Friday, September 12th, marked the 2026 SBHS Convocation to welcome in the new school year. Over the course of the hourlong ceremony, various members of the student council, class council, and staff members at SBHS gave speeches. The concert choir also performed the school’s alma mater and the national anthem, with the senior singers standing out in their red class-colored attire. As with previous years, a video was shown, highlighting the senior students’ Viking spirit. What wasn’t similar to the last few years was the use of artificial intelligence, specifically generative AI, showing several students in the video depicted as Vikings, wearing Scandinavian clothing in a seemingly-Norse setting.
The ceremony began with the singing of the national anthem by the concert choir, who faced the student body in the auditorium. Following the anthem, Principal Mr. Varela gave an opening speech. Student Council members Tanisha Kinikar and Rishita Nossam then delivered a motivational speech in which they encouraged students to start the year off right and to cherish these last moments with their classmates and peers. Alumnus Micheal Gartland was awarded the ‘Spirit of the Viking Convocation Award’ to honor and recognize his commitment and service to the community. The event concluded with the announcement of this year’s district theme: ‘Rooting in Resilience, Rising with Purpose’ and a video montage of different messages for the students.
The History of Convocation at SBHS
Pre-COVID, convocation took place in the main gym, where seniors came in and had the “senior breakfast” tradition, while their senior shirts were distributed. When the event started, the freshman class stood in the back bleachers while the seniors sat on the floor, and featured staff and students would give their speeches. Sophomores and juniors had the luxury of sleeping in and coming late to school after the event was over. After the ceremony, the entire senior class went to the football stadium to take their official class picture.
English teacher Mr. Andre Halaw, who has attended Convocation since he was a student teacher in 2000, was awarded teacher of the year in 2020 and gave a virtual speech that year, which he called a “blessing in disguise” because it relieved some of the pressure. In regard to the changes, he said, “it still resembles how it began…if not in the form, at least by maintaining the spirit: to the seniors, how the time has flown by, and to the freshmen, to show where they’ll be in 3 years.”
It was difficult readjusting to post-COVID conditions when events could be hosted in-person again. Since hundreds of people couldn’t be seated together anymore, the event became less focused on seniors and shifted to the principals and student government welcoming all students in the school. The convocation we’re familiar with now still has staff dressed in graduation gowns and featured seniors giving meaningful speeches, but being livestreamed in the auditorium with the lights off, it has become less interactive. The senior shirts and picture moved to the senior sunrise, while the senior breakfast tradition has disappeared completely. Still, the event holds its welcoming essence and serves to make a positive start to each school year.
The Speeches
The speeches given by student speakers were an important part of Convocation. Three these speakers were the President of Student Council, Rishita Nossam; Vice-President of Student Council, Alek Bystrov; Senior President of Class Council, Tanisha Kinikar; and the winner of a competition that chose one last student speaker, Chandra Valluri, who also happens to be part of the Class Council.
The speakers talked to The Vibe about the emotional experience of writing a convocation speech that reflected on their past four years, and shared moments each member of the graduating class went through as they each passed through high school. “I think our paragraph to the seniors probably was a little more sentimental and we took a little longer on it because that’s actually our grade” said Nossam
While these student officers typically speak at Convocation, the student speaker can be anyone. The general protocol in choosing the student speaker is to have current seniors send in speeches, and for the “best speech” to be picked from the speeches sent in. In an interview with student speaker Chandra Valluri, she said, “I only got to know a few days ago because for student speaker anybody in our grade could apply. So I just wrote a speech and sent it in, and I didn’t think it would get selected, but it did.”
Revising is a crucial part of the writing process, and for SBHS Principal Mr. Peter Varela, this means creating roughly a dozen different drafts of his Convocation speech. In order to get his message exactly right, Mr. Varela incorporated the 2025-26 school year’s theme, “Rooted in Resilience, Rising with Purpose,” throughout his address.
Leading up to the event, he practices by envisioning the SBHS auditorium stage, reading aloud each draft he makes and annotating each version by underlining, bolding, or italicizing words and phrases to remember where and how to emphasize to leave the largest impact on the listeners.
In an interview given later that day, Mr. Varela spoke to The Vibe about the message he hoped to convey. “You think back to that kid that, when you spilled something or you tripped and you were laying there, or someone came over and helped you, someone who did something kind to you. Everyone has ‘off’ days, sometimes you just need someone to walk over and say ‘are you okay?’ I think that those are the memories that you’re going to remember years later rather than how many likes you get on social media or whether you get the biggest trophy or certificate, or get perfect attendance.”
And that is the message Mr. Varela wanted students to take away from his opening speech to the student body. Convocation is an event to recognize freshman, seniors, administration, as well as staff through thoughtful speeches that capture the main essence of what it means to be a Viking. Especially to Mr. Varela, service and kindness is what he stressed, trying to make sure SBHS students are not only educated on academics this, and every, school year, but also on how to be compassionate human beings.
The Viking Spirit
Michael Gartland, a graduate of the SBHS Life Skills program, was chosen as the 2025-2026 Convocation award winner because of his humble and hard work spent giving back to the community of South Brunswick. Gartland has spent countless hours of his own time cleaning trash and litter surrounding the high school and Ridge Road.
Mr. Zinsmeister, a two-time recipient of the award, said “I thought it was really fantastic that they recognized him for doing something like that. It was just amazing, just picking up garbage six days a week. And that’s why this place is beautiful. And nobody asked him to do it. Nobody sees him doing it because he’s doing it at 6:30 in the morning–he’s doesn’t expect to be seen, doesn’t expect to make the nightly news or the local nonexistent local paper and he just does it, and he does it really well and as I said, he just flies below the radar.”
This article was written by the students of the Journalism Class: Om Bhaskar (‘27), Mariam Fahad (‘26), Eyrah Naveen (‘27), Raina Simlote (‘29), Bhavya Natarajan (’27), Malavika Parulekar (’27), Safia Husain (’28), Sakina Tasnim (’28), Jenni Vargas Ramirez (’27), Ariba Ahmad (‘29), Sahil Kumar (‘29), Karim Salahie (‘26), Nisa Yilmaz (‘28), Sean Asonye (‘29), Sana Patil (‘26), Alya Saha (‘29), Ashley Soltys (‘27), Rashi Tiwari (‘28), Eliza Khan (’26), Audriana Holder (’29), Aanya Soma (’29), Advaita Pasupuleti (’29) and Giuliana Spina (’28)
