Commencement ceremonies, pandemic-style: Millbrook Blazers celebrate their graduation

MILLBROOK — Graduation, 2020, will be one to remember. In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Millbrook Central School District sought to make it special for the students who missed so much of their senior year. So many joined in to make this year’s graduation day special, and the Class of 2020 was extremely grateful.

The graduation ceremony itself mirrored many others around the country; a motorcade, starting at Elm Drive Elementary School, where many of the students started their formal learning. But this was much more than a motorcade, this was a full parade, with decorations, lights, several local police cars and fire engines sounding their sirens, and streets that were lined with well-wishers holding signs, flags and balloons. Vehicles drove past the Village Green, where each student saw a portrait of themselves proudly displayed, a gift from the Millbrook Education Foundation. 

Then, the parade made its way past the firehouse and Alden Place Elementary School, coming to rest in the parking lot between Millbrook Middle School and Millbrook High School. The 80 or so cars in the parking lot included one car for each graduate; the rest were for staff and special guests in the program.

After the program, which included the keynote speaker, former Superintendent of Schools Philip D’Angelo, who was chosen by the students, and speeches by valedictorian Halie Every and salutatorian Tessa Fountain, and awards, diplomas were handed out to the grads. With the sun setting behind them, it made for a lovely and memorable scene.

One day earlier, on June 17, the Bridge Authority celebrated Millbrook’s seniors as the Mid-Hudson Bridge lit up in blue in honor of the Class of 2020.

The Millbrook fire department and Walbridge Farms in Millbrook got together and under a bright blue tent, served hot dogs, hamburgers and other food to the seniors on Thursday, June 18, as they picked up their caps and gowns. Millbrook teachers Michelle Cring, Maureen Ackerman and Cindy Rozenweig provided gift bags for each senior filled with items to decorate their cars for the motorcade. School nurse Juliana Zengen passed out face masks made and donated by the Millbrook PTO for each graduate.

There were other motorcades to celebrate Blazers graduating this year; Millbrook teachers and staff spent two days going by each seniors’ home, taking pictures with their families, pets, or sometimes alone, to post on a school website created to highlight a senior and his or her accomplishments each day.

Also getting into the act, Fudgie’s Ice Cream in Amenia, which  offered a free ice cream to each senior as a special congratulatory treat. And a large stone was donated to the senior class by Stone Resource in Amenia, owned by Sam and Erin Bailey. It was delivered to the school, at the foot of the hill that leads to the athletic field, by Frank and Amiee Duncan, owners of Northwest Lawn and Landscaping in Millerton, who donated their time, equipment and labor to facilitate the project.  The students painted the  boulder white and decorated it with their hand prints as a gift for future seniors at the school.

One family settled in for the parking lot graduation ceremony, a night to remember as unique and special because of the effort made by the Millbrook Central School District to make graduation one-of-a-kind for the Class of 2020. Photo by Brian Frie

Graduation counselors Lauren Prince and Tom Chanowsky said they were happy to take part in Millbrook High School’s graduation day on Thursday, June 18, as the sun set on an extraordinary day in what was an extraordinary year. Photo by Brian Frie

One family settled in for the parking lot graduation ceremony, a night to remember as unique and special because of the effort made by the Millbrook Central School District to make graduation one-of-a-kind for the Class of 2020. Photo by Brian Frie

Latest News

Crescendo’s upcoming tribute to Wanda Landowska

Kenneth Weiss (above) will play a solo recital performance in honor of Wanda Landowska, a harpischord virtuoso, who lived in Lakeville for many years.

Provided

On Sept. 14, Crescendo, the award-winning music program based in Lakeville, will present a harpsichord solo recital by Kenneth Weiss in honor of world-renowned harpsichordist Wanda Landowska. Landowska lived in Lakeville from 1941 to 1959. Weiss is a professor at the Paris Conservatoire and has taught at Julliard. Born in New York, he now resides in Europe.

Weiss will play selections from “A Treasury of Harpsichord Music.” It includes works by Baroque composers such as Bach, Mozart, and Handel. It was recorded by Landowska at her Lakeville home, at 63 Millerton Road, which overlooks Lakeville Lake. Weiss said, “I am honored and excited to play in Lakeville, where Wanda Landowska lived.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Silent cinema, live magic

The live audience at Music Mountain takes in a silent film Sept. 7.

Natalia Zukerman

On Saturday, Sept. 7, Gordon Hall at Music Mountain was transformed into a time machine, transporting the audience for a 1920’s spectacular of silent films and live music. Featuring internationally acclaimed silent film musicians Donald Sosin and Joanna Seaton, the evening began with a singalong of songs by Gershwin, Irving Berlin and more. Lyrics for favorites like “Ain’t We Got Fun,” “Yes Sir That’s My Baby,” and “Ain’t Misbehavin’” were projected on the screen and Sosin and Seaton lead the crowd with an easeful joy. The couple then retreated to the side of the stage where they provided the live and improvised score for Buster Keaton’s 1922 short, “Cops,” and his 1924 comedy, “Sherlock Jr.”

Joanna Seaton and Donald Sosin, a husband-and-wife duo, have crafted a singular career, captivating audiences at some of the world’s most prestigious film festivals—New York, TriBeCa, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Telluride, and Yorkshire among them. Their performances have graced venerable institutions like MoMA, Film at Lincoln Center, the AFI Silver Theatre, and Moscow’s celebrated Lumière Gallery. Their melodic journey has taken them to far-flung locales such as the Thailand Silent Film Festival and the Jecheon International Music and Film Festival in South Korea. Notably, Seaton and Sosin have become a fixture at Italy’s renowned silent film festivals in Bologna and Pordenone, where they perform annually.

Keep ReadingShow less
Desperately seeking Susan Seidelman

The cover art for Seidelman's memoir "Desperately Seeking Something."

Photo Provided

On Thursday, Sept. 19 at 6 p.m., Haystack Book Talks will present a special evening with director Susan Seidelman, author of “Desperately Seeking Something: A Memoir About Movies, Mothers, and Material Girls.” Part of the Haystack Book Festival run by Michael Selleck, the event will take place at the Norfolk Library, featuring a conversation with Mark Erder after a screening of the 1984 classic, “Desperately Seeking Susan.”

Susan Seidelman’s fearless debut film, “Smithereens,” premiered in 1982 and was the first American indie film to ever compete at Cannes. Then came “Desperately Seeking Susan,” a smash hit that not only solidified her place in Hollywood but helped launch Madonna’s career. Her films, blending classic Hollywood storytelling with New York’s downtown energy, feature unconventional women navigating unique lives. Seidelman continued to shape pop culture into the ’90s, directing the pilot for “Sex and the City.” Four decades later, Seidelman’s stories are still as sharp, funny, and insightful as ever.

Keep ReadingShow less