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grade 8 graduation
Graduation Address Dr. Taylor Fithian
(Excerpts from original speech)
If I were in your place, I would be asking myself, “Why is this old guy giving our commencement address instead of one of our heroes?” Some time ago, I asked Mrs. Pollacci to have you describe your heroes. Here is a sampling of your responses:
Taylor Fithian, doctor, trustee, and parent, addressed the Middle School’s 2013 graduating grade 8 class. For more than 41 years, Dr. Taylor Fithian has specialized in emergency medicine and psychiatry. After training at Stanford University, he established a medical practice in Monterey County and has served on the staffs of Natividad Medical Center and the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. He is a clinical associate professor and a member of the advisory council at West Virginia University School of Medicine and a member of the advisory council for the College of Arts and Science at the University of Oregon. As president and medical director of California Forensic Medical Group, Dr. Fithian oversees a company that provides yearly health care to more than 250,000 incarcerated individuals in 27 counties throughout California. Dr. Fithian is a current member of the Santa Catalina Board of Trustees. He and his wife, Margie, became affiliated with the Catalina community in 1996, when their daughter Allison ’11 started in PreK. Their younger daughter, Madeline, will graduate from the Upper School in 2014. Dr. Fithian has had the privilege of attending eight Daddy Dinners during his time at Santa Catalina.
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My parents are my heroes because they want a better life for me than they had as children. My grandpa always made the best of everything, even when he was an orphan on the streets in China and had nothing. My dad, who has a hard job, comes home with a smile every day. He has raised two kids by himself for the past six years. I’m my own hero. I don’t need saving. I am strong, capable. I make mistakes, but I learn from them. Jesus is my hero because He is our savior. My sister has always been my hero—not in a flashing-cape, save-the-world sense, but more as a silent hero. My grandma fought cancer and never gave up. Martin Luther King Jr. is my hero because he did something that others were afraid to do.
It is clear from the descriptions of your heroes that you are aware of something important: Attending Santa Catalina is not something that you accomplished alone. You are all privileged, and I’m sure you know that. What you might not know is that 56 million primary students worldwide do not attend school; nor do 71 million adolescents. About 800 million people cannot read or write. You have taken advantage of an opportunity to get an education. That’s why you are here today and why we are all so proud of you. It isn’t just any education, by the way, but an education at Santa Catalina, where you have been taught to embrace a mission of Excellence, Spirituality, Responsibility, and Service.
Those of you who have completed eighth grade will now find yourself on a new journey in your lives. In the fall of this year, you will begin high school. Some of you will continue here at Catalina. Others will attend neighboring schools, and some will go to schools far away.
“You have taken advantage of an opportunity to get an education.” What we also know is that from this point on, the process of “letting go” will accelerate. The control and oversight we have had of you will be challenged—and rightly so. With that letting go, you will have to take more responsibility for your mistakes. You have all made mistakes, and you will continue to do so; the difference now is that the mistakes you make from this point on can have an enormous impact on your lives and the lives of those who love you. We all hope and pray that the mistakes you make will not be critical or catastrophic and that you can learn from those mistakes and move on. To help you deal with your mistakes, keep your heroes by your side as much as possible—physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. Your heroes will continue to soften the falls you experience and will help heal the bruises that accompany those mistakes. Be humble and respectful in all that you do. On behalf of your heroes, family, friends, and the Santa Catalina community (especially Sister Claire, Mrs. Pollacci, and Nonie Ramsay), I wish you continued love, joy, and laughter. Repeat this prayer to remember the mission of Santa Catalina: I am about Excellence; I am about Spirituality; I am about Responsiblilty; I am about Service.