So I'm nearing the one month mark since my graduation... honestly it still feels like i'm on a break. well except for when i have mini panic attacks after buying sheets & towels for my dorm.
I kindof regret going to a high school where staying local is so frowned on. I mean, even if i changed my mind now, the people who meant so much to me here would still be leaving. we're all dispersing, off to bigger and hopefully better things.
And yeah, yeah, i'll have a great time at wheaton, i'll make new, wonderful friends, i've heard it hundreds of times, and i believe it but my heart still aches a bit. Oh and in 4 years, i'll be in this position all over again.. siiigh. anyways mostly this entry was to post Mr Brown's graduation speech because i'm afraid he'll take it down in september when the new year starts and he has a whole new set of senioritis infected classes.
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"Thank you. I asked Mr. Kish to play “SexyBack” but I was told it wasn’t in the repertoire. Perhaps the editors at EBTV will be kind enough to throw it in when they play this all summer on Channel 3 somewhere between “Look Great, Feel Great” with Lenore Kulek and “Spotlight on Education” with our own telegenic Superintendent. Dr. Magistro, what are the chances that I can get a guest spot on there?
Wow, Class of 2007! We thought you’d never leave! It’s amazing, but you made it through—senioritis and all. Do you know what it’s like to teach 400 seniors?
“Do you have a piece of paper?” It’s 12th period, how did you make it through the day?!! “I haven’t written anything all day.”
“Do you have a pen?” This is your final! “I didn’t know we were going to have to write.”
From the moment you chose me as your speaker back in March, not a day has gone by that someone hasn’t asked me if my speech was done. This included the fine people on this stage who wanted to read it ahead of time for fear I would say something inappropriate. (I promise, I’ll do my best not to.) But you know, March wasn’t exactly a time that inspired me; you weren’t graduating yet. So, every couple of weeks, Mr. Csatari would casually stop by and gently nudge me it hand in sometime soon, and I would gently suggest that I was still waiting for a spark of creativity. But that spark didn’t really come; it still felt like commencement was miles away.
I thought I could give advice on what to do with this not so attractive shade of green cap and gown now that you shelled out $60 for it! (Let me suggest using the tassel as a bookmark or for cleaning those hard to reach crevices in your dorm room, using the cap as a lovely planter or perhaps fruit bowl, and of course, using the gown as next year’s Halloween costume!) But that won’t fill a whole speech.
So then I thought, well, you all live in this beautiful town of East Brunswick, so why not let the place inspire me. I went to quietly reflect and soak up the local culture in the tranquil passageways of the Brunswick Square Mall; I took a leisurely stroll up and down Route 18. (Why are you laughing? That wasn’t a joke. OK, yes it was.) Needless to say, this was entirely unhelpful.
So I turned to you, the Graduating Class of 2007. You guys could’ve been helpful because you bombarded me with all kinds of suggestions about what I “just had” to do or say, so I opened up a forum on the Humanities website to collect ideas. Some of the finest included:
==> yo brown. buzz the back of your head in a design that reads CLASS OF 2007.
==> yo brown you should “definantly” (spelled D-E-F-I-N-A-N-T-L-Y) shave your head, [but do it] on stage while playing loud punk music or some new wave such as the clash or elvis costelleo. then be like woo class of 07. DO IT!!! ~Vinnie P~
==> dont listen to vinnie, that is the worst idea ever - Chris D
You can see how these suggestions—though amusing—were not the most helpful.
Then May came, and it was college graduation season. I would turn on the news and see that Bill Gates was speaking at Harvard, Oprah Winfrey was at Howard. Montclair got Whoopi Goldberg this year. I read a bunch of these speeches, since they all come up if you google “graduation speech” by they still didn’t inspire me. The closest I can was with Kean University. This year’s graduation speaker at Kean was Suitcase Holder #18 on Deal or No Deal. (Marisa Petroro) I thought “this is brilliant! I can do that!” I always wanted to be on a game show anyway. I’m not really sure what inspirational message she was carrying in that suitcase, but it has to be pretty great. After all, she gets paid wear pretty clothes and hold a suitcase! This woman has a good life! How can I teach the Class of ’07 to achieve that? So I thought, what about a game of DIPLOMA OR NO DIPLOMA!?
Alright in all seriousness—sorry, you knew this part was coming—I’ll tell you why I’ve spent so much time talking about writing this speech and my inspiration for it. I want to say something serious to you on your graduation day about inspiration.
You see, we’ve taught you to do well in school; we’ve taught you that to do that by getting good grades. But there are certain things that can’t be graded, and it’s quite possibly those things that matter most. After all, once you leave high school, nobody really cares what your GPA or your SAT score was. Nobody cares what your class rank was or how you did on the BC Calc exam. For the record, I got a 5 and I’m still trying to make friends with the math teachers! (Ms. Sharma, you really do look lovely today! These colors really work for you.) For most of you, it won’t matter whether or not you know the stages of cell reproduction, the way to solve a quadratic equation, or the differences between a harmonic or melodic minor scale.
If I can be slightly heretical, I want to suggest that in spite of all the tests, and homework, and studying you’ve done, that maybe we haven’t taught you much at all. I mean, of the adults in the audience, how much do you remember from high school? We hear a lot today about what a great school we are; but I think we’re a terrible school if the best thing we have to give you is a number or a letter or a transcript! Because if that’s what inspires you to learn, then we’re all missing the point. And it’s a vicious cycle, because the more we as teachers use grades to motivate you, the more you crave grades as your reward for learning instead of the intrinsic value of learning something you want to learn.
The things that are most important in life are things we can’t grade you on. Things like:
==> Inspiration—do you have Passion, Drive, Curiosity?
==> Character—(Maybe it’s not just the street in front of Hammarskjold after all.) Do you have Integrity, Courage, Compassion?
These are the things that people remember you by. Are you a good person? Are you inspired…by something…by anything at all? Who cares if it’s not a subject we teach in school.
Class of 2007, as I experienced myself with this very speech, no one else can give you inspiration; you’ve got to find it on your own. It’s an exciting journey, but it’s one you make for yourself, not for anyone else. You can’t find inspiration in life because someone will give you an "A" if you do.
My hope is that someone along the way, at some point in your career, (perhaps even one of us) has introduced you to an idea that sparks your imagination, your curiosity, your passion. And you will run with it. The beauty of life is that it is a constant process of discovery and chance. Every day is a new day to be inspired. Sitting at my own high school graduation, I had no intention of being a teacher; even at my college graduation I didn’t know I’d wind up a teacher. But here I am, and I love it.
Do what interests you simply because it interests you—not because it’s an easy class, or it looks good on a transcript, or because your relatives want you to. If it excites you, that’s enough; see where it leads you. And my wish for you is that you all, in your own good time (which, to your parents dismay, might be a while), will find those things and those people that truly inspire you. I certainly have. Class of 2007, on behalf of all of your teachers, thank you for being our inspiration.
To conclude, I will return to the Humanities website, where I will share the best suggestion for my speech. It was:
==> let us remember ebhs just as it is.. crazy and full of PDA.
Good luck, Class of ’07. We’ll miss you.
Thank you for letting me speak.
Thank you for letting us teach you.
Now go out there and be inspired!"
