Bronxville Middle School Principal Dr. Thomas Wilson handing Moving Up Certificate to 8th grader

By Plamena Quintavalla, Syntax for the Bronxville School

June 29, 2022: Bronxville Middle School eighth graders celebrated an important milestone in their academic careers during a moving-up ceremony before an audience of friends, family and administrators on the school’s front lawn on June 23.

Select student representatives – Juan Carlos Diaz, Peyton Gallo, Peyton Levine, Thanos Saridakis and Colette Ungvary – addressed their classmates and reflected on their experiences in middle school. They acknowledged their parents, teachers and friends for encouraging them during their years of growth and looked forward to new opportunities in their educational journey as high school freshmen in September.

“The best parts of our lives are not experiences or items, or anything like that – the people are,” Gallo said. “As we move forward and everything feels like it’s changing, we just have to remember that. Love the people in your life and accept their love in return.”

The students reflected on their tightknit school community and the bonds they’ve shared with their classmates through their participation in athletics and academics. They also discussed the challenges of the pandemic and the joy of reuniting with friends and teachers in the classroom.

“The environment that the students and teachers create has had a large impact on not only my education, but also my overall life,” Saridakis said. “We are all very fortunate to go to a school where we go home happier than when we arrived.”

In his address, Principal Dr. Thomas Wilson reflected on a kindergarten unit of study, where students and teachers collaborate to create a warm and nurturing environment to tend to the incubated eggs and watch them hatch. While some chicks take longer to break through the shell, he described a powerful message that a kindergarten teacher would share – sometimes it is kind not to take a hard task away from someone, and sometimes it is caring to let someone do hard work by themselves instead of stepping in.

“Metaphorically, the students before you are coming out of their own shells,” Dr. Wilson said. “I commend each of them for their resilience and flexibility. Now as they leave us and consider the next eggshell, the next set of challenges they have to chip away at as newly minted high schoolers, I hope you will consider taking a step back when it makes sense and let your capable, functional children forge a path that they will own, but that will make you both proud.”

Signifying the conclusion of one chapter and the beginning of another, the students were called one by one to accept their certificates. They will embark on the next phase of their educational journey as high school freshmen in the fall.

Photos courtesy of the Bronxville Union Free School District

Editor's note: As a public service, MyhometownBronxville publishes articles from local institutions, officeholders, and individuals. MyhometownBronxville does not fact-check statements therein, and any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the thinking of its staff.