The St. Margaret’s community gathered on Chalmers Field on June 2 to celebrate the graduation of the Class of 2018. The festive ceremony featured speeches by Head of School Will Moseley, class valedictorian Alice Na, ASB president Blake Stevenson, and a presentation of the class gift by Danielle Drislane and Parker Ryan. The 121 graduating seniors were awarded their diplomas.

 

Here are transcripts of the speeches that were delivered that evening:

 

Welcome to trustees, faculty, staff, family and friends and the class of 2018.

I want to extend a special welcome to former Head of School Mark Campaigne and his wife Mary Ann, and former Head of School Marc Hurlbut and his wife Pat. Please stand to be recognized.

In addition, I want to call special attention to over 34 families who are attending their last official St. Margaret's event with the graduation of their last child. Please stand to be recognized.

I see you and I am glad to be with you!

We have come together to honor our graduating class, a remarkable group of young people. You, the members of the Class of 2018, have demonstrated extraordinary initiative, spirit, and leadership in the past four years. You reached this stage in your journey with the love, support and commitment of many individuals who care deeply about you. I am truly thankful for each person here today as we participate in this ceremony and enjoy every moment of this amazing day.

Before we award the diplomas, I want to share a few thoughts on the mission that underlies our efforts each day — and how our graduates can best carry that mission forward.

Our Mission is to educate the hearts and minds of young people for lives of learning, leadership, and service. Our faculty and staff have given their very best in talent, dedication, and commitment to equip our graduates to lead lives that constantly reflect these three tenets.

Seniors, you are well-prepared to continue your education, pursue your passions, and forge a productive life. You have the tools - the determination, the focus, the work ethic, and the values you need -- to build your future.

I want to share a few thoughts on how you might use these tools to their best advantage.

I believe you can use these tools best with faith.

The Bible, in Hebrews Chapter 11, verse 1 states: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

This is a tough one — the concept of faith. What does having faith mean in terms of our daily lives? What does faith have to do with navigating your freshman year at college, or working in your first job, building your profession, or more importantly relating to your friends and family?

I believe every one of us here today is on their own faith journey.

Certainly, your St. Margaret's experience is grounded in the Episcopalian conviction that there is a God who is bigger than we can imagine, who is in charge. Father Rob explains that we don't even have to seek out God, rather God holds a place inside each of us.

Moreover, God not only loves each of us, God created you. You are one of God's great ideas! And, with great intention, he created no one else like you.

We are surrounded by everyday expressions of faith:

In God We Trust.

God Bless America.

One Nation Under God

And, from the St. Margaret's Alma Mater: Trusting in God who guides from above.

Yet, often in our culture, we turn to the scientific, the rational, observable evidence and measurable results for answers. It is hard — very hard — for us to give up control and put our trust in something bigger than ourselves, when that something is not known or understood completely.

Seventeenth century mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal argued that having faith in God in the absence of absolute fact, is a decision all humans make by default, and he theorized that living with faith makes your life better and the rewards are infinite.

A 2017 Time Magazine report shared that research continues to prove that those who live their lives with faith are happier and more fulfilled.

There is a grounding in believing you are a part of something bigger. A guiding faith. And as you are created by God, you too are surrounded by God's many great creations.

Millions of words have been written in the attempt to define faith:

Dr. Martin Luther King said, "Faith is taking the first step when you can't see the whole staircase."

Mahatma Ghandi, "Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into."

And, writer Margaret Shepard notes, "Sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith."

Author Elizabeth Gilbert goes on to say in her book Eat, Pray, Love, "There's a reason we refer to 'leaps of faith' — because the decision to consent to any notion of divinity is a mighty jump from the rational over to the unknowable, and I don't care how diligently scholars of every religion will try to sit you down with their stacks of books and prove to you through scripture that their faith is indeed rational; it isn't. If faith were rational, it wouldn't be — by definition —faith."

So — while it is stimulating to ponder the nature of faith and to study and grow in our understanding — let us accept for the moment that each of you does bring a measure of faith to the next steps in your life.

Now, what does that look like?

I want to suggest that faith doesn't just sit there, providing a beam of sunlight for you to stand in; having faith changes YOU in very meaningful ways. Your faith, makes you see things differently from others, makes you do things differently from others and, makes you a different kind of human being.

First, if you have faith in God or a higher authority you see things differently. You have a vision for the way ahead, you value truth, you actively look for the good in others, and you are not limited by the constraints of the reality in the present moment.

The 13th century poet Rumi wrote, "The world exists as you perceive it. It is not what you see, but how you see it. It is not what you hear, but how you hear it. It is not what you feel, but how you feel it. "

Secondly, with faith  you do things differently. Mitch Albom states in his book Have a Little Faith, "Faith is about doing. You are how you act, not just how you believe."

And, faith changes the essential you — the person that you are deep inside. Faith engenders integrity, honesty, and character. We like to think that living as a person of integrity results in a rewarding life, but even if the rewards don't come in the expected form, faith shows you the ultimate value of your way of being.

Finally, faith makes you a different kind of human being. You are different because faith allows you to love unconditionally.

I cannot possibly send you off on a journey of faith without talking about the importance of love.

And, as you gaze upon your graduate, I am reminded of the quote from Victor Hugo: "To love another person is to see the face of God."

A few weeks ago at the British Royal Wedding, we heard the inspiring sermon by Bishop Michael Curry about the power of love.

He said, "There's a certain sense in which when you are loved, and you know it, when you love and you show it — it actually feels right. We were made by a power of love, and our lives were meant to be in that love. That's why we are here. Ultimately, the source of love is God himself: the source of all of our lives. There's an old medieval poem that says: 'Where true love is found, God himself is there."

Graduates, you have felt the deepest true love from your families, your teachers, your friends, and this has been their full faith and belief in you.

Your experiences so far have provided the foundation for you to believe in yourself and in your ability to rise to both the possibilities and the challenges you'll meet. It is my hope that your faith will give you the courage and the strength to make the most of both.

Perhaps much-loved children's author Beatrix Potter puts it best: "Believe there is a great power silently working all things for good, behave yourself and never mind the rest.”

Graduates, it is my extraordinary honor to congratulate you on this important milestone.

Go forth in love, and let your faith be your guide.

And, May God bless you and may God bless St. Margaret's Episcopal Church and School!

 

Welcome students, parents, grandparents, siblings, friends, and faculty to the commencement of the Class of 2018. My name is Blake Stevenson. I’ve been a proud Tartan since I was two years old, and I would like to welcome everyone here on behalf of the student body. Our class has worked extremely hard over the years to finally make it to this day.

 

Many of us began in the preschool, spending each day learning through play, putting together Spiderman puzzles, painting dinosaurs in the art room, learning songs, and tidying up together once we were all finished. Mrs. Petrozzi and Mrs. Andrews taught us lessons about kindness and fostered our budding creativity.

 

We remember dawning our red sweaters in Lower School, dipping candles and baking apple pies on Pioneer Day, and dressing up as angels and shepherds for Lessons and Carols. Some of us debuted on stage in The Music Man and The Wizard of Oz, while others began their athletic careers on the soccer field and basketball courts during recess. We also remember dissecting a squid in Mrs. Sutilli’s science class, spray painting UFOs in Mrs. Mayer’s Art Class, and listening to Chico Jones’s tall tales of his adventures as a pilot during Spanish class.

 

Soon, Middle School set in, accompanied by a new block schedule and navy blue sweaters. Many of us remember the dusty, switch-back hills at the Mt. Sac race, the conception of the Legendary Lunch Time Football League, and Mr. Wie’s unusual antics during orchestra.

 

Finally, we arrived at Upper School, the last stop at St. Margaret’s. We huddled together on the rooter busses going to the Bishop’s game, moshed in the locker room, and have grown so close as a class. We’ve all been through the college application process, taken standardized tests, and written countless essays all on top of the school work.We’ve had memorable lessons such as Mr. Blake’s Cube Activity in English, singing Bonito by Jarabe de Palo in Sr. Soderin’s Spanish class, and watching Mr. Bennett perform the alleged Pom-Pom dance in Conceptual Physics. It’s been a memorable experience requiring grit, resilience, and personal accountability that I wouldn’t change for the world. St. Margaret’s has delivered an incredible experience and has truly prepared us for this day.

 

I occasionally liken the different phases of this rollercoaster ride to the intricate facets of the hero’s journey. The difficulty of dedicating time to a sports team, memorizing lines in a play, and staying up late doing homework remind me of the trials of heroes dramatized in countless stories from cultures throughout the world. For instance, Hercules, who faced the Nemean Lion, the Hydra, and ten other impossible labors on a quest of personal redemption. Or Perseus, who confronted Medusa, a monster so gruesome that even to gaze at her would turn him into stone. And Odysseus, who had to confront the simplest and yet most fundamentally challenging labor of all: finding his way home. These heroes were confronted with the toughest challenges mankind could conceive.

 

And yet, despite the frailness, smallness, and unlikelihood of human beings flung into the grand machine of nature, we always overcome. Hercules completes his twelve labors. Perseus uses his cunning mind to reflect Medusa’s petrifying gaze back at herself with a mirror-like shield, turning her to stone. And Odysseus, after twenty years of sailing, finally returns home. These stories have persisted for generations in countless iterations across cultures because they contain this inextinguishable truth: out of life’s inevitable hardship, we will find triumph.

 

Our class has found this triumph. On a Friday night, we cheered from the stands as our football team worked together and pushed themselves to the limit, scoring those legendary touchdowns. On a Saturday night, our class came together in both the audience and on stage, and created a truly unforgettable show. On a Sunday night, we gathered in the high school, and personalized the entire place for this year’s Spirit Week; we hung up enormous black tarps, inflated a bounce house, and even decorated Chris Totah’s truck in the Senior Quad. Throughout these unforgettable moments, we have overcome our trials each day with persistence, grace, wit, and consistently find that sacred triumph. My classmates are each their own Hercules, Perseus, and Odysseus.

 

This year has finally come to a close. We will arrive at college in a few months, suitcases packed and the whole world ahead of us, ready to start fresh and begin again in a new environment. We will encounter innumerable challenges, like Hercules, and we will overcome them. We will face terrifying obstacles, like Perseus, but we will find our shield. We will travel far from where we came, like Odysseus, but we will always find our way back home.

 

We will all disperse to different parts of the country during the next four years, and our unity as a class will be our special ingredient. “When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to sympathize with him and comfort him” (Job 2:11). The power of friendship uniquely transcends the hardships of the universe, and my challenge for you is get out into the world and stick together. We’ve made so much progress together, and counterintuitively, I think now we’ll be able to make progress together more than ever.

 

It has been my honor to serve this amazing group of young men and women as their ASB president this year. To work and lead alongside such talented and reliable friends has been one of the greatest privileges of my life, and I can’t thank you, the students here today, enough for giving me this opportunity. Let’s have great adventures, soar higher, work harder, dream bigger, do better, and stick together. Here’s to my personal heroes: the class of 2018. Thank you.

 

Hi. My name is Alice. I’m pretty sure most of you don’t know me - perhaps my name and an overall image of me but not the real me. I don’t blame you - I used to be THE MOST introverted person (I still sort of am), and I didn’t really allow a lot of people to get close to me because I’m bad at revealing my weakness. But these last few years, especially this past year, I’ve changed - as we all have. And that’s where I plan to start this speech - from our stories. I’m most definitely not a public speaker, rather, much more of a listener. I can’t tell you how scared I was to be named valedictorian because of this very speech! But ultimately, I feel incredibly blessed by this opportunity to speak in front of you, to share tidbits of what I think makes St. Margaret’s so special in my eyes - you.

But first, to give a little context of the speaker in front of you, I’ll share a bit of my own story. I have a little box painted with elephants near my desk. Any time I have a memorable experience, I keep something from it inside my box - Polaroids, ticket stubs, memos. I’m probably the most sentimental person you’ll ever meet who will cry at every movie (I’m pretty sure my friends are 100% betting on me crying today!). The reason I mention this random fact is because I recently realized I’ve been keeping the mementos of our class in my mind like I do with my memory box. Memories of us growing. And by growth, I mean both figurative and literal growth because I was the tallest in middle school but here we are, everyone having outgrown me in high school! It’s crazy to think we were zombie tag-playing middle schoolers who grew to witness the amazing evolution of LFL created by our very own Gavin Clarke. Or the fact that we used to be so separated by gender in everything we did, yet there we lay on the grass at Senior Retreat in a circle - looking at the stars together, as a single class.

You see, I’ll never forget you. Jaden, always ready to offer a helping hand with the biggest smile. Jessie, pulling me out of my darkest times with endless love and faith. Marissa, constantly showering me with the sweetest, most radiant positivity. My multi squad, believing in me always, despite me acting quite dumb most of the time. Peyton, wholeheartedly supporting my extra-ness and love of adorable things. Katherine, a beautiful queen both inside and out that gives the sweetest hugs. Megan, bringing me along on the most magical food adventures. AG, an iconic human being that blesses us with humor and dabs. Colin, the gentle giant that’s always got my back. Brenden, brilliantly teaching us how to hack trivia. Tarika, forever giving me the wisest life advice. Andrea, giving me the biggest, warmest hugs every day. Alice Lee, the most adorable and silly human ever. Gracie, who won’t admit it but has the biggest heart. If only I had the time, I’d definitely talk about every single member of this class because in one way or another, you’ve touched my heart and mind.

However, it’s not just you, Class of 2018, that’s helped me survive high school because time for a confession: for the longest time, I quite disliked high school. Let’s be real, which of us hasn’t at one point or another? Junior year, things got tough. Academics obviously, but for me, friendships. I had to deal with ostracism, loneliness, and loss of self-love and identity. Most days, I would cry at school and at home - it truly was the Dark Ages for me. But you know what? Looking back, the negative parts all blend together into a general sadness but what I distinctly remember are the people who looked out for me and asked “Are you okay?” That’s what’s so great about St. Margaret’s. Even people we don’t normally talk to still reach out and look out for us!

Same goes to our teachers. I can honestly say - and trust me I’m a terrible liar so you can believe this to be 1000% true - that every single teacher I’ve had here has changed me for the better. Sure, Mr. Carmer and I both know APUSH is definitely not one of my strong suits, but it’s also the class that helped me grow the most as a student. I also know thanks to Ms. Bouchard, I’ll never be able to look at a piece of bread without thinking bread=love because it gives us ATP. I know I’ll never forget Ms. Bunch’s phenomenal fashion or her never-ending enthusiasm for English. Or Dr. V’s quizzical expression anytime one of us says something silly/non-factual (and by one of us I mean me). Ms. Chou, my love and fascination of chemistry is alive thanks to you - let’s just forget that one time most of our AP Chem class, including myself, answered that water is non polar on our test (it’s very much polar for those of you taking chem in the near future!). I went through some serious existential crises in Mr. Clemmons’s AP Lit class with our deep literary discussions but loved every moment of it. Dr. Goh, I was so honored to be a part of the magic you helped us create with Drowsy and I’m forever inspired. From the crazy costumes to the English tea he brought us, I’ll forever be grateful to Mr. Fellowes for making history so fun for the first time in my life. Mrs. Jennings you always had a knack of bringing the positive right back out of me whenever I’d over-worry that the world was going to fall apart - I guess she was right because here we are all in one piece!

I’ve come a long way since 8th grade CP when Mr. Jordan constantly worried whether I’d make it through high school because I was so sick and missing school often. I’ve also realized more concretely who I want to be - a bubbly, kind-hearted, passionate individual - from the prototype that is Dr. Graham. And last but not least, I want to thank Dr. Stahr for being my mom on campus, looking out for me always - while she’s telling me to finish my Multi homework, of course.

Along the way, so many people held out their hand for me to pull me right back up every time I fell down. Will, thanks for helping me realize and stop myself whenever I was overthinking or overcomplicating life. A friend 3,000 miles away was the first one that truly helped me to start loving myself more, and I’m eternally grateful from the bottom of my heart. My SSP friends embraced me in my most vulnerable times, helping me break the barrier I had in place that previously blocked me from letting people get close to me. And I know he’s really against me doing this, but special thanks to my bestie who’s always there for me, even if it’s 2 a.m. in Boston and I really need to talk for three hours! I think I’m truly blessed because I have all of you guys and most importantly, my family, in my life. I would never be able to stand in front of you today if it weren’t for them.

My parents left everything they had and knew in Korea just so I could get a better education and live happier and freer here. My dad, the “crazy scientist,” is my role model who pushes me to live outside the box and to take leaps of faith. My mom, the most beautiful and sweetest person ever, teaches me every day to be kind to all and try my best in everything. Amy, my other half, completes me and makes me a better person although we have and will forever fight like cats and dogs. Annabeth, the little human that never ceases to make me smile despite her occasional brattiness, is the ray of sunshine in my life. My aunt loves and supports me like I’m her own daughter even if she’s 6,000 miles away.

For everyone I want to thank and talk about, there doesn’t seem to be enough time in the world. But I think that’s just it. As we graduate, we realize life is actually a lot shorter than what we initially thought! I think through this speech, I “exposed” myself to all of you for the first time - yes it was scary because my personality usually doesn’t let me share such intimate parts of myself, but I could only do it because I truly love and care about each of you. Sometimes, life can be sucky - friendships and other relationships are created but also broken as time passes and we grow. It is my small hope that before we go off on our separate ways, we can take time to properly close this chapter of our lives by taking that leap of faith you normally wouldn’t. Even if it’s scary, share more of yourselves, the opportunities are slowly going away. I can say I have a few times, and although it’s not successful every time, I’ve definitely reconnected with some past friends and it’s been wonderful. Because at the end of the day, isn’t it better to be positive than to be negative - I mean we Californians sure seem to enjoy sunny days over cloudy ones!

I was talking to my friends about how stressed I was about this speech, and I was, of course, met by worried looks followed by “Don’t be too emotional - people don’t like that” or “Dude Charlie's speech was so good - how are you going to top that?” Seriously, if you didn’t hear his, it was super good! I’m really not at all funny or entertaining like some of the natural comedians in our class, nor am I in any way a good speaker. However, I thought hey, might as well embrace my sappiness and just share the bits and pieces of St. Margaret’s and life from my eyes these past seven years.

Since I’ve pretty much hit the roof with the sappiness level today, I thought I’d end with just a bit more. Just before dinner at Prom, Jaden asked us, “what’s your guys’s favorite Disney/Pixar movie?” (Very fitting as we were literally in Disneyland). For me, it’s most likely Up, so I chose what Ellie wrote for Carl at the end of her adventure book as my yearbook quote because I thought it was fitting then, and I’ll share it here because I think it’s fitting now. “Thanks for the adventure - now go have a new one!” In true High School Musical fashion, “we’re all in this together.” Thank you!