On Sunday, April 12, the second annual Wall of Honor Ceremony took place in the Bernards High School Performing Arts Center.
The event, originally started four years ago by the student council, was continued this year by student council officers Justin Brach, Mathini Vaikunthan, Freddy Ludke, Bea Giordano, and Meg Gunson as well as math teacher and head of council, Mrs. Paula Gray. Gray highlighted to the audience the emphasis of this new tradition being “completely student run”.
This year the event inducted nine Bernards graduates into the Wall of Honor, including guitarist and lead member of the J. Geils Band, John Geils; founder of Heartworks, Megan McDowell; professional clarinettist, E. Michael Richards; medalled war veteran, John G. Cavaluzzo; Civil Rights activist, Julia Baxter Bates; film producer, Philip Capice; choral teacher, Linda Cressman Busarow; war veteran and author, Martin Blumenson; and Tony-Award-winning actor, Roger Bart.
Among those students who distributed the Wall of Honor awards included Seniors Justin Brach, Mathini Vaikunthan, Melissa and Tatiana McDaniel, Rachel Goldman, Cassidy Dixon, Evan Underhill, Renee Best; Juniors Dina Rosin, and Madison Mariani; and Freshman Madison McDowell.
After awards were distributed, inductee J. Geils returned to the stage to play a song of his choice on the trumpet, the instrument he primarily played during his time at Bernards. In an interview after the event, Geils revealed his words of advice to current students, saying “find something you love, and get so good at it that people will pay you for it. That way,” he continued, “you will never work a day in your life”. It is with mottos such as these that have inspired our inductees to succeed, and will continue to remain inspiration for current students in their exciting years to come.
