The gray and rainy weather last Monday gave way to blue skies and sunshine as SAR Academy celebrated—in person—its eighth grade graduation in a beautiful and uplifting ceremony at New York Boulders Palisades Credit Union Park in Pomona, New York.

With more than 900 guests in attendance, the ceremony celebrated the accomplishments of 107 graduates, 16 of whom are children of SAR alumni and seven from families graduating their youngest child from SAR Academy. Within the graduating class were 26 students who began SAR Academy in 3-year nursery and 89 graduates who will be continuing on at SAR High School.

Throughout the program, graduates reflected on the experiences that bonded them as a grade, the lessons they learned and the core values they acquired during their years at SAR. The graduates each played an integral role in the program through song, dance, film, art and more.

Middle School Associate Principal Rebecca Ostro Nagata introduced class representatives Emma Karesh and Ethan Vorchheimer each of whom delivered beautiful remarks on behalf of the grade while Tamar Croog, a graduate parent, SAR alum and board member represented the parents and lay leaders with a message to the graduates.

Principal Rabbi Binyamin Krauss expressed his great pride in the graduating students, who showed tremendous resilience over the past year and served as role models for their younger peers

“I have no doubt that the lessons of the past 15 months will reshape education, jobs, communal life, and religious life and I have confidence in your entering that world, not as bystanders, but as active shapers of it,” shared Rabbi Krauss. “I hope that you will use the talents and passions that you have to make a difference to your family and friends, to the broader Jewish community and to the world and that the experiences you had at SAR will inform that impact, and that you will look back at your days and years here with a smile.”

Mazal Tov to the SAR Academy graduating class of 2021!