Chairman Lockwood, Mr. Sanborn, Dr. Pook, Members of The Derryfield Board of Trustees, Esteemed Faculty & Staff, Derryfield Alumni . . . Parents, Grandparents and Family members of the class of 2011, and most importantly, our guests of honor, The Members of the Class of 2011, it is my pleasure to Greet all of you on this wonderful occasion of our 44th commencement ceremony.
Thank you all for being here – and to those to my left (the graduating class of 2011), we are particularly pleased you are all here safe and sound, having successfully navigated ourconstruction project called the Gateway Building outside.
I have the privilege to offer my greetings this morning and set the stage for what promises to be a profoundly memorable and meaningful time together.
Many of you are steeped in our school traditions and have known us for a long, long time. In fact, at our Senior celebration just a few weeks ago we celebrated families who had spent dozens of years with us.
Some of you are new to our school – you may be here for the first time, although you have no doubt heard about the excellence that made our DNA so distinctive from our founding in 1964. But no matter the time of your connection with us you should know what is timeless about our school, and that is what we do - our mission.
Our school’s mission is to inspire bright, motivated young people to be their best, and we provide them with the skills and experiences needed to be valued, dynamic, confident, and purposeful members of any community.
If you know our school, you know that this is what the faculty and staff do here everyday . . but let me now tell you, the class of 2011 in particular (and certainly everyone else can listen) what makes today so special – absolutely unique in our school calendar and our school culture.
Today I get to say to this group to my left, on behalf of everyone in this room, that you – in fact - have inspired us . . . And you have done more than that – you have made us proud. Your accomplishments are numerous, your poise and good humor remarkable, and your kindness amongst yourselves and with others . . . well, I simply find it moving.
Let me give just one telling example. Just a few short days ago we had a closing assembly – on the brink of summer, our entire school community came together for the last time in 2011. I can tell you that, as a Head of School, it is the kind of assembly that can and does go off the rails at other schools. It is just awfully tempting to move into goofy summer mode a few hours too early.
And in that Assembly You cheered, as I thought you might, the wonderful anniversaries of your teachers here today – those who have been with us 15, 25, 30 and even 35 years.
But you did more than that – you gave a standing ovation to one of our custodians celebrating his 10th anniversary. If that happened any other time of year I would have asked Mr. Powell for a few minutes with you, but instead I threw out what I was going to talk about today to say just a few more words –
Thank you. Thank you for noticing those who work hard, who bring their A game every day. Thank you for respecting all of the different kinds of work that goes into making a school as great as ours actually open and thrive every day. Thank you for caring about those who serve in a variety of ways. Thank you, in short, for your big hearts and minds that have inspired us. Thank you for being so worthy of our admiration – you truly have inspired us.
I am certain that Derryfield’s school culture has supported your compassion, your big-heartedness, but your teachers are humble enough to know it takes more. It takes great parenting. And so I’ll close with a thank-you to those in front of me now – thank you for all the caring, the time and the love that brought us to this moment. Today, and this moment, belongs to the class of 2011 – but they are already wise enough to know they would not be so worthy of celebration without you – those who have come today to support them.
So let’s proceed together in celebration of this class of inspiring young people, and to do that I’d like to introduce Mr. E. Charles Sanborn for our invovation.
