Graduation 2000

With clockwork precision, each eight-week session in the year of the new millennium tick-tocked down to a close with a two-hour graduation ceremony filled with speeches and songs and celebrating the honors won and the certificates earned by more than 500 graduates.

"Newark doesn't appear on my map back home," said valedictorian Gloria Alicia Real in April, explaining why, when she left her native Mexico to study in the United States, she didn't really know where she was heading. And yet, she said, "ELI is more like a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly than a school.

I would have to spend a half a lifetime traveling," Real said, "to experience all the cultures I have met here."

Real's sentiments were echoed in August by co-valedictorian Catherine Khumalo of Swaiziland, who lauded the "unity in diversity" she had discovered at ELI.

"We came as individuals," she said, "but ELI made us one. It made us a family."

Valedictorian Gloria Alicia Real (Mexico) in April	Co-valedictorian Zekeriya Serdar Kebapci (Turkey) in August	Valedictorian Maria Fernanda Arcos Cortes (Colombia) in February	Co-valedictorian Catherine Khumalo (Swaziland) in August	Best Writer Michele Rochetti (Italy) with Director Scott Stevens in February

The 60's Class performs in June	Intermediate Level students rapping in June	Teacher Russ Mason accompanies the 60's class in February	Student Manabu Harada (Japan) celebrates in August	Honors students with "coveted" T-shirts in August

Best writer Hsiao-fang Chen (Taiwan) with teacher Wendy Bulkowski in April	Achievement award winner Kathy Dibattista (Venezuela) with teacher Russ Mason in April	Maria Fernandez Soto (Venezuela) accepting leadership award from James Slater in April	Best Writer Majed Al-Hamed (Saudi Arabia) in February	Valedictoriann Rafael Diaz-Canabote (left) with classmates in June

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