Common Ground’s ​“Perseverance Class” Crosses The Threshold

Three years ago Nouria Ntite didn’t know any English. She spoke only French.

In less than a year Ntite taught herself English to stay on track to graduate this school year from Common Ground High School.

Ntite, 18, crossed the stage with 48 other classmates Friday night at the environmental-themed charter school’s commencement ceremony. The graduates were given the name of the ​“Perseverance Class.”

The graduates tassels, balloons, and gowns blew in the gentle winds as staff and students detailed how the graduating class was ​“best class of Common Ground High School.”

Ntite transferred to Common Ground her sophomore after immigrating to New Haven from Central Africa.

To learn English, Ntite listened to TV in English and listened closely to her peers.

“If I didn’t understand, I would ask what was the signification and how to spell the word,” she said.

Learning English, however. was not the most difficult part of Ntite’s high school journey. Ntite struggled the most during the Covid-19 pandemic with remaining motivated while learning remotely. ​“We could only communicate through email, and many times that took a while to get responses. So it was like hours of being lost by myself,” she said.

Ntite plans to attend Gateway Community College to study biology to then move on to attending medical school for cardiology which she has dreamed of all her life.

Valedictorian Darlenne Cazarin Berrios used the Nguni Bantu term Ubuntu meaning ​“I am because we are” to describe her four-year journey with her peers and school staff.

Many of the student speakers took a trip down memory lane sharing about their favorite moments at Common Ground, like being the first class to experience Core 9 and 10, having their first jobs on campus, a freshman year overnight lock-in, a night hike to West Rock in slippers and PJs, ski trips in New Hampshire, a multicultural club visit to New York’s wax museum, and college visits that helped them to pick their next path.

Some speakers called out their classmates by name to recognize their talents and bright futures as surgeons and authors.

College and career teacher Brian Kelahan, who is retiring this school year, and Assistant Director Monique Frasier presented students with five scholarship awards for excelling in leadership, perseverance, and community building.

Graduates Antonio Robinson and Messiah Moore shared a scholarship in honor of Common Ground graduate and basketball player Christopher Franco, who was was hit and killed by a car while riding a motor scooter in 2019.

“In the best of times. being a teenager is not easy,” said Kelahan. ​“But this group of students has dealt with first loves, hormones that go wild, figuring out how to become adults, facing future life choices just as all teens at other times have done. The class of 2021 did so during a global pandemic, the unspeakable horror of a 8 minute 46 second video, and an insurrection that attempted to overturn out government.”

Featured commencement speaker Babz Rawls-Ivy — editor of the Inner City News, host of WNHH FM’s daily ​“Love Babz Love Talk” program, and chair of the board of the Arts Council of Greater New Haven — gave the graduates and their parents in the crowd each some advice.

Her advice to the parents: ​“Cut them some slack.” And give their students time to figure out their future.

She advised the students to stay true to themselves and ​“don’t be giving your people no trouble.”

“When you go out into the world, you are not supposed to make it a worse place,” she added.

This year’s class received the largest support from New Haven Promise, ever said Kelahan. Fifteen students got New Haven Promise and Passport to Promise scholarships. Seven grads received funding from New Haven Scholarship Foundation.

Watch the full ceremony below.