Bronxville High School students heard from five of their peers – Daniel Bettino, Gigi Chrappa, Griffin Garbarini, Elizabeth Parsons and Sean Sullivan – who spoke about their life-changing experiences and turning points during the annual Bronxville Voices Assembly, held on April 12.
Bettino, a senior, discussed having a heart surgery when he was just four days old and later on when he was 15 years old. Chrappa, a junior, talked about her grandmother’s death and having to decide whether to run at a state track meet. Garbarini, a senior, shared his thoughts and feelings on being rejected from Cornell University. Parsons, a junior, talked about how her great-grandmother taught her the meaning of sacrifice, and Sullivan, a junior, shared his experience of volunteering with the Janada L. Batchelor Foundation for Children in Tanzania last summer.
“Rejection is not complete failure,” Garbarini told his peers. “It is taking that failure and turning it into a new opportunity to try something different. What we choose to do with that opportunity is what makes us all unique. Everyone will go where they belong and now I really do believe this.”
Junior Samantha Huss introduced the student-speakers, while junior Viena Pentikainen provided the closing statements to the Bronxville Voices Assembly. The series, organized by history teacher Bill Meyer, was created in 2011 to provide a space and place for students to share their passions and interests with their peers. It has since become an opportunity to further develop community across the whole school.
