The Class of 2011

So here we are at the O'Neill Center at WestConn in Danbury. This is , by the way, so if anyone is here looking for Brewster's, I'm sorry to say that was this morning. But actually it's really fitting that we get to graduate at WestConn because we're showing our support to a certain, you know, ....

A few years ago I couldn't wait to hurry up and graduate already. Now that the big day's finally here, I wish I had failed a class or five so I'd have a little more time before I would have to learn how to do my own laundry. They say high school prepares you for life, which is great, because I've perfected the excuse “Can't mom, I have too much homework” like a champ.

And now, finally, after years of CMTs, CAPTs, APs, SATs, ACTs, LOLs, and BYOBs, we can finally join the ranks of our parents with the jolting realization that the best years of our lives were filled with standardized testing. OK, that's not entirely true... these were, in fact, NOT the best years of our lives.

Don't get me wrong, we've had some good times, Class of 2011, but I don't think anyone is going to look back and say “You know what I miss? Detention. Those were the good old days.” Unless of course that person is now in prison... in which case, I'll probably wish detention had hardened me a bit more. As proof that we've got a lot to look forward to, just take another Brookfield graduate as an example... Dr. Luizzi used the skills he learned here to come back and become principal! I wonder which of you it will be...

A lot of memories have been mentioned so far — and they speak to the ability of this class to overcome the challenges of awkward adolescence to still have fun. High school is definitely in the running for some of the best years of our lives, what with that crazy senior prank no one has discovered yet and all the changes we've endured.

There are times, however, when I feel that I missed something important, some communal bond that passed me by. These chances really get to know one another don't come to people who have their attention focused on the vague future. The time to make memories lies in the present — and those memories are going to be what's important, not acing that test or partying the hardest.

When we're off in college, it'll be surprising to find out what comes in useful and what doesn't. There will be some of you who use the people skills you've acquired by being friendly throughout high school in order to talk to new classmates and forge new relationships. Then there will be me who will try to break the ice by describing how useful integrals have been in my life. We'll see who makes the better friends.

So yeah, while schooling is important, it isn't the end-all be-all. I realized that this speech wasn't written until today not because I'm a procrastinator — alright, I'm a procrastinator — but because I was too busy living the part of high school I'm supposed to be speaking about: hanging with the people I care for, having a good time, and leading an all-around chill lifestyle. There's something to be said for taking a load off and slacking. We all move too fast when we have those places that everyone is telling us to go.

I don't want my life to be about meeting someone else's definition of success — least of all if that someone is preaching from a podium wearing a dress and propeller hat. Bravery is standing by your convictions in the face of judgment but having the faith in yourself to remain unbowed. If I don't end up exceeding other people's expectations, but I still have time to enjoy that sunset I wanted to make last, who's to say I've failed? Sometimes success is less about changing the world, and more about being content with who we are.

But there's a difference between not having a care in the world and not caring about anything in the world. I care a lot about being carefree — but not about being apathetic. Indifference isn't a bad thing, but I worry about making a habit out of it. You don't get hurt when you don't care, but how often is apathy more of a defense mechanism, an excuse, or an escape than a sincere opinion?

And I'm not one to talk. My parents say that I have a problem with sincerity. I know, I know, that was my reaction too.... Which girl was Sincerity, again? As it turns out, they meant more along the lines that sometimes it's hard for me to be heartfelt — or whatever. I think they're counting on the fact that, deep inside, I can say something without without a wink, roguish grin and a quick tousle of the hair. Not that I have a lot of hair to tousle now, anyway. So let's give it a shot:

I am proud to be counted among the Class of 2011. Just take a look at us... we are a fine looking group of individuals, aren't we? These are my closest friends — the ones I watch sunsets with, the ones I agonize over physics with, the ones that I make the memories of midnight jaunts and spontaneous jam sessions with. Thinking back, high school would have been painful, well, more painful, without all of you.

Because it's not just the memories and laughs, is it? It's the sense of belonging we feel when we walk into English class at 7:15... or 7:30 if you're Dan or Megan, and yeah, OK, I'd rather have belonged in bed as well, but for being awake before our brain cells are and having to discuss Dostoevsky, well, we made the best of it.

I guess challenges — ranging from the moderately impossible like pronouncing Russian characters' names to the downright futile like figuring out what calculus even is — just bring people together. How else do you explain the communities that we form in each class, unified against a common evil that is the AP test or insight logs? We each bring new experience and perspective into our study groups, whether we actually are concentrating on Norman Rockwell or have given up to play Never Have I Ever... that's right, Humanities for life!

Those bonds are irreplaceable and I will treasure them along with this moment, the moment that we, collectively, graduate. Who would have thought it, that the Class of 2011, the perennial underachievers, would actually make it? There's a communal sense that everything happens to us — Freshman Forum, flex, losing powderpuff — but that underdog status just means we always were underestimated.

We don't do things until the day they're due, and we are proud of it! I'm not worried about our futures one bit, because I know that each of you will pull through. We float our own boats, and if there's one thing you've taught me, it's that we can figure it all out on the way.

Now, let's make this summer last as only we know how!