Celebrating Our Lifers Via Virtual Pomp and Circumstance

While the 2021 Lifers celebration may have looked a bit different this year, Hamden Hall nonetheless honored the nine seniors who have spent their entire academic careers under the pines.

The Lifers Shirting Ceremony usually takes place during an all-school assembly in Taylor Gymnasium. The tradition started in 1982 under the direction of former administrator and PreKindergarten teacher Kathie Harris who came up with the idea as a way to promote the annual Valentine Bake Sale (yet another Hamden Hall tradition dating back to 1942!).

On Friday, an all-school online assembly allowed students and faculty across all levels to view the seniors as they donned their specially made T-shirts as assisted by their parents. Each senior was allowed to invite two guests to the Taylor Performing Arts Center where families socially distanced while celebrating the milestone.

The 2021 Lifers are Timi Afolalu, Aidan Armstrong, Maurice Barakat, Alexandra Blaise, Liam Kohler, Luke Letizia, Anisha Moran, Andrew Neubauer, and Jessica Stanley.

Lifers and their guests were greeted by Head of School Bob Izzo and Upper School Co-Director Kim Porto 1987. Lower School Director Lorri Carroll guided the digital ceremony from her office elsewhere on campus.

“While we cannot gather together in the gym and we cannot have our annual bake sale this year, we could not let this special occasion go by without a proper celebration and recognition of our Lifers. We have faced many challenges due to the global pandemic, but our school community has nonetheless remained resilient and true to the hashtag: hornet strong,” maintained Mrs. Carroll.

After presenting a slideshow that honored the Lifers and highlighted their days on campus for the past 12 to 13 years, Mrs. Carroll instructed seniors to shirt themselves – a task normally assigned to Early Childhood students.
And while they couldn’t be on hand in person for the ceremony, our PreSchool, PreKindergarten, and Kindergarten students were indeed part of the proceedings. Besides having their first names in hearts on the specially designed Lifer T-shirt, the school’s youngest students were also featured in several different videos.

“Since our Early Childhood students could not host our annual cookie sale this year, we felt it was important to continue the tradition of connecting our youngest students with our oldest. So, in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, we would now like to take this opportunity to share what we love about Hamden Hall,” said Mrs. Carroll in introducing the first video.

The final video offering was a time-honored favorite that featured Early Childhood students performing the hand gestures to our own C is for Cookie song, also made famous by Mrs. Harris.

“And while this Valentine’s Day is like no other, we still couldn’t let this opportunity go by without our Early Childhood students sharing some our favorite songs, adapted for safety, of course,” said Mrs. Carroll.