On June 25, the Norwood News sent reporters to chronicle the graduation ceremonies of three Bronx high schools, including DeWitt Clinton, the Bronx’s largest comprehensive public high school.

On a hot and humid day at the Track and Field Center at the Armory in Upper Manhattan, family and friends gathered in the stands to support the graduating class from DeWitt Clinton High School.

Everyone spent less time looking through the programs they had been given and more time using them as fans to cool each other down. But despite the heat and major changes coming to the school in the future, there was a lot of excitement amongst the graduates.

Clinton is one of the most well known and recognized schools in the city. It was once considered one of the top schools in the city, and has had many famous alumnae including comic book publisher Stan Lee, writer James Baldwin, and comedian Tracy Morgan just to name a few.

The ceremony began with Principal Geraldine Ambrosio giving her open remarks. She announced that she would be stepping down as principal, and would be replaced by Santiago Taveras, a former deputy chancellor for the Department of Education.

After the presentation of awards and a few musical numbers from the band, alumnus Tabitha Ferrer spoke to the graduates about her struggles through high school and how she was able to graduate on the honor roll. She emphasized the importance of the education they had received from high school and how important it was to go to college.

“After my experience with my family going to the EAU (Emergency Assistance Union), I began thinking about my future,” said Ferrer. “I didn’t want to be poor. I wanted to go to college. I wanted to have a future.”

The graduates were then handed their diplomas and Ambrosio declared them official graduates as the students cheered and threw their caps up in the air.

Amidst the celebration however, there was a mutual feeling of disappointment among the graduates towards the future of Clinton.

Back in March, a 13-member Panel for Education policy voted to downsize Clinton and open two more schools in the same building. The reasoning behind the decision was because of the decline of Clinton’s graduation rate in recent years. Even Ferrer touched on the fact that the rate of Blacks and Latinos graduating on time was only about 55 percent.

She added that this shouldn’t discourage students still attending Clinton, but that they should continue to persevere and get the most out of their time in high school.

“It’s probably not going to be a good idea,” said graduate Donte Clarke while talking about the school split after the ceremony. “There are going to be problems with the three schools that are going to be there. Sharing the library, cafeteria, and all those areas is going to create problems.”

“The school was growing, and now we’re being separated again,” added graduate Daniel Shepard. “It’s a big disappointment.”