Accepting the microphone, Headmaster Marcus D. Hurlbut delivered his comments to the community, especially to the parents and graduates gathered: “This is a slightly different role for me this year as I have always had the honor of introducing the keynote speaker at Commencement and then the pleasure of sitting back and just listening. But this year’s Commencement is different for me and it is of course, by definition, different and special for the Class of 2013 as we come together one last time before heading off in our separate ways. It is a little daunting to follow Emily and live up to the very high bar she has set on so many levels in her St. Margaret’s career. Thank you Emily for the many gifts you have given us. “When members of the Class of 2013 were born, some 18 years ago, our country and our school looked a little different than they do today. There was no Gateway Building, the Upper School was housed in the newly acquired Highland Hall, there was no Stoddard Humanities Building, DeYoung Math and Science Center, Pasternack Field House or Tartan Field, the Library was in a small room off the Fountain Courtyard, Mark Campaigne was headmaster, David Boyle was Middle School principal, and Jeannine Clarke had recently returned to her alma mater after four years at Wellesley College and was teaching sixth grade science and ancient civilization. “Bill Clinton was president, O.J. Simpson was arrested and subsequently found not guilty, Nelson Mandela was elected in South Africa, the tragedy in Rwanda had escalated, the Oklahoma City bombings dominated the headlines, Israel and Palestine signed a hopeful accord but Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was subsequently killed, a major earthquake rocked Los Angeles, Schindler’s List won the Oscar, the White House launched its first web page, Richard Nixon and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis passed away, the World Series was cancelled, Dallas beat Buffalo in the Super Bowl (where oh where were my Patriots), Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia” was the best song, and the United States Supreme Court led by William Rehnquist made key decisions on flag burning, school prayer, privacy and affirmative action. As always, there was a lot going on!
“Clearly, in your relatively short lifetimes, our school and our world have navigated interesting and challenging waters where each step along the way decisions were made and lives were impacted. The decision for you to come to St. Margaret’s I am sure was a big one for your family. It was a choice, a fork in the road, a moment in time when you could have gone in a variety of directions but the decision was made to come here, to this school. “Some years ago as I was doing one of my very favorite things – greeting Lower School students as they arrived at school in the morning – I overheard a mother saying goodbye to her son who, it was very clear, really was not all that interested in what his mother had to say. School was starting, he was ready to go and he barely looked back over his shoulder when she said, ‘I love you! Make good choices!’ This admonition has repeated itself over and over again in one way or another in the daily life of school, as decisions and choices are a regular part of the fabric of growing up. Of course, some choices are more important than others and my guess is that this woman, this young mother, was not so concerned that day with the courses her son would select or the college he would choose to attend. Rather, my sense is that she was concerned with the small decisions of the day that had the potential to become big and life changing – the friends he could make, the way he would treat others, the way others would treat him. “When I was a little boy and in the process of figuring out just who I was, my father shared several poems with
Commencement 2013
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