The faces of James Madison High School’s 750 seniors decorate the outside of the school. Bruce Cotler
COURIER LIFE, MAY 15-21, 2020 3
BY JESSICA PARKS
After Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s
May 1 executive order shuttering
public schools through the
duration of the academic year,
educators at James Madison
High School launched a creative
effort to surround the
school with portraits of their
750 seniors — paying tribute
to the soon-to-be graduates,
who won’t have the chance to
walk across the stage and receive
their diplomas.
“We wanted to do something
to make them smile,”
said James Madison’s principal,
Jodie Cohen.
Seniors at the Sheepshead
Bay high school — which has
educated dozens of notable
alumni including Vermont
Senator Bernie Sanders, Supreme
Court Justice Ruth
Bader Ginsburg, and singer
Carole King — expressed sadness
that they wouldn’t set foot
in the building before graduation,
administrators said.
“We have been hosting a lot
of meetings with our seniors,
and hearing what they are
saying, ‘If I would have realized
the last time I was in the
building would have been the
last time I was there, I would
have treated that day differently,’”
said Cohen.
The project was the brainchild
of the parents, said the
principal, who lauded the
team for rushing to bring the
display to fruition.
“I give all the credit to our
parents,” Cohen said. “They
were turning around ideas of
what schools from outside of
New York City were doing.”
After several days of printing,
laminating, and hanging
the portraits, the display was
fi nally ready for primetime on
May 6 — when socially distant
visitors could walk past the
outdoor display, which spans
the entirety of the school’s
frontage on Bedford Avenue
and halfway down Quentin
Avenue.
“We kept telling everyone
we have a surprise coming, we
have a surprise coming,” Cohen
said, “because we didn’t
want anyone to know what we
were really working on.”
Students have since been
visiting the school to take pictures
with their portrait, and
Cohen said the project has
even brought joy to drivers
and pedestrians passing by.
“Seniors have been showing
up and taking pictures next to
their picture,” Cohen said, “or
looking at other kids and saying,
‘I know him, I know her.’”
With the help of the school’s
alumni network, the James
Madison administration is
also hosting a virtual graduation
ceremony for the class on
June 24, in addition to a senior
barbecue on August 2 — provided
that the pandemic eases
up in time.
Con-grads!
James Madison High School
hangs portraits outside to
honor graduating seniors
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