Class Night Speech

Here is one of my early drafts of my class night speech. It changed a little bit but this is the gist.

Wow,


Thank you for that introduction Emily. I feel honored and humbled at the same time to be here speaking with you tonight. I apologize if I seem a bit nervous. It’s not often that I get in front of a group of people and talk where it doesn’t have to do with balancing equations, solving three step stoichiometry problems or discussing the quantum states of different atoms so I guess you could say I’m a little out of my element... Sorry about that but I’m trying to keep in practice since we will be losing one of our great pun-sters in Joe Desrosiers. So here’s to you Joe I’ll try to keep the tradition going as best I can.

I would like to start by giving a huge congratulations to the class of 2012. You have worked very hard for the past 12 years and you have earned every bit of the attention you will be receiving in the next couple of days. As we head into the twilight of your high school education and approach the dawning of your futures I ask that you reflect back on your journey. Remember that first day of smart start. Who did you walk in with? What were you thinking as you took that first tour of the building? How excited were you during the science magic show as you watched some crazy teachers shooting bottles into the theater lights and blowing up balloons filled with gas. Think about how freshman year progressed. Walking in for spirit week with wonder as to how your hall got decorated to the theme of under the sea. I know I can remember that week well. In my 19 years of teaching here no freshman class has ever won the cheering contest in that first pep rally… but you did. I have to tell you, Mrs. Conrad, Mr. Perry and I were a bit worried with what we had gotten ourselves into as your class advisors. I ask that you think of all the things that have happened to you since those first few weeks walking these halls. State championships, theater productions, musical performances, poetry slams, math competitions, coffehouses. Think of those teachers that supported you and proudly watched you spread your academic wings. Mr. Price banging his head against the wall and reading the little engine that could while trying to make you more aware of how world politics affects even a small state like Vermont. How Mr. Mcannell and Mr. Coon taught you how to create your own multimedia performances and gave you an appreciation for the theater arts. How Corky taught you how to stand on your head in the middle of a social studies class. How Mr. Cannizarro and Ms. Cummings taught you how to look at life through an artistic lens. How Mrs. Sharkey and Ms. Sommariva taught you how important it is to use calculus in your everyday lives……. Well they tried anyways.

These are just some of the teachers that worked hard to help prepare you for this. Your next stage in life where you will need to use the knowledge and skills you learned here to help you grow in the real world. One of my favorite educator’s is Vermont’s own John Dewey. He was a firm believer that education is a lifelong process and it comes though experiences. One of my favorite quotes says that “Education is not preparation for life, Education is life itself”. While you have been students here you were challenged to improve our school and you have responded. You have lived through first crushes, learned how to manage your schedules and workload, and shown strength when life has thrown you curve balls. I have watched proudly as you found an identity for your class. I am often asked about you by my friends and family members. When I post on facebook about your success in spirit week, and include links to our lip-dub my friends want to know about these students wearing these blue and green on black “dirty-dozen” t-shirts. I always respond that you are truly one of a kind. You have created a network among yourselves that is full of intelligence, community service and colleagueship. You take nothing at face value and are constantly pushing the boundaries of what is possible. I smile when I speak of you because I know you are the future and that this is what we will need in our leaders.

As I tried to think of a message to send you off from Colchester High School I have reflected on my own life and what is near and dear to me. With that said I have a few kernels of wisdom you may take with you. I like to call this my “Life Lessons of a Chemistry Teacher”.

My first Life Lesson I want to bring up occurred shortly after school began my third year teaching. I was preparing a demonstration for my chemistry class in which a small amount of a chemical is allowed to vaporize in a large empty jug. Then when a match is applied to the top of the bottle it forms a combustion engine like effect. Well on this day I had already performed the experiment once in said bottle, so when I did this a second time the integrity of the bottle was, let us say “compromised”. As soon as the match hit the top of the bottle, the bottom blew out creating an explosion that sent the bottle rocketing off into the ceiling tiles…. Or so I was told. I couldn’t tell because I was knocked out halfway across the room at the time. As I awoke and my hearing slowly returned I realized that My science department had finally come up with a nickname for me. To them I will always be remembered as boomer. So what lesson can you take from this? Well of course you shouldn’t mess around with things that can explode. Very dangerous, but more importantly when life knocks you down, get back up and take responsibility for your actions. Life is all about making mistakes. It is what you learn from them that will help you grow.

The second Lesson I learned happened a couple of years after the bottle incident. As most of you students know, In the back of the science office there is a chemical storeroom where we keep all of our supplies. In this room is a cabinet containing our concentrated acids. One afternoon after school our department decided we wanted to clean up the office. During this cleaning process as I was back there I looked over as two of my colleagues were trying to move this cabinet. What they didn’t do however was check to see if it was closed and locked first. Anyways o make a long story short a bottle of 18 M sulfuric acid fell out and broke all over the floor and on me and the two teachers involved. In the time it took to get to the safety showers our pant legs and shows had all but dissolved. The lesson I took from this was don’t let Mr. Desrosiers near the acid cabinet….. no actually the message is to think and plan before you act. Take the time to really think things through because your actions will reflect on you for the rest of your life. Every message you put on twitter, every side comment you make, every decision you make can have consequences. You are the generation that technology has made it possible to share every facet of you lives almost at the speed that you live it, and while this is great to keep you in touch with one another I caution you that it is also easily abused. Take time to reflect on what image you want people to have of you and then work to make it happen through your actions. In being given greater freedoms you are also going to be held to a greater level of responsibility for your actions.

My third and final message to all of you does not come from a single story or incident. It is built up from a career of working with kids, parent, the Colchester community and especially my colleagues. This message is simple. Have Fun and follow your dreams. You are moving into a new stage of your life which puts you closer to making decisions that will determine careers, what educational level you will achieve and how you will live your life. Until now you have had supports and structure helping you make these decisions. The torch is being passed into your hands. I have loved every minute of my life as a teacher here in Colchester because it is my passion. It is what I wanted to do and I enjoy every class I teach, I enjoy every theater performance, every sporting event. You need to find what makes you happy and then work like crazy to get it.

I wish all of you luck. I congratulate you. You deserve everything you have worked for and the entire Colchester faculty and staff is proud of you.