08/13/2026
Elizabeth Public Schools held its summer high school graduation ceremony on Monday, August 3 in the Elizabeth High School – Frank J. Cicarell Academy auditorium. Forty-seven students fulfilled their graduation requirements over the summer to become members of the Class of 2026, joining nearly 2,000 fellow Elizabeth Public Schools graduates from the district’s eight high schools who received their diplomas in June. Among those who addressed the graduates at the ceremony include City of Elizabeth Mayor J. Christian Bollwage, Elizabeth Board of Education President Maria Z. Carvalho, EPS Superintendent Dr. Olga Hugelmeyer, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Dr. Jennifer Cedeño, Assistant Superintendent for Schools Judy Finch-Johnson, Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr. Health and Public Safety Academy Vice Principal Tanya Tenturier Brinkley, and Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson STEM Academy Vice Principal Barbara C. Bartlett. Also on stage and in attendance to congratulate the graduates were New Jersey Assemblyman Eduardo Rodriguez, School Business Administrator/Board Secretary Harold E. Kennedy, Jr., Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Daryl E. Palmieri, Principals Sulisnet Jimenez (John E. Dwyer Technology Academy), Veronica Vega (Halsey Health and Public Safety Academy), George Mikros (Alexander Hamilton Preparatory Academy), Dr. Mona Wanis (Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy), and Theodore Panagopoulos (JVJ STEM Academy), and Vice Principals Maria Litos-Logothetis (J. Christian Bollwage Finance Academy), Justine K. McConkey (Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy), and John Markowitz (Elizabeth High School – Frank J. Cicarell Academy).