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[music] >> Good morning. There we go. How's everyone doing today? Congratulations. You guys finished your Heroes and Cool Kids programs. Did you have a good time? Awesome. That's what I like to hear. So,

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I would like to introduce Mr. Joseph Massimino. He is the Woodbridge Township Board of Ed Superintendent. >> [applause] >> REAL QUICK, UM I JUST WANT TO SAY thank you. As a superintendent of schools, one of the greatest things I get to do is is see

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students in action. Um and the the thing that makes me the happiest is when I get to be a part of something where I know you make other students' lives better, right? You make our district better. Uh this is a different time we live in. Everybody's worried about, you know, did did my story get

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liked and I get retweets What is my favorite ability on social media? That's okay, but that's a me thing, right? When when things like that happen, that's a me thing. Communities don't work because people do things that only work for themselves. Communities work because people do

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things for others. Everybody in this room at some point in their life know what knows what it is to not feel comfortable somewhere. And not feel a part of it, to not feel welcome. Right? Whether it was your first day uh as a fifth grader, your first day in

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middle school, your first day in high school. Remember about the challenge you felt inside, that internal struggle when you were trying to figure out where am I going to sit for lunch? Are my friends in my gym class? Like what what does that look like? Those were such huge huge things. If you remember back to your freshman year,

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those were things that that would keep you up at night. How am I going to do on this test? Some of these real smart kids are in there. You worry about where you fit in. I'm going to say this to you. Everybody is. Everybody's trying to figure out where they fit in. Right? Someday you'll you'll you'll grow

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up, you you have a family, have job responsibilities, and you're trying to figure out, "Okay, how do I fit into this?" Right? With my family, with work, with friends, with my community. >> [clears throat] >> What you're doing now sets that foundation. Right? You know what it is to give your time, which is a resource, arguably the

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most precious resource, to other people, to share your experiences. I tell everybody when I went to Rutgers to get a doctoral degree, I studied You have to study something, right? You have to write a dissertation on something. I wrote it on trust.

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Faculty trust. Because in my mind, nothing happens if I don't trust you. Right? I didn't have to do research to know that trust is a really hard thing to build and a really easy thing to break. When you visit schools, when you talk to other students, you're establishing that trust.

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You become somebody they can talk to, somebody they can ask a question to, somebody they can say the uncomfortable part out loud to. I don't know if there's a greater service you can do as a high school student um or or or as a community member in general, but for you guys to be doing it across all three of our high

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schools is a is a testament to you not only your families, which we appreciate, but also your teachers, you know, the faculties, the administrators, um as as happy as you are to see your principals, you know, telling you what you can't do, that is their job. Um they are appreciative of what you do cuz you help

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make their school better. If you make their school better, you make our district better, and if you make our district better, you make the town better. So, don't ever underestimate the role you play here. It's um it's easy to talk about what the awkward thing was or what the hard thing was.

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What makes us vulnerable. What makes us unsure. The students you're talking to all feel that. And you're somehow through your magic, right? Through your presence, through your words, you're making that okay. And you're building that trust.

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And the goal is for them to get to a point where then they fill your shoes, right? And they do that for the next generation. If we keep doing that, we're going to make progress. And that's how good things happen. So, number one, thank you. The the the job you do and the role you play is is more important than you

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recognize. And two, thanks for all coming together. It's always good to have Kennedy, Colonia, and Woodbridge in the same room at the same time sitting next to each other. Uh when you play against each other in sports, um I expect there to be a rivalry. I expect you to go after each other and do

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what you got to do to win. But a day like today, you you come in and and it makes me happy, right? We can kind of put that aside for just a little bit. A little bit. >> [laughter] >> And we all share in the one common theme of what we give to the township and what we give to the community.

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So, for that, thank you for letting me be part of it. Um I won't speak any longer cuz I don't want the food to get cold and I don't want to get mad at me for that. Appreciate what you do. Thank you for helping us make progress every day, and enjoy the reception. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Mr. Massimino. All right, Dr.

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Massimino. Sorry. It's been a long day already. All right. So, next, I would like to introduce Mayor John McCormick, and he will do his part. So, thank you for coming, both of you. And a big round of applause for Mayor McCormick.

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>> [applause] >> THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I'LL BE VERY BRIEF. I just want to say that we truly believe in this program. Oh, not that much taller than Joe. Uh we really believe in this program. We think it makes a difference in kids' lives. And you probably all How many of you were

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um in middle school as Sidekicks. uh Sidekicks program for the grammar school kids. A lot of you, right? And now you're doing the same thing for middle school kids here. I think this makes a difference in kids' lives. I really do. I had this when I was I was a parochial school kid, but I remember in fifth grade we had seventh graders coming in,

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and I had this guy, Neil Sullivan. I thought he was the coolest guy. Uh and I learned a lot from him, and I really just got a lot out of it. And I I I've seen what happens with this program personally. I I really It wasn't the exact same thing. It wasn't Heroes and

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Cool Kids way back then. Uh but I really saw what it could mean. And I really believe in it, and our town really believes in it. We support this 100% any way we possibly can. Uh some kid somewhere in middle school now is going

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to have a better outlook, a better um way of uh approaching school. Like Joe said all the things uh what Dr. Joe said everything right. Um these kids' lives has changed because of the time you spent with them. And I think that's absolutely wonderful. I think it's great. I think the school district I

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want to thank all of our uh counselors or our high school counselors for dedicating their time. They don't have to do that. A teacher can just teach and be done with it, but a lot of them go above and beyond, whether they coach sports or get involved in arts or other uh programs. They do things for the kids

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above and beyond. So, let's have a round of applause for all YOUR >> [applause] >> TEACHERS HERE. >> [applause] >> AND WITH THAT, WE'RE GOING TO GIVE AWAY LITTLE CERTIFICATES. And just like you did when you were 4 years old and you got one of these, you went home, and you put it on your refrigerator, and you showed your

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parents and your grandparents, right? You're too old for that now, right? But anyway, then we appreciate everything you do. And these are alphabetical order, I think, so you'll know when you're coming up. No, they're not. Never mind. They're not. Thanks a lot for that. All right, I'm going to go Woodbridge

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High first, so and you guys are going to help pass them out. I'm just going to read them. JALIA ANTIPORDA. >> [cheering] >> DANIELLA BECTOLD. Taylor Chalwa. ROGER CRUZ GONZALEZ.

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>> [applause] >> RACHEL FITZGERALD. NEREUS FRIAS. Aidan Gallahue. Apologize if I mispronounced your name. Jana Giron Gonzalez. Natalie Hollenback. JACKSON HILLIARD.

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JARED HOROWITZ. Thomas Lisciak. Kiara Cherubini. Megan Kinoven. Nathaniel Langon. >> [applause] >> Jordan Lara. Alex Lou. Cameron Lotman.

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>> [applause] >> Alana Lou. >> [applause] >> Beatrix MacShao. Samantha Maltau. SOPHIA MANFREDO. All right. You got to slow down. I can't keep up.

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All right, Sierra Murphy. All right, come to Dr. Joe first. Aidan Ramrup. >> [applause] >> Isabella Summers. Gabriella Torrella Nicholas Trasilda AUTUMN ADDY >> [applause]

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>> NATALE CORREA Sophia Costa Jaylene GONZALEZ BRYCE HARRIS ALLISON KATE McCauley Glenn Moore Simon Monsanto Emily Resendes Tierra Searles

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>> [applause] >> All right, now it's going to be seniors and you're all going to get a little cord for you when you graduate to add to your collection. Kevin Arroyo CRYSTAL BOATENG EMILY BORDAIN JADA Daniels Madison DeJesus

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Kaylee DeJohn Wait, damn it, I got to get over here and get over here. Wait, Addy. Yeah, and I agree. Kathleen Carr >> [applause] >> Emma Lopes Nia Morris

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Ranisha Palmer Aubrey Pasiliao Aaron Rendero Zainab Rizwan Natalie Rosado Dylan Saab Salma Seniff Melanie Alejandro, nice home run last week.

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Sifa Ansari >> [applause] >> Vanessa Benson >> [applause] >> Madeline Brenner Caitlin Burgos Nathan Cabah Xavier Diaz Lilly Hitchcock Max Kaylin

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Mandeep Kaur MACY LEE >> [cheering] >> ELIJAH MEENAR ALEXA Mercado Alvarado >> [cheering] >> Tiffany Perazzo Lucas Philpot

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>> [applause] >> Raheem Qureshi Ayush Thacker Caroline Talamantes >> [cheering] >> RILEY VASQUEZ THAT IS ALL OF WOODBRIDGE HIGH. >> [cheering] >> ALL RIGHT, COLONIA JUNIORS.

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I didn't say any names yet, relax. Marissa Adrian First Colonia Breanna Alves >> [cheering] >> JULIANA BRUNK MADELINE Kaminski Natalia Corbiere

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>> [cheering] >> Isabella DaSilva Valentina Diaz Braden Hammond Dylan Hammel Jeffrey Melendez Damien Niebla Grayson Nogueira Joseph Massimino Sophia Montesinos

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Temiloluwa Olofinboba Rashida Paranjpe Asta PATEL >> [cheering] >> ANTHONY REINOSO Isabella Rocha Ciarra Silva Riley Stanley Olivia Sustaita

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Alexandria Wyman Camille Westcott >> [cheering and applause] >> And now the Colonia seniors. Oh, still in juniors. One more. Victoria Yeropoli JANA ABDELWAHAB >> [cheering] [applause]

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>> SANDINA Almeida London Campbell Derek Dow Grace Downs Jake Gotti Tommy Olawatosin Joel Eva Cruseja >> [cheering]

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>> Luca Korvacos Hey Eva. Gabriella Lazo Jenna Luco Jacqueline Mackiewicz Mason Morgane, Morgane. Ava Marples Daniel McMillan Megan McSorley

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>> [cheering] [applause] >> Ryan Miller Gianna Nacca Emmanuel Niotes COLIN RAFFERTY KELVIN SANTOS Valdez Mahar SHAKEEL PATRICIA SANAGA >> [cheering]

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>> MICHAEL TEIXEIRA Abigail Araujo Shiana Barbosa Dylan Chiara Tyler Chiola Emily Chiloua Sarah Chiarella YOUSSEF GHAZI >> [cheering] [applause]

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>> KEVIN GIFT GOOD JOB, MAN. Christina Grasso Chiara Guerra Jasmine Hernandez Michelle Hooker Julian SHATANYA KRISHNA >> [cheering]

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>> SYDNEY LESCHAUER JD Loor Giana Menzella Raina Martinez Zachary McQueen Julia Pajdak >> [applause] >> Arabella Palmieri

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Krish Patel Anakha Pinto Julian Robson Jessica Solecki Jenna Source Isabella Tavares JOSEPH VITALE

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SOPHIA Vitale And that does it for COLONIA HIGH SCHOOL. >> [cheering] >> ALL RIGHT. ALL RIGHT, JFK JUNIORS. Alexander Alvarez Oops, sorry. Willie Bosch

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Dia Chanduwala Mohammad Chaudhry Layla Gray Jasleen Kaur Amelia Kid Maxie Yeah. Parth Shah Sanai Trotman All right, now JFK seniors. Roselyn Aguilar

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Pratik Bodha TANISH BHOJWANI JAYLENE Castro Rusham Desai Kylie Brugos ALLISON GOSSAIN >> [applause] >> SOPHIA Cott Anastasia Koutsakis

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Valentina Koutsakis Ava Kuzar Grant Lorenzen Katherine McDermott Isabella McGarry Paul Mills Veronica PANKIV NIKHIL PATEL RADHA PATEL Shivani Patel

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Courtney Pollicus JULIA RUSSO >> [applause] >> AYANNA SEARS Madeline Spearnock Riley Timinski Richard Trotman Miles Yulaki Kesha Paday

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Victoria Kid Maxie Evangelina Koutsounis Olivia Kazinsky Ava Nardol >> [applause and cheering] >> All right. Jaya Patel Luis Rafael Pernal Perez Hernandez

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Leah Polanco JOEL ROD JAYSIAH SANDS Vaibhav Shenoy Victoria Thompson And last but not least, Matthew Velardi. >> [applause and cheering]

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>> And that is JFK High School. >> [applause] >> Thank you all very much. Where's Max? What do we do now? Back to you. Back to me. All right. Congratulations to all. SO REALLY QUICK, so I tried to stop into

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each one. So for those of you who don't know me, I'm Maggie Segarra and I run um I'm the division head of youth services for Woodbridge Township. So I just want to remind you, you guys were such an inspiration for our middle school students. So please as you get ready,

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seniors to graduate and juniors to become seniors, remember what you did, remember who you are and how you got here. We want you to continue on this journey of being a leader. So please, always be that leader that you learned

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in Heroes and Cool Kids. This program is fantastic and we are just so excited that all of you are part of it. I'm doing this quick cuz I know you're hungry. Each one of you were chosen to be here for a reason. So again, remember that as we move forward, as you go to college,

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as you start a career, continue to be that leader. Seniors, wear your cords with pride. Remember why you got them, what you did and what you taught other students. Last time I'll say it, be a leader. I want to thank you all, advisors. This

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was my first year doing it. I want to thank you guys, you were amazing and you made everything very easy. So thank you. >> [applause]