Dear Graduating Class of 2021,
As I stand here today and look out at all of you, I find my emotions somehow wedged in between gratitude and disbelief. I can’t help but see the very moment in time that this day represents – essentially, the most challenging hurdle that students have ever had to overcome. The perseverance, the grit, and most importantly, the decency with which you have pushed yourselves to get to this point cannot be summed up with a speech or diploma. All of you have endured an unprecedented set of circumstances and obstacles. Beyond being incredibly proud and using this time for some much needed reflection, I want us to spend a few moments acknowledging your achievements, taking a few moments to celebrate them, and then examining the immense responsibility that is now on the horizon.
For now, though, it’s important that you take a breath. You are now done with the school year, the classes, the homework and the tasks. You have checked the boxes for assignments, projects, and testing, but you have checked so many more boxes. You checked the boxes that don’t have boxes – the ones that describe the uncertainty, the frustration, and the loss of moments that were never quite allowed to happen. You checked off boxes that never existed before, and you checked them using self-reliance, strength, and creativity.
When others felt a need to mock your generation’s supposed lack of focus, or desire to write in cursive or drive a stick shift, you learned new technologies that kept your entire school communities afloat. You were the ones that adapted learning experiences that have brought you to this incredible point. You were the ones that dug in and became the world’s first generation of online students, pandemic students, masked students. You did it and you came out of it stronger, better students and human beings. You have lived and experienced a school year that no one in history has ever had to endure, and you did in a way that inspired us. Where others may have crumbled, you stepped up to the daily challenges, collectively and individually, and made it happen. You made this happen.
Where other students throughout history have returned to the proverbial question, “How are we going to use this in the future?”, you already have. You have learned vital life skills that you have put to use in supporting each other, your schools and your communities. You have learned patience and compassion and the very human ability to see outside your own needs. You have learned to reach out, to reach in, to think critically, and to problem solve. You have learned the value of diversity, and been better than any generation before at accepting others and celebrating the differences that they have to offer. You are aware of the value of teamwork, of collaboration, and of assuming the best in those around you. You are the first generation that does not fear those that are different, but tries to understand them. And as you look upon the faces of your classmates, here with us today, and in the cohort that you share across the planet, my wish is that you continue this push for connectivity and social justice, for progress and love. It is also my wish that when given the chance to appear cool, or to be kind, you will always choose kind. Cool is a superficial and fleeting construct, while kindness is the most sustainable resource we know.
I am proud of the way in which you examined our nation’s social and political unrest and decided that you were going to be better than the adults that failed to set positive examples. I am encouraged when I see an entire generation of young adults forced to become their own good examples when there were often no others to be found. You were smart enough to ignore those that preached one thing and did another, celebrated violence, or lowered themselves to spiteful acts. Your generation coined the term “haters,” and took every opportunity to ridicule these personalities. At every turn, you learned from your parents’ mistakes, and are better for it. As you step across this stage to receive your diploma today, we celebrate the achievements of what you’ve learned. But in doing so, we also celebrate all that we have learned from you.
Where others predicted the worst, you found ways to become the best. Where others provoked the darkest parts of us, you shone brightly. You did not choose to spend your year making excuses, but instead seized the circumstances as an opportunity to better yourselves and the world around you. You chose to learn. You chose to grow. You chose to participate, and to take risks headlong into this new adventure. Where others complained of obstacles and stoked negativity at every turn, you knew this was your one chance at your senior year, and you were not about to waste it.
Some of your family members lost jobs, or homes, or even their lives this year. Please know that we mourned with you even as we couldn’t. The idea of going day after day to a classroom – online or in a building – despite all of that is something I could not even begin to feel. The fact that you’re on this stage today is a testament to you and your family’s strength. I can only imagine that your family members, including those that are not here today, must be proud beyond words.
When history returns to this tumultuous year, they won’t associate it with the awful things that happened, but instead, the heroic way in which we overcame these adversities by relying on the contributions of young people. I hope this difficult time will be reflected through moments of reason and empathy. I hope that all of you will remember how you clutched the tools of listening, collaborating, and doing. And from this day onward, I hope that those will be the memories that guide your next steps.
Which brings me to my last point. The steps ahead. Here is not the place to rest and begin gathering complacency. It’s true. You’ve taken your breath. It is time to celebrate, and we celebrate with you, for you sure as hell have earned it. But your efforts cannot end here. They can’t. Our communities need you. Science needs you. Humanity needs you. And if the previous months have taught us nothing else, let the record show that adults need you now more than ever. Everything locally, globally and in-between requires you to continue acting. We are in a crossroads culturally and we need you to steer this thing forward. You have proven you have the intellect and the internal resources, the creativity and compassion, and the desire to make a difference. Trust me when I speak for everyone here, as well as everyone near and far when I say with the utmost certainty: we are depending on you. Today is when we cheer you on. Today is when we hand off the responsibility. And today is when we watch to see what you are going to do with it.
Best of luck, Graduating Class of 2021. You have brought us the future, and you are that future.
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