SENIOR COMMENCEMENT SPEECHES

Kiran Saini

SENIOR COMMENCEMENT SPEECH

Good morning! The Class of 2020 would like to extend our thanks to family, friends, teachers, staff, and administration. Without your guidance and support, we would not be here today. This moment is special for all of us, and we want you to know that we could not have done it without you.

Before the cross country championship race in my sophomore year, one of our former coaches, Coach Brian Dempsey, gave us some words of wisdom. He told us that our journey was a book, with each race being a different chapter. The ending was not set in stone, giving us the power to write our own ending. We had to embrace the run, and if we put in our all, we could accomplish anything. We had the power to write the ending we wanted; and he was right. About two hours later we were standing at the finish line with the conference championship trophy. For the class of 2020, our first book is coming to a close. This chapter, this year, was unpredictable. We thought the future was clear. 20/20 vision, right? There was nothing that could stop the last lacrosse buzzer, the final school bell, or our last band concert of high school. Or so we thought. But in these past months of uncertainty, we embraced the situation and wrote our way around it. We did not let a pandemic define our ending. From a virtual Cappies Gala to senior sport recognition videos, we made sure that this spring was still a celebration of our past four years. And soon, you’ll pick up the pen and begin to write your next book as we forge new paths in college. Your story is yours alone, and no one else can write it for you.

On the subject of books, the GCS 2006 yearbook, which is the year we started Pre-Kindergarten, has a big question mark on the cover. It reads, “What is a dragon?” The truth is, there are thousands of answers, and 71 of them are sitting in front of you today. The basic definition of a “Dragon” is someone who exhibits kindness, character, and inclusiveness. However, that is merely the foundation— we all exhibit our own unique characteristics. The class of 2020 is so diverse, not only in our genetic makeup, but in our thoughts, beliefs, and interests. Whether you have been a dragon for 14 years or two, you have made your individual mark on this community. From Robby’s forum jokes to Maddy’s stellar defense on the lacrosse field, we have been present on campus and beyond. We have won Cappies, championships, and scholarships. Most importantly, we accomplished these together. No show was put on alone, and no game was won single-handedly. We all cringed as we wore the same, traffic cone orange shirts on class cup days and showed our school spirit together at basketball games. We always put on our game faces during Field Day and our classmates performing in the annual musical. And as we have grown over the past four years, we have become closer as a grade. A dragon learns to support his or her fellow dragons. I can proudly say that if I need help with something, I can ask anyone in our grade, and they would do whatever they could to support me. Dragons learn to be community-oriented and do not leave their peers behind. We care for the younger dragons and are willing to learn from the older ones. GCS has molded us to become selfless, caring people. We have learned how to support our community, during this quarantine, and on a global scale. Our school has prepared us to leave the nest and better the world. In times of ambiguity, I hope you remember that this nest is still your home. You can come back and ask for help, and your fellow dragons will jump in without hesitation.

Seniors, today is the celebration of everything we have worked towards. After countless hours put towards your integrative projects and papers, studying for APs, and anxiously waiting for college decisions, you can finally say that you graduated. This year will go down in history books, but your high school story is so much more than that. We have the power to write our own future, and I hope you look forward to what you can and will do with it. Just remember that once a dragon, always a dragon. Congratulations to the class of 2020!

Luka Madhok

SENIOR COMMENCEMENT SPEECH

My name is Luka Madhok, and congratulations to the Class of 2020. We did it! We never have to participate in another Integrative seminar again. I know this makes the people in my Integrative section happy because they never have to hear the words, “Let me just play Devil’s advocate for a moment,” come out of my mouth again.

Sorry for your suffering. Honestly, I think it is just something in my DNA. Ever since I was young, a dark part of me has always felt for the bad guys, and I’ve always tried to understand their side of the story. The good guys were always too perfect and insufferable. I hated the good guys. This went on—you know classic cyclical hatred—until my dad surprised me with a new comic book series called “The Adventures of Tintin.” For those who don’t know, these books are focused on a young reporter named Tintin and his dog, Snowy. Their supporting cast include: Captain Haddock, an alcoholic who is the epitome of slapstick humor; Professor Calculus, a deaf genius who blows things up more often than he creates them; and the Thompson twins, twin cops who are utterly useless. In this cast of characters, I finally found heroes who weren’t perfect. They were not perfect, and yet they saved the day. They each had their fields of excellence: Tintin with his curiosity, Captain Haddock with his loyalty, Calculus with his innovation, the Thompsons with their… Actually, I don’t really know what the Thompsons brought to the table. My point is that they used their individual traits to overcome all types of adversity thrown at them.

Now, Class of 2020, we have dealt with an absurd amount of adversity, both together, as a class, and individually, in our everyday lives. From being born in the ashes of 9/11 to being reborn in the solitude of Coronavirus quarantine, we have come out on the other side stronger and with a family bond that only comes from conquering that adversity together. My mom is very fond of the saying, “You can always turn adversity into opportunity.” We have seized that opportunity to show off our excellence every chance that we get. We joke that we always get the short end of the stick, whether it be with the difficulty of Western Studies or increased seminars in Integrative. Still, we took things that were difficult and turned them into opportunities for growth. Because of our commitment to be better, we emerged from Western Studies as better writers and able to convey our ideas in an academic setting. Then we pushed even further and emerged from the Integrative seminars with an even more important skill. We learned how to communicate effectively, take initiative, and most importantly, listen to everyone’s ideas. We took these moments of adversity and turned them into pathways to express our collective excellence. Even better, we have supported each other’s excellence. Whether it was Schiller’s athleticism, Natalie’s leadership, Jeb’s energy, Jamie’s creativity, or the excellence each and every one of us has; we have supported it from day one. We’ve shown up at everything from Evening of the Arts to Championship games because we want to make a collective impact on our school.

Well, Class of 2020, I am proud to say that we have not only made an impact; we’ve left an everlasting memory of what it means to be a dragon. Leadership, honesty, perseverance, initiative. We saw things that we wanted to change, like Field Day and attendance at basketball games, and we went after them. Those qualities that I mentioned earlier don’t only encompass what it means to be a dragon; they are the qualities of heroes. Real-life heroes aren’t perfect. I’d like you to take a moment and think about the people who you consider to be your heroes. Your parents, your teachers, or your role models. You don’t consider them heroes because they can’t fly like Superman or manipulate reality like Dr. Strange, but you call them heroes because they overcome their own adversity and go on to support others. That is exactly what we have done. We have turned our adversity into an opportunity to become heroes. So, wherever you go and whatever you do, remember that you are a hero in your own right. Own it, show it off, be the next generation of inspiration that our world sorely needs. I mean, we’ve gotten through high school. If we can conquer that, we can conquer anything.

Congratulations again, and I love you all.