Congratulations to the class of 2016!
Below you will find both the #BVRmemories video and slideshow created by Justine Hatton ’16 and Emma Welch ’16, as well as the faculty member address from David Liebowitz.
Click here to access your photos from the photobooth. Click here for the full album on Smugmug!
David Liebowitz, English faculty member delievered the following speech to Beaver’s class of 2016.
“Good evening Seniors and fellow faculty, it is such an honor to be with you for this momentous occasion. And for parents, you must be so proud. I have a five month old, and when he sleeps through the night and eats without spitting up, I beam with pride. So, I can barely imagine the deep love you feel at this time.
As a new parent, I have been reading a lot of children’s books. And while they don’t have the symbolism of the Green Light in The Great Gatsby, they are undoubtedly laced with many moral lessons and messages.
I thought about trying to weave in Dr. Seuss’s Oh, The Place You’ll Go, but realized I’d better not. Yes, you will go places, and you will undoubtedly leave them better than you found them. You have left Beaver a profoundly better place through your work on stage, in classrooms, in the art studio and on athletic fields. And, you have left me, and each other, better people. But, Suess has been done before, and you are deserving of much more than cliches.
Then I thought about Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar and the metamorphosis that you have all undergone from larvic freshmen to the beautiful, young adult graduates you are today. You have solved real world problems at NuVu, travelled across the Globe, and done the hard but important work of figuring who you are now, and further, who you want to be in this world. But, the arc of caterpillar to butterfly is a well trodden path.
Finally, I thought of the book Little Blue Truck. If any of you are still searching for summer reading, it gets four stars from my son. Or at least a squeal of delight and a bit of drool.
The Little Blue Truck is largely comprised of animal sounds and a little blue truck that rescues a larger dump truck “stuck down deep in muck and mire.” On the surface, The Little Blue Truck knows its audience; it is largely concerned with goat sounds and honks to the delight of its infant fanboys. There is no grandiose message; nothing contained within The Little Blue Truck at first seems befitting this special occasion.
Yet, I would argue the Little Blue Truck, in its straightforwardness, in its smallness, in its simple joy, holds an enormous weight. Similarly, all of your experiences, particularly the small ones, hold just as much as weight as your walk across the stage this Sunday.
Life is comprised of an endless string of moments, and we have the opportunity to make beauty and meaning out of these, whether we find ourselves creating pieces of art for Senior Studio, preparing for a History debate, or strolling on the turf before that 1:15 class. I agree with Gabriel Garcia Marquez, when he once wrote, “that human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but that life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.”
It is these small moments: conversations at lunch tables, bus rides to sports games, and class discussions that build like symphonies that have made up our days, and, I think, in some ways, have made up and transformed our hearts.
We all wait for enormous transformative moments: the first time behind the wheel of a car, graduating high school, the first day of college, and weddings, yet it is the day to day, how we are in these small moments, that we should also celebrate and hold sacred.
You have taught me this through casual conversations in the bibliotech, walks to Dane Park, hellos in the foyer, lazy Wednesday winter afternoons, and in your inquisitiveness and generosity of spirit both inside and outside the classroom.
Today, three years after you were the first class I taught, you have helped me become a better teacher, a better person, and ultimately a better father. And you have made each other stronger, more thoughtful, more reflective people.
So, as you celebrate, reflect, and look forward, continue to be present in the day to day. Find joy in common car rides and moments of stillness. If we imagine these moments as such, they can be truly transformative and amazing. I know because you have taught me so.”