It’s graduation season in the city, including on Rikers Island, where 57 students graduated from East River Academy Tuesday.

Among their commencement speakers: Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

What You Need To Know

Mayor Zohran Mamdani spoke to graduates of East River Academy, a school on Rikers Island, on Tuesday

The school serves incarcerated students ages 18 to 21, who can earn a GED or high school diploma

One graduate inspired the schools chancellor to launch a new mentorship initiative for students on Rikers Island

“Many of you arrived on Rikers in a cloud of uncertainty and despair,” he said. “The future felt very grim, indeed. And yet you did not surrender to that alienation. You were not overcome by the adversity that lay before you. Instead, you chose to continue moving forward. You chose to pursue your education, to stick with it, even on your lowest days.”

The school serves incarcerated people from ages 18 to 21, and they can earn GEDs or high school diplomas. Elijah Smith said he took a chance on attending — and it changed his outlook.

“As I started going to school, I felt liberated. I felt like I was making my own choices, a decision that wasn’t decided by anybody in uniform, or anybody else for that matter,” he said in a speech to his fellow graduates.

Even after he completed his studies three months ago, he kept returning to mentor other students and advocate for the city to start a paid tutoring program.

“When you graduate, you’re not supposed to keep going to the school floor,” he told NY1. “But I begged the captain, you know, I begged her, because I wanted to help people, I wanted people to graduate with me.”

Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels said he was inspired to launch a new mentorship at East River Academy after meeting Smith last month.

“I asked myself, ‘What can I do more? If he can do this, there’s much more that I can do as chancellor.’ And so that’s why I’m excited to share today that I am launching a new leadership initiative to create more mentorship opportunities for East River Academy students,” Samuels said.

Mamdani commended him as well: “Elijah has become an inspiration for his fellow classmates, pushing both himself and his peers to strive for more.”

“That made me feel so happy,” Smith told NY1. “I didn’t honestly think he would be here, but it helped, you know. Someone cares about the incarcerated individuals in this jail.”

Smith, who is incarcerated on charges of attempted robbery and assault, said he hopes to have the charges resolved soon and head home. He wants to become an EMT.

“Everybody here wants to change, you know. So school is definitely a part of change. With your education, you could change a lot. You could change the world,” he said.

Graduates are accused of a wide variety of crimes and are awaiting trial or other resolutions to their cases. That includes the school’s valedictorian, who faces attempted murder charges after police said he pushed a man onto the subway tracks in Brooklyn.

He told the audience he was at Rikers Island because he let anger get the best of him — but his achievement comes after learning to control emotions to take responsibility for his actions.