Graduations, Moving-Up Ceremonies

Another school year is almost over. Friday marks the official last day for most schools in the area, leaving high school seniors with the pomp and circumstance of graduation celebrations to look forward to.

East Hampton’s high school graduation will be at 6 p.m. Friday. Of the 157 in the 2017 graduating class, 85.5 percent will attend two- or four-year colleges. Adam Fine, the school’s principal, will be the keynote speaker, with specifics by this year’s valedictorian, Phillipe Zablotsky, and Dylan Schleider, the salutatorian.

In Bridgehampton, of the 14 high school graduates, 13 will head to college. Graduation will be on Sunday at 4 p.m. Sandy McFarland, a Bridgehampton graduate and 2016 Hall of Fame inductee, will speak.

At Sag Harbor’s Pierson High School, Don Lemon, a CNN news anchor, will be the guest speaker at the graduation ceremony Saturday at 5 p.m. Of the 53 students in the Class of 2017, 50 have plans to attend college this fall.

The Ross School graduation took place Saturday, featuring Mary Ellen Hannibal, a writer of such books as “The Spine of the Continent,” as keynote speaker. The graduating class was comprised of 73 students, of which 97 percent are heading to higher education; two are taking gap years.

As a precursor for what awaits them four years from now, eighth graders in East Hampton and Sag Harbor celebrated their graduations Wednesday at 7 p.m. and 10 a.m., respectively. In Springs, eighth graders will enjoy a moving-up ceremony Thursday night at 6 in the East Hampton High School auditorium, while Montauk graduates will celebrate theirs Thursday night at 6 at the Montauk School.

Correction: Pierson's graduation ceremony is on Saturday, not Friday, as originally reported.