June 12, 2019

Fellow Classmates, Fellow Members of the 228,

50 years ago this morning we sat at the Academy of Music becoming the 228th Class to graduate from the second oldest public high school in the United States, a school referred to as The School of the Republic and The City's College, a school invested with tradition and history and existential excellence, but also and always the feeling of "now."

We celebrated with parents, classmates, friends, teachers and relatives. From the moment four years earlier when we first entered that building at Ogontz and Olney, from that first assembly when President Bill Gregory asked "Where are the boys of Central High School?"to those moments that were coming to pass on that Thursday morning in June at the Academy of Music four years later, we all knew we were - and are - part of something special, something unique, something so powerful it transcends time and space, it endures through whatever changes in society or in life may occur.

Fifty years later, it remains as vibrant - more so in some ways - as it was then.

As we remember that extraordinary day in each of our lives, knowing then that whatever directions life might take, we had not only a rock solid foundation but a rich identity and heritage few others could claim, we think of all that was good and valuable and true in those four years, especially the friendships we made in that time which endure, of our teachers, of those members of our class no longer here, but with us in memory, and of all that has happened since.

We remember. We reflect. We celebrate this exceptional class, our friends, our teachers, and a place that took us from being boys to helping us become men.

There is only one Central and we have the joy and good fortune to be part of it. That is forever.

In a few months, we will formally reconvene to celebrate this occasion at our 50 Year Reunion.

But today, I wish each of us a happy and joyous Graduation Day + 50.

"Let others sing of college days...."

228! CHS! Always.

Yamo to all!

Steve Kasloff