It was a picture perfect day in the Berkshires as we gathered to celebrate and recognize our upper school students at BCD’s 71st Graduation and Awards Ceremony yesterday, June 14, 2017. I am grateful to everyone who prepared for, arranged, attended, had a role in, and participated. It was meaningful for me to witness the upper school students be so present, engaged, and, supportive of one another – a reflection of the vibrant community that we are and everything our talented teachers do to build and sustain it every day.
Special thanks go to our awards presenters, and extra special appreciation to everyone who spoke from the heart about each graduating ninth grader and every member of the eighth grade class. I could hear and feel how powerfully they know about, care for, and love the students. The quality, individual voice, and character of each speaker was an affirming reflection of everyone else that works at Berkshire Country Day School.
I offer the following select paragraphs from my remarks:
Graduating ninth graders and departing eighth graders, today’s graduation and ceremony is an ending and transition point for all of us, a time to consider, honor, and celebrate your individual and collective achievement; to reflect on the joint venture of the educational process; and to send forth prepared and informed, creative, and compassionate individuals. It is a moment of accomplishment and completion, marking an important and meaningful term of our lives while we imagine the possibilities of future prospects.
It is so clear to me that each of you has an inner values system, a well-positioned moral compass that gives you direction. This compass is at the core of who you are and is essential to your character, to know what is right. Investing in your character over time will enable you to deal ethically with the challenges of today and to make conscious decisions about how you will approach tomorrow. The associations you keep, the peers you choose, the mentors you seek, the organizations you affiliate with will all help to define your character. You will be recognized because of your attributes as an individual—and as part of a group.
Each of you has met with success in the areas that are valued at this school – as learners, as creative and critical thinkers, as leaders within your community, and in your ability to develop as individuals and express your originality. You have approached and taken risks in the pursuit of excellence, each of you has flourished, and we applaud you. And, let us remember, honor (and it was high honors for all of you), and celebrate that each of you has achieved so much during your many years at BCD.
As I consider the close-knit community and culture at BCD each year, I see that in many ways we are much like a family – there is a familial quality to the school – in how we relate, bond, care for each other, expect great things, support one another through tough times, and celebrate one another’s successes.
As I contemplate the importance of family, and this special community, and as I look out to the eighth grade class and across to the ninth grade, I am struck by just how much each and every one of your families has given to BCD over so many years. The character of our school is defined in part by every member of our vibrant community, and all of you have impacted the quality of who we are and the culture we value and sustain.
That said, let us pause here and appreciate and hold in high regard the significant contributions of the families of our eighth and ninth graders. Collectively, they have bestowed upon BCD remarkable gifts of time, talent, and treasure; care, commitment, and creativity; and work, watchfulness, and wisdom. They have touched, tended to, and transformed our school. As these families have loved their children, they have expressed their affection and devotion for all of us and the school they and we hold so dear.
Eighth and ninth graders, I invite you to reflect on the goodness and contributions of your parents and grandparents and remember all that you have witnessed. Imagine how one day you will take what you learned from being a part of the BCD family, and consider how you will make your mark on others and our world.
In closing, we celebrate and acknowledge you today as you embark on the new adventures that lie ahead. I encourage you to go forward and continue with the work and effort required to succeed and make a difference – in big and little ways – to the things that matter most to you, to further develop your thirst for knowledge and the truth, to be generous in all ways and especially in who you are, and to maintain quality in your relationships with one another and the many new and different people you will encounter along the way.
(photos by Alexandra Heddinger – more pictures to be posted soon)