Delivering their speeches, the class of 2022 shined particularly bright at this year’s graduation.
Elira,* the class president from Albania, talked about “The breakfast club,” when her math teacher would open the classroom early and chat with the students over school muffins and yogurt.
Adam from Yemen joked about meeting “my first bald teacher,” who was demanding yet caring in pushing his students to write.
Christina, our valedictorian from Dominican Republic, reflected on the challenges of Calculus.
Oumou from Senegal was still glowing over getting a piece published in the New York Times, a Modern Love Story, “Sprinting in Senior Spring.”
On the day of our graduation, the Supreme Court was overturning Roe vs. Wade.
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“Miss, I need to talk to you,” said Adil urgently, stopping me in the hallway. 
Awa sobbed in our office. “Can’t you just let me try?” she pleaded.
“We just cancelled Saturday school,” said an assistant principal from another school as he walked to his car. Sleet pecked us as we paused to talk in front of our shared Bronx campus. “Only two kids showed up, and most of the teachers had to call out because of the roads.” 
In one of our English as a New Language classrooms,* students were given index cards with the task “Describe yourself in six words,” and then instructed to post the cards on a bulletin board. The cards said so much: “I miss my friends in Vietnam,” “I want to be a doctor,” “I think more than I speak.” One was written by Carlos, who came to this country last year from the Dominican Republic: “The things are not so easy.” 
Classroom 325 