Runner-up Graduation Speech

Swim - 2016 Runner-up Graduation Speech

Here we are. We made it.

If you started out at Woodward North and fell in love with the school enough to commute a three hour round trip to and from the main campus, you made it. If you endured those last-minute trips to the Sue Mills store because you found at the last minute you weren’t able to fit into last year’s uniforms, you made it. If you’ve wandered around bewildered as the campus transformed around you from historic Brewster, to aluminum Cottage Park, to the sun-soaked halls of Jane Woodruff Hall, you made it.

It has been a journey—a passage well worth the sacrifices.

Consider that every experience in our life is like a drop of water. If so, then today, the experience of wearing our ceremonial robes and tasseled mortarboards, the sense of pride in our hearts, the bubbling atmosphere at our graduation ceremonies… all of these drops of water would be like an awesome day on the ocean, when the sun is warm, the breeze is gentle and cool, and the waves are calm. It’s the perfect day for a swim.

We all enter the water in different ways: some of us enter with a graceful dive, others tiptoe slowly, and some just cannon ball. Regardless of how each of us gets our hair wet, in the end, we all learn how to swim.

Just like all swimmers, we get a little coaching and we learn a few strokes. And while we’re using these strokes, swimming goes from hopeless sputtering to a controlled glide. It takes less effort and we can start discovering other ambitions—going where we want to go… moving faster… winning races. We can think beyond just keeping our heads above the water.

These strokes are the things in life for which we are passionate. They became our skillset which we used not only to navigate our way through Woodward, but for the future, to pioneer our paths after the Academy. After we graduate. After today.

For the past 13 years at Woodward, I’ve seen us all develop our own strokes. I’ve seen the stained uniforms from the work that goes into each sculpture, each painting; I’ve seen the wet hair and tired eyes of our sports teams who play valiantly; debaters have traveled across states for tournaments; photography students’ work has been displayed at festivals; WA Live has been there to bring Woodward events to friends and relatives; ISR students have completed impressive studies; our actors and tech crews have put on incredible productions; our publications teams have worked tirelessly to produce the Blade, the yearbook, and the literary magazine.

But as we all know, not all days are good days. Along the way, we haven’t always had such smooth sailing.

Darkness falls and unexpected waves can crash over us. The sea churns and we bump ominously into unknown things under the surface. You feel your toes graze over the sand—you stir up some dirt and realize you’ve clouded the water around you. You make mistakes and disappoint and feel the ground fall from under you.

But fortunately, nature has provided us an array of aquatic biomes, much like how each day is never the same as the last. A picnic by a duck pond is Thanksgiving break. Lounging in a blow up pool after filling it endlessly with your hose is like studying for hours for a test and actually making a decent grade. And after a storm there's always a rainbow to decorate the sky and puddles to splash in.

During those tumultuous times, though, we sometimes need a little help. And thank goodness for life jackets. We don’t necessarily want to rely on them, but there are times when they truly are indispensable.

Whether it be spending the lunch period of a bad day in the studio, drowning your problems out with brushstrokes, or spending a class period resting at the nurse’s office, these life jackets can gently hold you above the water until you can regain your strength.

We’ve all provided each other with this help, from catching friends up on days missed for college touring, to just giving them a shoulder to lean on after a particularly rough day. Teachers have prevented us from drowning, serving as lifeguards by staying late, cutting into their personal time to help us pass an exam.

Just as each teacher, mentor, coach, parent, and peer has provided us with life jackets and swim instructions in times of need, this school has been a lifeboat for all 247 of us. Woodward has been here when the tides have gotten just too overwhelming, and has ultimately delivered us safely to calmer waters through this first passage of our lives.

If I could, I would stand here and commend every single one of you that’s put a part of yourself into Woodward. To the color guard and to each of our club presidents, thank you. To the marching band and to the student government, thank you. You’re a large part of why Woodward is such a wonderful place. Though a single individual doesn’t create Woodward, as David Mitchell said in Cloud Atlas, “what is any ocean, but a multitude of drops?”

Though we’ve made it this far, the oceans ahead of us are uncharted. Technology is growing, social orders are evolving, demographics are shifting, politics are polarizing, and mankind is going where it’s never gone before. We’re about to dive head first into the next current and see where it takes us. Through all of these years in and out of the classroom, we’ve unknowingly learned the essential strokes that will carry us from here to everywhere. And everywhere we’ll go.

Today, the seas are calm. The skies are clear. And the view is awesome.

The journey wasn’t always easy, and we’ve all done our share of sputtering and flailing about. But today, the present, is about celebrating our accomplishments. If you’re here, congratulations. You made it through each day. Each hour. This moment is a culmination of every choice you’ve made, every stroke you’ve swum.

Now, we rest. Lean back and let the waves carry you for a while.

Oceans have no memory. They never look the same as before. The same is true as we move forward in our lives. Today, we celebrate the passage, and we keep our eyes on the infinite horizon. A new sun rises over our next journey.

Woodward Academy, thank you for preparing us for our futures, and fellow graduates, thank you for your attention today. Congratulations to the Class of 2016.