The 29th annual Binghamton City School District Distinguished Graduates Dinner on October 12 was a resounding success! It’s always heartwarming to see former students who walked our halls return for an evening of reminiscing on pleasant memories of their time at Binghamton High School.
We would like to congratulate our four distinguished graduates on being our honorees for this year’s event: Talyse Hampton (BHS ‘05), Dr. Brian Kittredge (BHS ‘98), New York State Senator Lea Webb (‘BHS 98), and Brian D. Whalen (BNHS ‘76). Welcoming our graduates back home and hearing their memories of their time at the Binghamton City School District is something we look forward to each and every year.
Our master of ceremonies for the evening, BHS junior Issise Bailey, did a marvelous job leading the evening and singing a touching piece at the end of the event. Four students introduced each of our distinguished graduates during the ceremony: Remi Campbell, Kareem Lacey-Lee, Jaezelle Darrah, and Maria Mustafa. They all perfectly captured each graduate’s life and time at the Binghamton City School District through their words. The Binghamton High School Davidge Choir led by Jennifer Easley also lent their sweet voices to sing a few arrangements to take attendees back in time to the music they may have listened to when they were in school.
(L to R) Jaezelle Darrah, Sen. Lea Webb, Talyse Hampton, Issise Bailey, Kareem Lacey-Lee, Dr. Brian Kittredge, Maria Mustafa, Brian Whalen
The night could not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of many people behind the scenes. Our chef David Stroka, along with Steven Klock and the Food Services staff at BHS served a wide variety of delicious food for all the guests. The custodial staff led by Bob Crocker transformed the BHS cafeteria into a wonderful banquet hall for the evening. An extra special thank you to all the Binghamton High School students who were our servers and hosts for the evening.
We’d also like to thank BHS Culinary Arts teacher Ashley Wannermeyer who was our student advisor for the evening, and Chris Rozek, who coordinated our reservations and graphic arts for the evening’s program book and reservation invitation.
Lastly, we want to give special thanks to the Distinguished Graduates Dinner nominating committee led by Executive Director of Human Resources and Operations Eric Wilson, and BCSD Special Events Coordinator Larry Kassan, who has organized the dinner every single year since its creation.
We hope all who attended had a delightful time, and we hope to see even more people come out and celebrate next year!
