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1. Head of School John G. Palfrey P’21 and Board of Trustees Chair Peter L.S. Currie ’74, P’03, with student award winners Nick Isenhower, Buzzy Barrow, Tookie Wilson, Emily Ndiokho, and David Onabanjo 2. Sarah Rigazio and Hayden Weatherall 3. Xander Peterson and David Tsai 4. Adrienne Zhang 5. Annika Sparrell, Yifei Wu, and Taryn John-Lewis
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Andover | Commencement 2018
it means to be good. We have seen you support one another on very hard days this year as well as joyful, bright days this spring. Thank you for all the good things—the many acts of non sibi that you have done while you’ve been here. You are already good people—I know that from firsthand experience. As for the “good life,” that, of course, means many things to many different people. But one way to see this challenge is through the lens of how you focus your time and energy. If there is something that you’d like to see changed or preserved in the world, I hope you will spend your time and lead your life in such a way as to make it so. If you become a successful investment banker, as some of you will, I hope you will also, along the way, become a fine arts photographer, a philanthropist, an excellent board member, a terrific parent, and a great friend. If you are elected to high public office—not far-fetched given that Andover graduates today serve as the congressman from this district; leading candidate for the next district over; and as head of the FBI, in addition to being two of the last five United States presidents—I hope you will act with grace and dignity, courage and thoughtfulness, humility and kindness. As I mentioned in our final All-School Meeting of the year, I hope that a few of you, at least a few, will choose to spend your lives teaching. When the time comes, I am confident there will be openings in buildings very close to where we stand right now that you might fill—dorms to live in, classrooms to teach in, fields to coach on. The teaching profession needs Andover graduates, as all professions do. Returning to our graduate Mr. Neesima, one of the reasons that Ms. McKeen chose to chronicle his story is that Mr. Neesima believed that the world could be improved through education. He returned from the United States to Japan to create a university—to be able to offer what he believed was a good education to the people of his home country. Doshisha University is today one of the great learning institutions of the world. You may have passed a statue commemorating this connection in the grassy courtyard framed by Sykes Wellness Center, Bulfinch Hall, Shuman Admission Center, and Salem Street. Finally, as for a good society: it does not come about on its own. I don’t believe, as some have stated, that the arc of history necessarily bends toward justice. It takes people making deliberate decisions and acting according to their values to make it so. A good society comes about through good people leading good lives with a broad, public purpose in mind. During your time at Andover, we have heard from many alumni who have helped to build a good society. In November of your lower year, we presented