, but New Haven as a whole,” Cruz said.
Over the last two years, the fledgling theater program put on four diverse shows. In their inaugural production, Jason Robert Brown’s Songs for a New World, students captured the spirit of exploration and the unknown in a sprawling musical. Their second show, Dominique Morriseau's Paradise Blue, whisked audience members to Detroit’s Black Bottom neighborhood in 1949 to witness a jazz club struggling amidst urban change.
Last December, they took on Scurry’s own words with the world premiere of Heart. And earlier this spring, students opened a window into life in Washington Heights with their production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights.
“Legacy Studios not only helped me get into theater, but also just helped me get through school,” said club member Azaad Mamoon. “It helped so much knowing there’s a family there that cares about me”
Mamoon, who is continuing his education at Southern Connecticut State University, said Legacy Studios inspired him to minor in theater. He also said that the graduating members of the club are already making plans to stay involved, like coming back to NHA to help out during auditions.
“[Legacy Studios] taught me that I’m more capable than I thought I was,” said Jaylah Jones, who also said she also plans to continue acting going forward. “I feel like I’m my best self when I’m doing theater.”
As the students walked across the stage, Scurry looked on proudly.
“I’m just proud that I had a part in making sure that their light shines,” Scurry said. “I’m honored to be part of something that the students take pride in.”