My Keynote Address to the Calumet High School Class of 2016

I’d like to start by thanking you, sincerely, for choosing me to deliver the keynote speech at your graduation.  As it says in my bio (in the little playbills you are holding), this is one of the biggest honors I have ever received.  And the fact that you had me as your teacher for three years, and still want to hear me talk, makes me smile.  Accordingly, I will try to rise to the occasion.  I told Bianka and Tiana I was just going to hiss at everyone individually, but I’ll save that for the meet-and greet afterwards.

Thanks, too, to our administration for allowing me this opportunity to speak, and to our Senior Class Sponsors, especially Bon-Eye, the Librarian, who is always kind and patient, with everyone, even when terribly busy.  Thanks for treating people well, Mrs. Williams.

It’s been amazing working with you guys, watching you grow – although I use that word loosely; most of you are the same height as you were when you started high school and some (ahem…Marisol, Brittany) I think got even shorter – but it’s been amazing watching you grow from Freshmen to Seniors.  I enjoyed my time with you immensely, and most of you seemed to as well.  It was touching how many of you seemed so saddened when you found out I wasn’t going to be your Senior English teacher…ahem…when you guys abandoned me and Mr. Wadkins.  (Not everyone was sad, mind you… I’m pretty sure I saw the Wilson twins doing the Hat Dance when they got their senior year schedule, but, hey, you can’t please everyone, man).  And I want to thank you, sincerely, for the way you always treated me, with respect, with kindness, with joy, with openness.  And I hope, sincerely, that each one of you sitting here feels that I treated you the same way.  More on this in a moment.

I want to pause here and have you think about someone who has made a difference in your life…it could be a parent, a grandparent, a friend, a teacher, anyone.  Now, think about how that person treated you, especially when you weren’t at your best.  Were they patient with you, loving towards you, real with you..? I’m guessing yes, or else you wouldn’t be thinking of them right now.  Someone like that can make such a huge difference, especially when things are bad, just by providing a moment of kindness, an understanding or supportive comment, or just the reinforcement that, yes, you are important, and valuable, and wonderful, and will get through whatever you are going through.  We’ve all had that person in our lives, or else we probably wouldn’t be sitting here today.

Now, I want to challenge you.  I want to challenge you to be that person, and not just for a few people that you like, but for everyone that you know, for everyone that comes to you (within reason).  I want you to treat everyone with respect, even if you don’t really like them…Help those who seemingly least deserve it.  And then watch what it does to your outlook, your mood, your life. 

When all the rigors of corporate education reform get me down – all the meetings, all the paperwork, all the binders, all the assessments, all the minutiae – I think of you guys and the way you’ve made me feel. 

I think of Kalem, who, as a freshman, told me to squad up every time I asked him to put his phone away, whom I asked once, “Do you only come to school to torment me?”  We put that behind us pretty quickly, and, on the first day of Sophomore year when I joked, “You’re stuck with me again…Are you going to drop out now?” he said, “Yeah, right, you’re one of the only reasons I came to school last year.”

I think of Cailena who made me so mad when she was a freshman, I thought my head was going to pop like a balloon, who quickly became one of my favorite students and thereafter apologized to me, pretty much every day, for the way she acted back then.  Now she has a tiny baby and a diploma.

I think of Deja, one of my favorite Louds, who never failed to make me smile, even when she was mad…

I think of Tylor and Amber, and the unique way they see the world.

I think of Abigayle, our Salutatorian, who has the best laugh, and who has never seemed to grasp how exceptional she is.  (I hope today she finally does!)

I think of Summer, our Co-Valedictorian, who is brilliant and extraordinarily talented in so many facets, yet carries herself with a humility, a poise, a confidence, and a quiet positivity far beyond her years.  I could count on her, along with Storm, to laugh at my most obscure references, and to make the most exceptional deductions.

And I think of Danyelle, our other Co-Valedictorian, who, though going through some very difficult times, managed not only to persevere but to rise up, even when she couldn’t see an end to things, and to help those around her (especially me).  She made most of the last two yearbooks, and did a better job than I ever could have.  It’s been so nice seeing you not only emerge, but thrive.

I could go on and on with you guys, but, unfortunately, there is a time constraint.  I’ll just have to do a big TBH on Facebook later.

I’ll close by saying that there are many people who think of optimism and positivity, of the penchant for seeing the best in people, as being naïve, off base, ineffectual, weak.  This couldn’t be further from the truth.  There is such strength in having a positive outlook, such great power.  And I want to thank you, class of 2016, for reinforcing the notion that positivity isn’t unwarranted, or naïve, or stupid.  Your openness and your innocence and your genuineness has made these past four years amongst the best I’ve had as a teacher. 

So, to you, I say congratulations, and good luck, and God’s speed, and, of course, Yarb!