Shelter Island graduates of Class of 2025 look back, and forward

“Find your own pace; walk your own road.”

The advice to Shelter Island graduates Friday evening came from Superintendent Brian Doelger, Ed.D.

It was the conclusion of an old Irish tale about a man, his young son and a donkey walking a path and the reactions from those seeing them, criticizing the pair no matter if the man and son both walked with the donkey, or the son rode the donkey while the man walked, or the man rode the donkey while the son walked.

“If the road rises up to meet you, it’s probable that you’re on the right road,” Mr. Doelger told the graduates.

The passion, resilience and courage the 11 graduates have demonstrated has made him proud, the superintendent said. If it has been a challenging year for the administration, faculty and Board of Education to win a budget vote, this class “makes every second worth it,” he said.

Valedictorian Johanna Kaasik offered thanks to her family for encouraging her, and to the community for helping to raise the graduates. At the same time, she advised her fellow graduates they’re the only ones who can truly push themselves to achieve their goals.

Being educated on Shelter Island is like growing in a garden, Ms. Kaasik said. “There’s surely something for everyone … There’s a beauty in slow growth,” she said. Looking back and ahead, she said the opportunity to learn has been there and advised the graduates to keep growing and facing the future with confidence.

Salutatorian Jaxson Rylott thanked his family for their encouragement, singling out his brother Hayden, the valedictorian of the graduating class in 2023, as the big brother everyone deserves. Everyone looks forward to the experiences and challenges that lie ahead, Mr. Rylott said. At the same time, it’s important to look back at the teachers who have brought them to their graduation day. “This school has helped shape us,” Mr. Rylott said. “It’s been a home,” he said.

“Change brought us here and change will bring us forward,” he added. “Change is constant. You can’t change the past but you can change the future. Let’s embrace change.”

Board of Education President Kathleen Lynch read a story written for The Inlet, the school newspaper, by Jackson Rohrer, who will be graduating from Shelter Island as part of the 12-member class of 2027. Mr. Rohrer was a city kid when he started his schooling, but when the COVID-19 pandemic closed many schools in March of 2020, he was destined to continue his education on a computer screen. Instead, his family owned a house on Shelter Island and decided to rent their Brooklyn apartment and move to the Island full time. He was able to enter Shelter Island School where in-person classes had resumed.

In place of the rumors he had heard about small school districts, he found a district that has come to impress him with the opportunities he said he found here. Instead of returning to the city for high school, he opted to continue his education on the Island.

“I’ve found more opportunities, more support, and more meaningful community involvement than I ever expected,” he wrote.

“The kind of exposure and opportunity people associate with large schools can absolutely exist in a small one — especially when a community believes in its students the way Shelter Island does,” Mr. Rohrer wrote.

On Shelter Island he and his classmates are all friends.

“We may attend a school with only a couple of hundred students K-12, we are by no means limited to this island. In many ways, the support we receive here allows us to see more of the world, not less,” he wrote.

Guidance counselor Alyssa Prior told the graduates she will cherish the time she spent with them. “The world is waiting to see just how special each of you is,” Ms. Prior said.