Here’s what I said yesterday at John Champe High School’s 2021 graduation (script is included below the video).
Very cool of the Class of 2021 to extend this honor to me. Much love and appreciation to the people who helped workshop this speech, which includes my wife, my dad, and three students from my eighth block AP Lang class: Laila, Kai, and Leila. I’ve never had to speak in such a setting before, and I doubt I ever will again, so I wanted to get it right. That said, apologies to all for exceeding the allotted five minutes.
March 11, 20-20, 11:15 AM. Do you remember where you were? I do. I was at John Champe High School in room 2512 with my sixth block class.
We were analyzing the rhetorical choices of a community-wide press release, the purpose of which was to calm the community. Some of you who were there that day may remember the energy in the classroom, which was tense, nervous. I was trying to keep everyone as focused and upbeat as possible. Because of this, in the midst of our analysis, I made two very bold claims to my students:
Claim #1 — this whole pandemic thing won’t affect school — trust me
Claim #2 — all of you are going to endure this experience and grow from it
So now, many days later — four hundred and sixty three days later — I’m prepared to publicly acknowledge I was wrong about the first claim. I am taking the L.
However, I am happy to stand here and assert the validity of my second claim. John Champe students, and this class of 2021 specifically, have risen to the challenges thrown their way over the past year and half.
And frankly, I wouldn’t have expected anything less from this crew. This group, these 606 students sitting before me, are built different.
I speak with authority on this, for I have known them since the fall of 2017 when they were wee freshman and — incidentally — I was beginning my first year at Champe. Over the past four years I have taught almost a third of them. Looking at them now, I can recall so many memories, and most of them are positive.
Memories like
-Getting into deep, philosophical discussions with Tommy Salvato and CJ Plock in our hybrid class this spring about the pros and cons of various pre-workout supplements
-Witnessing Nasira Seddiq discover her rap alter ego, Lil’ Nessie
-Spending hours of my life trying to decipher Braeden Hubenko’s handwriting
-Requesting that my ta Samantha Zheng un-mute and help me sing happy birthday to different students in our fourth block class — and she did it every time!
-Watching Megan Hoang work methodically to become one of the county’s strongest extemporaneous speakers
-Debating the pros and cons of Tyler the Creator’s discography with Mina Ahmed
-Getting to know Rachel Hollinger, who I now regard as the most well read person I’ve met in my entire life.
So many memories looking at this group of students. So many students I haven’t seen in over a year, students who haven’t shared a physical classroom with each other since that day, March 11 2020. This has been a year plus of adversity.
Now, some of you may remember this quote from the Roman poet Horace, who one wrote that adversity has the effect of eliciting talents that would have otherwise lain dormant. While I think this is true, I would note that Horace never had to teach or attend an online class. Horace never had to use Schoology. A year and a half of such adversity has indeed elected talents, but it has also sucked. It has sucked so much.
It’s my hope, though, and I think it’s the hope of my colleagues and the people who love you and are here to support you today, that you don’t let the adversity you have endured over the past two years leave you cynical. Instead, let it make you a stronger and more empathetic person, more aware of the value of connection and generosity.
Because all of you have indeed been recipients of various degrees of generosity over the past year, from teachers, from principals, from your friends, perhaps even from your parents. Right? (Parents, did you show your students generosity?) Whoever it was from, appreciate that generosity, and pay it forward.
And that means doing it beyond words. Because just as you have all experienced generosity, you have also probably experienced a lot of hollow rhetoric from various people over the past year and a half. People who said they understood what you were going through — but didn’t prove it with their action, people who said they cared about you but then didn’t show that through their actions.
And maybe it was someone close to you who did this, or maybe it was someone you’ve never met. In any case, my point is that talk is incredibly cheap. And I’m saying this as an English teacher. I’m also saying this as someone who is giving a speech to five thousand people on one of the most momentous days of your life, and not being paid to do it. Talk is cheap, right? Language is a beautiful thing, but it is eminently fungible and in most cases, from most speakers, it carries no value whatsoever if it’s not followed by action.
Talk is cheap. So go beyond the talk and pay forward the generosity the same way it was shown to you: in the form of your actions, the choices you make. It’s like we say in English class: Show, don’t tell. As you enter adulthood and suddenly have to make more and more choices that affect not just yourself, but your family, your community, and your world, make the choice that is for the greater good. Choose generosity.
Because over the course of your life, the sum of your choices and their impact is going to be what defines you. Because — parents, some of you should cover your ears for a sec — contrary to what you may have heard, success is not about the places you go or the amount of money you earn. In fact, if you spend a life enriching yourself at the expense of others, or standing passively against the moral arc of the universe, talking a big game about your concern for others but not showing it through your actions — you are a failure. You are only a success if you use your talents to pay back that generosity and help perpetuate the same opportunities that have been given to you. So choose success. Choose action. Choose generosity.
It might not be the most fun choice. It probably won’t be the most fun choice. But I’ve known you for four years. That’s like most of your life at this point. And you have shown you’re more than capable of this. You are a group of young adults who are brilliant, creative, empathetic. Time and time again I’ve seen you rise beyond expectations. I only have one expectation for you, and it’s that you choose generosity. Doing that will be a tribute to your time at John Champe High School, and it will be a greater tribute than the career you end up with or the personal success you accumulate.
Choose generosity. If you can do this, you will truly prove that you are all built different.
I thank you for four unforgettable years, I thank you for the honor of getting to speak here today, and, if you’re planning to choose generosity, I wish you all the best in your endeavors as you move forward into the world.