The time has come to bid adieu to Brewster High School, to the halls that I’ve walked and the classrooms that I’ve learned in for the past 4 short years. Committing to school (UAlbany’s Honors College!) truly put in perspective just how fast time goes. Take it from me: I laughed at anyone who said that high school was the four fastest years of his or her life. Now, I can first-handedly testify to that truth. This last article is bittersweet for me because it is my sagum vocatio– my curtain call. The stage has dimmed and the music has stopped, not forever: merely for now. I don’t want this to be a grim departure, because we have been through too much for my goodbye to be solemn. Instead, I want to celebrate how far we’ve come.
If you have not heard it from your parents, teachers, friends, or anyone else you’ve needed to hear it from– I’m proud of you. Although some of our experience has been lost, I want to remind you all of how much has been gained and the strength that you’ve shown. I am not saying that you must get knocked down in order to stand up strong or that you need to feel tribulation before triumph. What I am saying is this: something had to bring it out of you for you to know you had it in you.
So, let’s celebrate; those who have given their all and gone above and beyond when given the chance, and those who have taken chances when they didn’t think they had the courage to. Let’s celebrate those who were content to play it safe. Celebrate your classmates with whom you’ve shared the halls, and, even if you didn’t know their names, you at least knew that they were there and that you were there together. Celebrate your chemistry lab partner who was the only person who got you through sophomore year. If you were someone who spent your time on stage, celebrate those who brought to life the pages of a script that otherwise would have collected dust along with the ways that you were able to make those stories your own. If you spent your time in high school training, playing, and competing, celebrate your teammates who showed you dedication because they, like you, worked hard and deserved to win. Let’s celebrate those on the sidelines, those who were more than happy to watch. Celebrate those who were astonishing at Algebra but couldn’t write an essay if it was all but written for them. Celebrate those who flew through books and could write page after page but to whom numbers were merely a jumble. Celebrate those who seemed to have it all and those who seemed to have nothing. Celebrate laughter. Celebrate your friends and family, teachers and mentors. Celebrate hope. Celebrate summer nights at Red Rooster, the sunrise after an all-nighter, and the car rides and loud music. Celebrate the little things, and the fact that you are the only person who will experience life the way you do. And, simply celebrate yourself because you have made it this far despite the odds set against you, and that alone is worth celebrating!
I do not know where your futures are taking you, nor do I know where mine will. What I do know is that, whatever we’ve done so far, it’s working. Although it might not work forever, and it might not work for long, however you move forward from today is up to you.
Let this be your celebration.