Ms. Geryk
Ms. Jorgensen
Other members of the School Committee
ARHS Faculty/Staff
Parents/Guardians
Family and Friends
Graduates of the Class of 2009
It is my pleasure to welcome all of you to the 145th graduation of Amherst Regional High School.
Over the last few years, we have designed a graduation ceremony that celebrates our graduates and their accomplishments....
...and, at the same time, acknowledges the contributions of all Amherst Regional Public School faculty and staff for their work on behalf of the graduates across the last 12 years...
...and, to that end, we have invited representatives from all our sending elementary schools and middle school to be with us on the stage this evening...
...their presence, along with the HS faculty, hopefully reminds you that....
...for your entire school career...
...from the first day in kindergarten where a teacher took you gently by the hand and showed you which cubby was yours...
...to last week when other teachers coaxed you to the finish line of your last papers and exams...
...you have been enveloped by a collection of adults with a deep investment in your success....
...But, before I introduce our invited guests, a word about the ARHS faculty and staff...
....these are the adults who, for the last four years, have shepherded you through the intricacies of the Krebs Cycle, the Constitution, quadratic equations, and the right way to hit both a note and a home run...
...and, more importantly, they modeled for you what it is that maturity requires...
....So, at this time, I would ask the ARHS faculty and staff stand and that we acknowledge them with a round of applause...
...now, to our middle and elementary school guests....
...I will read their names, the schools in which they work, their subject area and their years of service to the district.
I would like to start with....
Crocker Farm
Fort River
Leverett
Marks Meadow
Pelham
Shutesbury
Wildwood
Middle School
* * * *
Before I turn my attention to you, there is just one more person I’d like you to meet.
His name is Arthur Goodhind. And he is seated with us on the dais this evening, accompanied by his wife and four sons.
Let me briefly give you some background on Mr. Goodhind,
Arthur Goodhind left Amherst High School in his senior year of 1948.
He joined the army, and as a Private First Class Company A, 172nd Engineering Battalion, 2nd Armored Division, he served his country in the Korean War, and was honorably discharged in 1951.
He did not return to high school, but instead began work as a short order cook and worked his way up to become a head chef at the prestigious Yankee Pedlar Inn in Holyoke. In 1954, he married Barbara May Farrick from South Deerfield. They have four sons: John, Arthur Jr., Peter, and Paul.
In 1959, Arthur moved the family to a home in Shutesbury, where they raised their four sons, all of whom graduated from ARHS.
Arthur and Barbara recently celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary this past April and they still reside in Shutesbury, enjoying visits from their seven grandchildren and one great grandchild.
Last December, his son Paul read about a recent federal law entitled "Operation Recognition" which was created to honor any World War II veteran who left high school to join the war effort, and upon their return from the war, for whatever reason, did not complete their high school education.
Many states have adapted the law to include veterans from the Korean War as well as the Vietnam. Paul submitted the application in January, and through the collaboration of the local Veterans Administration office and Amherst Regional High School, the application was approved.
Therefore, under Chapter 115 of the Massachusetts General Law, it is my distinct pleasure and honor to present Arthur Daniel Goodhind Sr. with his Amherst Regional High School diploma and declare him an honorary graduate of the Class of 2009.
* * * *
I’d like the following students to stand: Ben Boisclair and Nate Woodard.
Relax -- this is a good thing. I’m going to give you an award...really
[tell story]
You listened carefully to my senior prank parameters. And channeled your creativity accordingly.
So as a way of saying ’thank you’, I created an award in your honor.
....I was going to the call it the ’Ben and Nate Award’, but I settled on calling it the ’They Listened; I Laughed’ Award.
But I did name the two of you as the first recipients.
My hope is that this becomes a tradition, an annual acknowledgment that the senior class figures out how to make laughter come from the principal’s mouth rather than steam from his ears.
So, please, please go home and tell everyone in the junior class - friends, brothers and sisters alike - that they are all in the running to be next year’s recipients.
And as a token of my appreciation, here’s a DVD for both of you that contains the pictures of my Saran-wrapped car.
* * * *
I typically search for a commencement address topic by first reviewing students’ accomplishments over the past year.
For the last few years, I have relied on students’ political commitments and their involvement in social action as the basis for my remarks.
This year, however, my focus is on the performing arts.
And, starting in the fall with the Performing Arts Gala, there have been no shortage of extraordinary moments.
Let me note a few:
Aidan and Amelia wrote plays that were accepted and performed by the Boston Young Playwrights Festival at the Playwrights’ Horizons Theater in Boston.
The joint performance of all our choruses, under Ms. Cooper’s direction, of Frostiana, the musical rendering of Robert Frost’s poetry, which was also a 50th anniversary celebration of its debut which took place in our auditorium with Robert Frost himself in attendance;
The Jazz Fest where it felt like we were all transported directly to Bourbon St;
Some dramatic end-of-the-year, solo performances from Justin on the piano and Erika on the saxophone.
But more than simply list or catalogue students’ accomplishments, my deeper interest is to tease from them some larger theme that provides a window on you, our community and the wider world that awaits.
I began this evening acknowledging how powerful the presence of the teachers has been in your lives.
I want to modify this slightly.
I am also convinced that sometimes their apparent absence can be equally formative.
Here are three snapshots from across the year that hopefully make my point:
Last weekend, I went to the Dance Theater Ensemble’s end of the year performance. The program listed approximately 15 or so separate dance numbers, all of which were entirely student-performed. But, more importantly, they were also entirely student-choreographed.
At the Wind Ensemble’s end of the year concert last Monday at Buckley Hall, Mr. Messier exited the stage twice, leaving two smaller ensembles to assemble themselves and perform without his direction.
And, lastly, there is the Women’s Rights Club’s performance of ’I Drink My Orange Juice Like A Man....’, which is the example I want to explore a little further.
Let me give you a little of the back story.
Lauren Gooden and Austin came to me in the fall and claimed that the Vagina Monologues had gotten old and they wanted to strike out on their own.
Their proposal was to stage an evening’s worth of student-written monologues or dialogues that captured their own experience about navigating the complex word of relationships and sexuality.
They were ably supported throughout this experience by Ms. Hwang Carlos.
But the project and the performance were their own.
Rosie provided overall direction. Lauren Wilfong led the effort to edit and polish the scripts which, again, were entirely student-written.
And the resulting performance was more than technically flawless.
It was a mature, moving expression of stories and truths too often shrouded in silence...
So, from students choreographing their own work, to performing on their own, to telling their own stories, what’s the larger picture that emerges?
The simplest thing to say is that adults closest to you knew when to detach themselves and fade into the shadows.
A better way to say the same thing is that you’ve been trained to be independent and exercise judgment.
While my examples have all come from the performing arts, the larger point generalizes well and, I think, distinguishes ARHS as a whole.
A set of verbs best describes your HS career: you’ve been asked to create, interpret, defend, argue for...
...all intellectual tasks that prepare you to manage well the complexity and uncertainty of modern life...
...while mastering the demands of these verbs requires the support of the adults, it also asks that they give you some room...
...to find your own voice and chart your own path...
And it is this practice with independence and judgment that you’ve had in high school that makes me, as you sit on the cusp of adulthood, very confident about your futures.
In about 30 minutes, I’m giving each of you a diploma, not a manual. You may have heard that life doesn’t come with one.
I assume you are ok with this....
...because you feel equipped and poised to write your own.
I wish you all the best.
I miss you already.
Thank you.