San Miguel Academy graduates 15

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Collin Johnson, left, and Arshay Cooper, right, frame the 15 San Miguel graduates

NEWBURGH – Short and intimate.

On a warm Thursday night in the City of Newburgh, San Miguel Academy held a joyous graduation for 15 eighth-grade boys in an auditorium packed with families and friends. 

And the other 49 members of the student body. The younger students, girls, and boys, sang several songs, including This Land Is Your Land, as people filled the auditorium.

Valedictorian Gustavo Laureano addressed his fellow graduates, recalling activities with some of classmates. He noted that COVID created challenges to his class. He thanked the parents, teachers and staff for their efforts in helping his classmates graduate. 

Arshay Cooper, author of A Most Beautiful Thing, and New York Giants football player Collin Johnson, placed ribbons with medals on each of the graduates. 

A Most Beautiful Thing chronicles how the sport of rowing turned his life around. He has created A Most Beautiful Thing Inclusion Fund, which helps break barriers.  Rowing is part of the curriculum at the academy. He said the rowing teaches many lessons. He talked about the important role of the coxswain, who makes sure that the scull going in the right direction. He referred to the academy’s mentors as coxswains. 

“San Miguel polishes diamonds,” Cooper said.

Cooper has helped advance rowing at the academy, which will send three sculls to the U.S. Rowing Youth National Championships next week. 

Johnson also addressed the graduates. He said that everyone is “super intentional.” He praised the boys’ commitment to succeed.

Father Mark Connell, who helped establish the academy in 2006, thanked the academy’s board and benefactors. Connell, who has worked in education for 40 years, thanked everyone for attending the 45-minute ceremony. 




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