Buffalo Performing Arts Senior Graduation Day

BUFFALO, NY — After the traditional march to the auditorium, the class of 2024 at the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts remained attentive.

Prizes were awarded as well as a dance performance and a special song while a video was projected on the graduates’ screen.

The graduates beamed with pride. Many of them never had a promotion ceremony after eighth grade due to the pandemic.

Malyiah Tyus remembers remote learning during COVID. “It was really hard. I didn’t think I was going to get through COVID. I need to be in school, but I obviously got through it and graduated.”

Mel Jones Merritt will study television and film in the fall. When asked about graduation day, Merritt called it “bittersweet. It’s weird. There are so many emotions. Happy. Sad. Stressed. But it’s all worth it in the end , you know. It’s like I kept going, and now I’m here.

Caleb Thomas was all smiles. “It feels good, my family supports me. It’s a good day.” He is headed to Villa Maria College to study music production.

Anya Dorsey studied dance at BAVPA and feels like she’s become comfortable in her “real self.”

WGRZ-TV 5:30 p.m. news anchor Claudine Ewing, a graduate of the school, gave the commencement address.

She told the students that they were forever connected to past graduates.

“Appreciate those who have given to you. Never be afraid to take ownership and responsibility for what you do and who you are,” Ewing told the graduates.