Good morning Administration, Faculty, Staff, Distinguished Guest, Family, Friends, and of course the best class in Mount history, the men of the hour Mount Saint Michael's Class of 2013. Congratulations to all my fellow Mount Brothers for four years of success, hard work, perseverance and dedication. I would like to offer a sincere thank you to all of our teachers who worked extremely hard and gave us multiple JUGS to get us to the level of success we are currently at. And a special thank you to my family for paying the tuition bill and having my back for four years.

I could start off my speech with a clich� like "You did it" or "We are the future"

But being the unconventional person that I am, I would rather start off with a rap recap of our four years at the Mount:

Now, this is a story all about how

My life got flipped-turned upside down

And I'd like to take a minute

Just sit right there

And tell you about my life at the Mount for four years

St. Paul's Hall born and raised

The third floor is where I spent most of my days Chillinr out maxin' relaxin' all cool

Back staircase turned up after school

When a couple of guys who were up to no good

Ms. Savino said stop making trouble in my neighborhood

We failed one little test and teachers got scared

They said 'You better grow up and make it to Sophomore year'

We rolled up Sophomore year and maroon was here

We ran up four flights of steps and it had a dice in the mirror

If anything I could say to Mr. Joseph rare

But I thought Nah, forget it' - 'Bye Chem! Physics is here'

We played songs on the recorder about 7 or 8

Yelled to Negrins Journals 'Yo homes smell ya later'

We looked at our kingdom

We were finally there

To sit on our throne, it was our Junior year!

Junior Year brought new obstacles and challenges such as the SAT, MR. Grande pop quizzes and trying to fulfill the life of a scholar as Mr. Robinson had described. We listened to the inspiring raps and rhymes of Mrs. Tucker. We had many regents this year and this was the most challenging and rigorous year of high school.

For the first time we were upperclassmen and took on more responsibility, and before we knew it Senior year had begun. We were finally the big men on campus. We finally had Mod H off and could wear any polo we wanted. We revisited the Freshman building and took our JUGS like men we grew to be. We spent countless hours in the career room applying to colleges and sending out documents. Thinking to ourselves was my essay good enough? Should I have taken my SAT again? Some of us excelled athletically also. My track team reached new highs becoming city and state champs. And even though we were fast even the best of us got run down, although some more than others.

But through all the highs and lows, we remained Mount Brothers. For four years at the Mount we have been challenged academically, athletically, spiritually and socially. We have challenged the status quo both in the classroom and on the playing fields. We have learned our own life lessons through our own experiences and from the countless anecdotes and aphorisms our teachers. Our teachers not only challenged us with course material, but we were also challenged ethically and morally here at Mount. As we move forward some of us will go on to college some may choose to enter the workforce and some may decide to serve our nation, no matter what - continue to challenge yourself.

Don't settle or compromise your passions or dreams for the easy road, don't be afraid of a challenge. It is only when you challenge yourself that you discover the essence of who you are. Sophomore year, I challenged myself playing lacrosse. Everyone on the lacrosse remembers that memorable game when I got hit and twisted my helmet. Everyone on that JV lacrosse teams remembers how we challenged ourselves as a team and made to the championship. Even I can't understand how a team with no wins, made it to the championship. But when you challenge yourself new accomplishments and attributes come to life.

Remember as we accomplish more and more, as beautiful and miraculous as our world may seem, it needs each and every one of us. It needs us to foster social change. It needs us to feed the hungry. It needs us to clothe the naked. Now that you have been fortunate to receive a Mount education for four years, how will you use the values that you learned here at the Mount to serve the greater community? How will you fill the void for service in the world? How will you be remembered? That, is what you must ponder on this momentous occasion. Always remember that when the challenge gets too tough your Mount Brothers are here for you. The Brotherhood will always remain strong.

Congratulations, Mount Saint Michael Class of 2013 best of luck in all future endeavors. And since I did not begin with a clich� I guess I can end with one "Started from the bottom now we here."

Both my father and my uncle Lou attended this school in the 1960's. My grandfather, Marion Taylor,  educated his 7 children in the Catholic school system of New York City, Our Lady of Lourdes, Cathedral High School, and Fordham University where my mother and her sisters attended to give us the best education through the Archdiocese. Had it not been for them, I would not be here today.  

In 2009, the Mount saw the need for a program called FOCUS to

address the needs of students who otherwise have to attend Public School as their only option. Had it not been for the PILOT program implemented here at the Mount, I would not have been granted this privilege of being a Mount graduate.

You see, when I transferred from my small neighborhood school in Riverdale, I had many mixed feelings - loneliness, self doubt, hesitation and nervousness. Surprisingly I felt welcomed from the 1st day I set foot through the doors of the Mount. My classmates and teachers created such a warm and supportive environment that it allowed me to be myself. Something I had never felt at my previous school.  Although at first I sometimes felt like an outsider looking in, I now feel like I am part of a large family.

What I've experienced here over the past two and a half years at the Mount is nothing short of amazing. I have obviously grown physically, but I'm proud to have excelled academically, grown intellectually, spiritually and important for me, socially.

I also felt so comfortable by my second year that I was allowed to join the high school Debate team, and am the youngest member (thanks, Mrs. Tucker) as I can't wait to be part of the high school Debate Team!

In closing I want to leave you with three things:

I know this excitement and enthusiasm about education and learning is a result of the dedication and commitment of not only the Focus staff (shout -- out to the original Focus teacher, Mr. Gatling, Ms. Profeta and the entire Mount family,  from the lunch ladies to the secretaries, Ms. Nolan to our homeroom teachers who make us feel like we can talk to them anytime about anything. And, of course, Brother Steve, who is here for each and every one of us, always encouraging and looking out for our best interest.

In closing I want to leave you with three things:

First, I know I speak for my fellow FOCUS students when I say that Focus has allowed us to see a world with no limits to our dreams, while realizing that NO achievement is beyond OUR reach.

Secondly to FOCUS staff, teachers, Brother Steve and mostly our parents - Thank you for believing in the FOCUS program and helping us to work to achieve our potential. It is desparately needed.

And last but not least to all my fellow students. In the words of Nelson Mandela who we have in our prayers - "Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world."

AD ASTRA PER ASPERA Our motto in Latin for: "To the Stars through Difficulties" Thank you and good night.

How did the the team handle the deadlines?

Says Jerel, The most stressful thing was finding out that certain things were not done. I sent people to do things and it ended up not getting done so I had to go out and do it myself."

Towards the last week of April 2013, a few weeks before the final yearbook was due to be sent to Josten's, the publisher, the team stared at the frightening prospect of blank pages.

Says Jerel,  "Josten's, the Yearbook publisher, sent us an organizational package to construct the yearbook. It was a paper format with a ladder to help us plan what was going to go where. Calculating pages was very difficult,   as was where to put specific pages in the book."  

The team started brainstorming and perspiring as final deadlines approached. Says Justin. "We were frightened into focusing non stop on the yearbook and getting it done!!"  The team brainstormed and got 50% of the book done during the final two week deadline. Talk about crunch time!

Says Justin, "We nicknamed Jerel "Little Napoleon" because he put us in line over deadlines!"   In fact, a rivalry (Faux) developed between graphics designer Daniel and Jerel. Says Jerel, "Daniel was getting so good at Yearbook that he could have been the editor. However, I put him in line and told him he would have to pry the editorship from my cold dead hands!!"

Congratulations Yearbook Staff!! With true grit and in true Mount fashion, you pulled it together and got it done!     

After years of being in the Shining Stars, my uncle decided that I was ready for the next step in "playing pan". When I was 14, I joined my uncle's band, "City South Steel Orchestra", a steel Orchestra which consisted of older members and originated in Antigua several years before I was born. I thought that the jump from the Rising Stars to the Shining Stars was intense, but when I listened to the intimidating, super-fast runs being played by the members of City South which were to soon be played by me, I was demoralized, yet motivated and determined to polish my abilities to the extent of my uncle's, who was now both my mentor in the Shining Stars, and fellow band member in City South.

 As of last year, I realized that it was time to take what I've learned all those years to the next level and participate in Panorama, the annual Antiguan competition that consisted of steel pan music faster and more difficult than I had ever seen. Practice started at the City South band house, where Dayne Gomes taught us the beginning of his rendition of "Rev Up J'ouvert". I had never heard anything like it, and was immediately addicted to it. The catchy chorus, the smooth crescendos, the fierce drops; it was all so enthralling that I couldn't wait to go down to Antigua and show them what America was made of.

Click to see the Cool & Smooth Ebonites perform at the Antigua Carnival 2012 : Pamorama

After landing on the beautiful island of Antigua, my uncle and I, along with other members of City South, went straight to practice at the Ebonites' pan yard. There, under the blistering sun and at the center of menacing mosquitoes, was the place that we practiced from 2:00 in the afternoon until 5:00 in the morning. Never in my life did I think people could go that long practicing the same exact thing so many times. The Antiguans were impressed at the way I played, and at the fact that I knew more of the song than them. Many of those who played the same type of pan as me, the double second, wanted me to teach them everything I knew. With this unique song and all these members, I thought, we had to win Panorama.

A couple of days before the competition I learned that two other bands, "Hell's Gate" and "Halcyon" always win and that Ebonites is always overlooked. I told myself and all my other band mates, even though this was my first Panorama, that this year, on Ebonites' 40th anniversary, we will emerge victorious and beat those two bands that were already projected to win before the competition even started.

Competition night arrived, and we were ready. I wasn't nervous at all, and once I heard Hell's Gate and Halcyon perform, I knew that we'd win. They were so loud you couldn't even figure out what was being played, and I knew that wasn't what the judges were looking for. Finally the Ebonites were called to perform, the last performance of the night. As I walked up on stage, I faced a crowed far bigger than any of the crowds at the Shining Stars or City South gigs I had ever played in back home. Adrenaline was rushing through my veins and my legs were shaking under me. I never felt so anxious in my entire life. My arms felt heavy, and if I didn't hold my drum sticks as tight as I could, I knew they would fly out of my hands while I was playing. 

Once we started, although we were playing at an extremely high tempo, everything seemed as if it was in slow-motion for some reason. The song sounded extraordinary. The arrangement by Dayne was grandiloquent. The crowd roared with exhilaration. The Cool and Smooth Ebonites played their hearts out, and every reporter covering the competition agreed that this was the best performance by Ebonites that they had seen in decades. Everyone knew that Ebonites had this in the bag. When it was time for the winner to be announced, even the man who was to announce the victorious band was shocked to say that Hell's Gate was the winner, and that Halcyon was the runner-up. All the members of Ebonites who had previously played in a Panorama were not surprised at all.

The day after Panorama there was a news article about the events of the previous night. It turned out that the Panorama judges were rounded up the same day as the competition, and that the main judge actually played for Hell's Gate at one point. Talk about fair. The word that went around Antigua after Panorama was that Ebonites was cheated. I didn't pay any mind to it, however, because we did have our flaws that we needed to work on. One thing that the winner and runner-up bands had that Ebonites did not was discipline. During practice there were several kids in our band who ran around, and did not take the competition seriously at all. Another advantage that the two victorious bands had over us was the fact that they were sponsored by two famous cellphone companies, "Lime" and "Digicel", which meant that they had more money, and therefore better-sounding instruments. Many of our instruments sounded horrible! Despite having good players and amazing arrangement, bad sounding instruments can only take you so far.

This year, I plan to go back to Antigua, along with the same people I went with last year and more. The Ebonites also have new instruments, and realize that discipline is a key factor in winning the competition. In addition, the rumor is that if Ebonites sounds half as good in this year's as they did in last year's, we should win because everyone knows we were cheated. I don't believe we were really "cheated", but I do want revenge on the other bands. Although it would have been nice to bring home a W on the Ebonites' 40th anniversary, I firmly believe that this year we will emerge victorious. 

The class then donned their graduation gowns posed for pictures and proudly marched into the Richard Tricario Athletic Center with the present day graduates of 2013, to take in a wonderful ceremony and receive honorary diploma's from MSM President Dr. Anthony Miserandino.  Prior to having lunch in the cafeteria, the class visited and laid flowers down at the Vietnam Memorial Flag Pole donated by the Class of 1963 in remembrance of their fellow Mount Alumni who lost their lives in defending our freedom.

We would like to thank our 1963 Reunion Committee members Rich Tinger, Bob Casale, Paul D'Ascoli, Chuck Casamento, Tom Parente, Joe DeGennaro and Rudy Pappagallo who worked diligently to make the weekend memorable.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS!