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Community, Connection, and Coming Home: Commencement Speaker Matias Deicas-Sykora '21
Each year, Peck invites a recent graduate to share their story at Commencement—and this June, Matías Deicas-Sykora returned to the podium to address the Class of 2025.
A member of Peck’s Class of 2021, Matías spent his seventh and eighth-grade years on campus, quickly leaving his mark as a thoughtful, compassionate, and driven student.
A recent Delbarton graduate preparing to attend Cornell University in the fall, his remarks inspired an attentive audience to reflect on the power of community support.
For Matías, the honor of speaking at Peck’s Commencement is deeply meaningful. “Peck gave me more than an education—it gave me a family,” he says. “Those two years shaped who I am.”
When he arrived in seventh grade, he immediately connected with teachers and classmates, forging lasting friendships and discovering the core values that continue to guide him today.
I’m honored to be speaking to the next generation of Peck graduates,” he says. “I want them to know that whatever life throws their way, they’ll always have this place—and these people—to come back to.
The close relationships he formed at Peck proved crucial, particularly in 2020, when Matías experienced the devastating loss of his father, Daniel Deicas, whose influence remains profound. “My dad was my role model, and his death was the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through,” Matías shared.
“But it was the community at Peck that helped hold me up. They surrounded me with kindness, support, and strength when I needed it most.”
That sense of belonging helped carry Matías through his grief and into high school at Delbarton, where he continued to excel in the classroom as well as on the soccer field, where he was appointed captain in his senior year.
With quiet resilience and a deep sense of purpose, he threw himself into his studies and extracurriculars, channeling his father’s legacy and love into everything he did.
Matías even became part of Delbarton’s swim team in his junior year, wanting to be challenged in another sport that he once described as “despising.” He was nominated swim team captain in his senior year.
In recognition of his commitment to both academics and athletics—and his selfless, team-first mindset—Matías received the Brian E. Fleury Award, presented to an outstanding scholar-athlete who embodies passion, humility, and leadership.
When he arrives at Cornell University this fall, he will be following in his father (MBA Class of 2011) and brother Marco’s (Cornell Class of 2023) footsteps. According to Matías, the decision felt both natural and significant. “Cornell is part of my family story,” he says. “Being accepted there felt like a way to continue my dad’s legacy and honor him.”
A huge part of Matías’s strength, he shared, comes from his mother, Adriana Sykora. Señora Sykora, as she is lovingly known by the Peck community, serves as Lower School Spanish teacher and World Languages Department Chair, where she has long been a steady presence in the lives of countless students.
“She’s my rock,” Matías reflected. “She shows me every day what it means to lead with love, strength, and grace. I look up to her more than anyone.”
At this year’s Peck Commencement, Matías stepped up to the podium not only as a graduate but as a symbol of resilience, gratitude, and connection. His story is one of personal growth, of holding onto hope through heartbreak, and of the enduring power of community.
