Commencement speaker Alex Elegudin shared a poignant message with both the Henry Viscardi School graduates and their families Thursday night.
“What I’m here to tell you today is that life is about opportunities,” Elegudin, an advocate in the disability community since 2003, said. “You have to take those opportunities.”
Elegudin was involved in a deer-related car accident as a college sophomore 20 years ago, an accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down. He went on to co-found Wheeling Forward in 2011, which helps recently disabled people who lack a support system and resources as well as the services they need.
Elegudin’s message was a common one heard throughout the graduation, held in the Henry Viscardi High School’s gymnasium. For the 11 graduates whose tassels turned to the left side of their caps, it was time to take what they learned at Viscardi with their teachers and friends into the next step.
“Thank you to all my fellow graduates for all they have done for me over the years to become the person I am today and shape the person I will become,” valedictorian Hana Music told the crowd. “We are done with the HVS chapter of our lives, but we are not done with each other.”
Salutatorian Angela Yan, who has cerebral palsy, reiterated after her four years at the school that for her and her graduates, the opportunities to make an impact are endless.
“Although my disability affects me a lot physically, I do not let my disability or physical limitations define who I am,” Yan said. “I use them as lessons to overcome and tap into my strengths. I am patient, persevering and never giving up.”
Along with the 11 graduates who received their diplomas, a twelfth was given in honor of Jaser Khowessa, who would had graduated Thursday night.
The Viscardi Center’s K-12 school serves medically fragile and severely disabled children with a graduation and college acceptance rate of 86%. The center, located in Albertson, provides after-school athletic programs, transportation and modern technologies, and curriculums designed to give students an accessible but rigorous academic experience.
The other side of the center offers programs to disabled adolescents and adults and school districts looking for transitioning planning services, prevocational work, testing and job placement. The center places roughly 120 people a year in competitive, integrated employment and provides support and advocacy beyond a participant’s tenure at the center.
Attending Thursday night’s graduation were several elected officials: North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena, Council Member Peter Zuckerberg, state Assemblywoman Gina Sillitti and state Sens. Jack Martins and Monica Martinez.
Sillitti spoke about the positivity she felt throughout the school when visiting for the first time after being elected, specifically from a student she told her the only time he ever felt happy was at the Henry Viscardi School.
“As long as there is breath in my being and I have this job I will advocate for these students,” Sillitti said. “I’m so proud of the graduates and parents and everything you’ve done to get here.”
Martins, who has served on the Viscardi Center’s Board of Trustees, shared how far the reach of Viscardi is and the impact it has had on New York.
“My colleagues in Albany know the wonderful work we do here at Viscardi and they know the difference it makes to empower children in such a special way,” Martins said.
