Commack's Class of 2013 Celebrates Graduation [PHOTOS]

The sizzling summer heat was no match for Commack's graduating Class of 2013 at their annual commencement exercises on Sunday morning. 

The 628 members of the Class of 2013, their families and friends were welcomed by Master of Ceremonies James Desmond, an English teacher, and a performance of the National Anthem by the chamber choir. 

Academic Leader Susan (Laura) Jao reflected on lessons first learned by watching childhood movies from Disney for continued inspiration for the adult lives quoting "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," "Mulan," and "Toy Story." 

"In the film "Mulan," the main character is told that 'There are two great days in a person's life, the day we were born and the day we prove why we are born. Fellow graduations, best wishes for the second one," Jao said. 

John Lopes, Senior Class President, then presented the Class of 2013's gift for the district to Assistant Principal  Susan Shapiro. The Class of 2013 will give a set of new signs for Commack High School's rooms and fields to help future students and visitors have any easier time navigating its halls. 

Superintendent Dr. Donald James offered his congratulations to the graduate's parents and families along with words of wisdom. 

"Make no mistake one person can change the world..." James said, offer a series of guidelines to live by. 

Jeffery Ball, an academic leader for the Class of 2013, told his fellow classmates that they had already started writing the story of their life each time they picked up a pen and told stories of their day. 

"As you write your stories, let those words act as the preface for the rest of your life. But then comes the issue, the next story," Ball said. "Write the story of your life as you want to remember yourself." 

He sent a personal message to his classmates about studies in the fields of language and communications, part of the humanities, being overshadowed in college by college majors in the sciences, engineering and technologies. 

"There's a place in this world for everyone. Don't let anyone make you feel otherwise. There is a time we all believed it too. Search for that feeling, even if it takes traveling on the wrong roads," Ball said. 

Commack High School principal Catherine Nolan revisited the difficulties faced by the Class of 2013, including Hurricane Sandy, and put her confidence in her "borrowed children." 

Board of Education Vice President Deborah Guber accepted the Class of 2013 as graduates, among which was her own daughter, Stephanie Alaire.