CHS 2015 Graduation: Keynote Speech

Class of 2015

I should begin this speech with a sort of confession. A little over two weeks ago, two of today’s graduates, *R.M.*and *E.L.*, approached me on behalf of the Class of 2015 and asked if I would consider speaking at graduation. For those of you who know me, you can probably guess my initial reaction, and it wasn’t very pretty. Without going into the embarrassing details, it required quite a few tissues and several, very, deep breathes. And, for those of you who don’t know me, I am sure you will be lucky enough to witness the wonder that is “Ms. Conner” crying at some point throughout this speech. In fact, I’m pretty sure there are some wagers going on regarding how long it will take before I actually burst into tears. I will do my best to keep it together.

I’ll be honest, I almost called the girls back into the office and apologetically told them that this was just not something I was personally capable of doing. But, after all of that fear dwindled, I realized that I would be rather hypocritical to back down from an opportunity to have one last formal conversation with such a special graduating class. If any of my own students were to be faced with an obstacle that seemed too scary to tackle, I would never let them back down.

As an English teacher, my expertise is relatively limited to pronoun antecedent agreement, correct MLA Research paper format, and active reading strategies. But, the more I thought about it, I realized that I DO know literature, and I do know this Class of 2015, so what better way to end our final conversation than with a brief, “Walk Down Literature Lane” as I’d fondly like to refer to it. One of the reasons I became an English teacher in the first place is because of my firm belief that novels can teach lessons that remain applicable to all of our lives. So, while I am certainly not an expert on life, I am “sort of” an expert on literature, and I kindly ask you to take this journey through your high school career with me as I do my best to remind of you of some lessons I hope you’ll carry with you. Don’t worry, you will not be required to complete a Writing from Sources Essay or properly formatted research paper at the completion of this final literature lesson. I promise.

Now, let’s go back four years to your freshman year of high school. Nerves, fears, and confusion permeated the hallways as you navigated your way through the labyrinth of CHS. Many of you took high school as an opportunity to begin shedding your middle school skin and discovering the people you most wanted to become and the legacy you wanted to leave. Self-doubt and anxiety swirled through every ninth grade classroom as you each tried to acclimate to the new demands of high school. Higher expectations. More freedom. Immense pressure. For most of you, you commenced your ninth grade year reading To Kill a Mockingbird, a story of adolescence and moral integrity. What might have initially struck you as, ‘Oh my goodness this is the longest book I have ever read in my life” hopefully eventually transformed into a greater appreciation. And while even now you might not recall everything about this piece of literature, or might be thinking to yourself, why-oh-why is Ms. Conner still trying to teach us about books at our graduation, I ask you to consider this: Atticus Finch, in a heartwarming moment with his daughter Scout, implores her to take a moment to consider the world from another person’s perspective when he says, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” While I certainly am not so naïve to believe we as ninth grade teachers were able to impart this wisdom on you from our teaching alone, I do think it is noteworthy to mention how much each of you in the Class of 2015 has embodied this. Perhaps more than any other class in the past, the Class of 2015, as a whole, is one of the most accepting and understanding classes I have had the pleasure of teaching. Your ninth grade year brought with it amazing memories, as well as a great deal of tragedy. Tragedy that forced this class in particular to mature much more quickly and to become innately aware of how important it is to truly understand the world from another person’s perspective. While you might not look around you and consider every person in the rows surrounding you to be a friend, we have all watched you unite as a class and become a group of young adults who are considerate of their peers and concerned for the well-being of others. Whether it was working together to create and sustain the first Unified Sports Basketball team at Columbia High School, joining forces to raise funds to send Science Olympiad to the National Competition, or just participating in the single longest and most inclusive conga line that I have ever seen on a junior prom dance floor, you have done it all as one, united class. I hope you will take that united spirit with you as you leave the doors of CHS and remember to always take a step back and consider what it’s like in someone else’s shoes.

Our second stop on our literature journey is Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. I won’t put a damper on this occasion by boring you with the sad details of that last chapter, especially since that will almost ensure I will start crying up here, but I will ask you each to consider this: Not unlike the main character George Milne, each of you has faced or will face in the future incredibly difficult situations that will force you to make a choice between what is easy and what is right. As many of you wrote your college admission essays this year, you struggled with coming up with some sort of momentous incident in your life that was worthy of writing about. If it has not already happened, it most likely will. And when that time comes, you must be prepared to make the difficult decisions because they are the right decisions. Each of you sitting in front of us today is a unique individual who is worthy of a fantastic life. When life throws you obstacles, even those that you believe to be unendurable, know that they are, and know that you will overcome them.

Our last stop ends with The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. In this novel, Holden Caulfield struggles with the prospect of growing up and leaving his childhood behind – something many of you can relate to at this moment. All he wants to do with his life is live as “the catcher in the rye” and save children who might be too close to falling off the edge of a cliff. Almost 15 years ago, my high school principal, Mr. David Kissick, stood tall on a cafeteria table on the night before our graduation and vowed to us that he would be our “catcher in the rye” – a person there to catch us from any great and terrible fall we might endure. What I hope each of you will take from this, is that you have grown into the type of people that we are proud to know. I think I can speak for any members of CHS when I say we would also be your “catcher in the rye” should any of you need it. However, over the last four years, we have watched you mature, learn, grow, and excel. While anyone would agree your academic excellence, athletic accomplishments, or musical achievements are beyond recognition, what I think is most noteworthy about the Class of 2015 is that the group of students sitting before me today are capable and ready to make this world a better place. Your acceptance, unity, understanding, and maturity are inspiring.

You will leave the walls of CHS and embark onto the next chapter of your lives. Each of you has your own memories of high school. You will not remember all of the SAT vocabulary words you learned each Monday and were quizzed on on Fridays. You might only vaguely remember the novels I've mentioned today. The days of sitting in those teeny desks with the arm attached (and please just hope you aren't a lefty because that is just a disaster) might escape your minds. In fact, you might leave CHS and soon forget your way around the hallways that won't ever look quite the same when they aren't filled with backed-up traffic. What you SHOULD remember is this: you are the class of 2015. Each of you has touched the hearts of someone else in our building. Each of you is leaving a lasting legacy. For some of you that legacy might be the practical jokes you played on your teachers (like leaving jars of mayonnaise -- which is still only slightly forgiven) or writing hidden messages in your essays -- yes, we almost always notice them and most of the time ignore them! – or the small seemingly unnoticed gestures like sitting with someone new in the lunch room. Whatever legacy you are leaving at CHS, remember that today, you sit here united as the Class of 2015. You are not the same timid freshmen who entered our doors four short years ago. It is now your chance to create a new legacy. My hope for you is that you remember to consider others, that you make the hard decisions that need to be made, and that you always put your best foot forward. You are a special class, and you will be dearly missed.

So, in true English teacher form, I leave you with a quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald. “It’s never too late, or too early, to be whoever you want to be. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again.”

Go out and start your legacy, Class of 2015. Congratulations! Thank you.