‘Daler Strong’ homecoming follows Farmingdale tragedy

The theme for Friday’s Farmingdale High School homecoming was “Daler Strong,” reflecting the town’s unity after five teens were killed in a head-on auto collision last spring.

Jesse Romero, 17; Tristan Reichle, 17; Carly Marie Lonnborg, 14; Noah Francis; 15; and Cody Talanian, 17, were driving west on Conklin Street in a 2001 Nissan sedan when it veered into oncoming traffic and collided with a sport utility vehicle near Staples Street on May 10. Four of the teens were pronounced dead shortly after the crash; the fifth, Talanian, initially survived, but died a day later at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow.

Immediately after the accident, their fellow students created the hashtag #DalerStrong on Twitter.

“We kind of adopted it as our community coming together and the kids kind of embracing one another,” said Megan Grant, an English teacher and student government association adviser.

At homecoming, students created four floats, each representing a class at the high school and reflecting their interpretation of Daler Strong.

One float featured the emboldened words “courage” and “passion.”

A sign atop another float read, “There’s strong and there’s … Daler Strong.” 

“We felt that after last school year, the community support was so tremendous that we wanted to reflect, as a high school, what Daler Strong and the support of the community meant to us,” said principal Glen Zakian.