‘AUNT HILLARY’ SPEAKS AT BRONX GRADUATION

By Sharon Otterman

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Pelham Preparatory Academy’s graduation on Sunday with Aleatha Williams, next to her. (Photo: James Estrin/The New York Times)

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has been keeping a low profile since conceding the Democratic nomination on June 7, but she made an exception this morning to speak at the high school graduation of a 17-year-old girl from the Bronx who calls her “Aunt Hillary.”

 

Aleatha Williams, 17, first met Senator Clinton at the age of 2, on the shoulder of her mother Patricia. She was one of those innumerable babies at political events that politicians hug, but in the case, the squeeze became the start of a life-long bond.

 

Aleatha’s mother, Patricia Williams, then involved in an abusive marriage, was attending the 1992 Democratic Convention as a political volunteer. As Mrs. Clinton, who was soon to be first lady, passed her in the aisle, she reached out to Aleatha. The she put her arms around Patricia.

 

“She knew I needed a hug somehow, and she just squeezed. And I felt a strength and energy flowing through her. She helped to give me the strength I needed at that time to go on with my life and do what’s right for my daughter,” Ms. Williams said in an interview after the graduation ceremony.

 

Patricia began volunteering for the Clintons, bringing young Aleatha with her. As the relationship grew into a friendship, Clinton pledged to attend Aleatha’s junior high school graduation from P.S. 180 in the Bronx, which she did in 2004. Then she promised to attend her high school graduation, no matter what the circumstance.

 

On Sunday, Aleatha took a seat of honor on the stage with other graduates of the Pelham Preparatory Academy, a small New York City public school in the Bronx that boasts 90 percent graduation rates. Next to her sat Senator Clinton, and New York City Schools’ Chancellor Joel A. Klein. The school’s principal, Jane Aronoff, led the ceremony.

 

Mrs. Clinton, who has only appeared publicly once since her campaign ended, at Tim Russert’s memorial last week, spoke briefly. She urged the 84 graduates and their families to push tirelessly towards achieving their goals, whatever they might be.

 

“I just finished the most extraordinary experience that anyone could possibly have,” she said, describing her time on the campaign trail.

 

“If you never give up, you never give in, and you keep believing that you are the best you can be, you have no idea where life will take you,” she said.

 

After Mrs. Clinton spoke, school administrators read off the long list of scholarships and awards won by the green- and gold-robed students, many of whom who will be attending four-year colleges like New York University, the University of Vermont, and SUNY Albany. Aleatha is going on for a journalism degree at SUNY Plattsburgh.

 

Aleatha said she and her mother have traveled with the Clinton campaign this past year, making phone calls and knocking on doors in South Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, Maryland and other states. But despite all her efforts, Aleatha said after the ceremony that she still found it “overwhelming and unbelievable,” that the senator — whom she referred to as “my Aunt Hillary” — had managed to make it to her own event.

 

“It’s been very inspirational to see a woman make it that far for the presidency,” she said. “For the next woman who runs, it paves the way.”

 

 

 

SOURCE:  The New York Times:  http://www.nytimes.com