Schools

BOE President Shares His Memories of the Class of 2011

And assures them that even after graduation, they belong to each other.

Words fail.

There are those moments, those rare moments, when words themselves fall short. Those times when words are inadequate to express that which we so desperately want to express. Where instead of defining a moment, words serve only to diminish it; where instead of enabling us to understand a moments’ importance, words serve only to confuse and confine.  This is such a moment, a moment when words are too small to carry or convey the fullness of our hearts.

So with words unavailable, I turn to memories.

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All us here today have memories of these graduates. How in kindergarten Jen had the biggest blue eyes I have ever seen. How Vivian walked on her toes until second grade. How Frankie would walk down the hallway in elementary school, shaking hands with the custodian like he was mayor of Hubbard. How every time that I drove past Kevin’s house he was shooting baskets.  How David scored the most improbable and inspiring touchdown in school history. How Christian came to us in first grade without knowing a word of English, and how 10 million words later we know for certain that is no longer a problem. Which is approximately 9 million, 800 thousand more words than Brendan uttered over this same time period. 

These impressions frozen in time, these images - so close to the surface, so easily recalled - Kelsey’s sweetness, Kevin’s confidence, Krista’s voice, Mike’s grin, Lauren’s laugh, Laine’s smile. All of us can easily recall our own personal set of memories – just as I need only to close my eyes to see Mallory on her first day of school.

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I’m sure that these memories resonant even more strongly for our graduates. Know that these memories are more than just a chronicle of the past twelve years. They are the language of love and loss, an affirmation of all that you have shared with each other. Testimony to the truth that your experience was a shared one, that you were and are connected to one another, that you provide meaning for each other, that to remove any one of you from these memories is to change this experience for everyone. Simply put – now and forever – you belong to one another. 

If I have any advice to offer you, it is this. Embrace this life whole-heartedly, and love those in your life unconditionally. For life’s rewards are not for the faint-hearted, and there should be nothing conditional about love. Approach life with a generosity of spirit, making room in your heart for friends and strangers alike. Celebrate the happiness and success of others, and in doing so you will experience joy in their happiness, and in this joy you will find peace.  Live and love generously and boldly and enthusiastically and unconditionally – every day, every moment, with every breath.

Graduation, like parenting, is an unnatural act. After years of effort and hours and hours of work, after countless false steps and false starts, after learning from our failures and realizing how much we still had to learn, after praying and hoping and praying that things would be okay, after investing are whole lives so that things would be just as they are now, suddenly, and much too quickly, everything changes – and now we have to learn the most difficult lesson of all – how to let go. How to let go of everything we have come to know and love. How to let go when everything we have done up to now was about holding on. So we’ll understand if this transition is not an easy one for you, if you’ll excuse the fact that we might not be ready to let go just yet.

For as long as stories begin with once upon a time, as long as there is a man in the moon, as long as shooting stars are to wished upon, as long as one and one is two, know that you are loved. Know that you are of incalculable value to more people than you can possibly know.  Know that you are, in every sense of the word, precious to us. 

With Providence to watch over you, with your passions to inspire you and your conscience to guide you, and with feet that will always take you back home to us, on behalf of all of us who love you, congratulations to the graduates of the class of 2011.


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