Schools

Eleanor Roosevelt High School's Class of 2011

Thursday, on the eve of graduation, senior class advisor, Andrew Zanghi, reminisces about his students.

Just under 600 seniors will don their caps and gowns on Friday to become graduates of Eleanor Roosevelt High School. They will gather together at the Comcast Center at the University of Maryland at 9 a.m. and end their journey together to begin new adventures on their own.

It all began four years ago with a game, recalled teacher and a senior class advisor, Andrew Zanghi, as he reminisced about the class's first hall decorating night. After school, fifty kids from each class decorated an entire hall from floor to ceiling until about 10 p.m., he recalled. The theme was boardgames, and the future Class of 2011 were tasked with -- Operation. 

Zanghi and 50 of his then freshmen set out to accomplish this decorating feat, surprised by how intense it turned out to be. Somehow, in the midst of the challenge, they did an incredible job, Zanghi said, "That kind of brought them together as a class."

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"They're a resilient bunch. They're a hard working group," he said, recalling their years together, adding, "There's a lot of brilliant kids doing wonderful things."

Another memory came easily to mind on graduation's eve -- the Powder Puff games, where the senior boys coached the senior girls and not a single point was scored against his class, Zanghi said. They won both of their games, the first one against the sophomore class and the second against the juniors.

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It wasn't the winning that embedded itself in Zanghi's memory, though, it was the sense of something deeper, "You could see it meant a lot to them to play together that one last time," he said, feeling it was the culmination of four years of team building.

SPEAKERS

The graduation speaker will be Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler. Valedictorian, Ankush Gola, will also address to his fellow classmates along with Salutatorian, Michael Bader. Dr. William Hite, Superintendent of the Prince George’s County Public Schools, will also share a few remarks with the Class of 2011, along with Peggy Higgins with the county's board of education.

Hats off to you orange!


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