FOUNDERS’ FAMILY MESSAGE

KIT FOUNDERS’ FAMILY MESSAGE

Hi I’m Karen, and I’m the Roepers’ daughter I want you to know how sad I am that I can’t be there in person with you today, especially this year, because I’ve met many of you who are about to be the graduating class of Roeper 2021 However, I’m glad to have this moment with you

First of all, I want to acknowledge the entire Roeper Community for the incredible resourcefulness and creativity in which you have met this challenging and remarkable year of Covid The Roeper Community has truly risen to the occasion, and my parents would be so proud of how you have come together to meet this challenge

And speaking of my parents, one of the main tenets of their philosophy was developing students — people — who could engage in critical thinking and who could think on their own As my mother says in her model, she sees human beings as independent decision makers — “decision makers drawn by the necessity to be true to themselves ”

I began wondering about whose voice am I listening to when I make a decision, and I put that question to you Whose voice are you listening to when you make a decision? This is also inspired by the song, Hear My Voice by Celeste, which was sung in the Chicago Seven movie — which is all about having your voice be heard

Close your eyes for a moment and just listen to the first phrase of this song:

Hear my voice Hear my dreams Let us make a world in which I believe

Powerful words! Connecting with your own voice is essential as you go on out into the world, but it’s not as easy or simple as it seems We have lots of voices in our heads We’ve got our parents’ voices, our grandparents’ voices, our friends’ voices, our teachers’ voices And then we also have the cultural voices and the social media voices (which are all over the place), and the political voices There’s constant information coming in So how do we discern what’s true … what resonates for us… what’s true for us? What decisions do we want to make based on what’s true for us? How do we find that out? And I feel that for me, I’ve discovered two ways One is to check in with my body, to listen to the body’s responses when I ask myself questions Maybe it’s as simple as do I want chocolate ice cream or vanilla ice cream? Your body has that information The second question is for the sake of what am I making this choice, does it resonate with what I feel passionate about? Does it resonate with what I most value in my life? And does it resonate with my social values?

I’ll just give you a quick example When I was about 20 or 30, I was going to start a particular type of therapy, and I went to a few sessions After about the third session I walked out and thought, something doesn’t feel right And then suddenly, I thought to myself — I’d rather be dancing … I’d rather be dancing right now And my whole body just relaxed And I knew that that was really true And then I remembered that when I was 12, I wrote what I wanted to do with my life I said I wanted to be a social worker and I wanted to bring movement and dance into my work to help people feel more alive and connected with themselves So that was the for the sake of what When I thought, “Oh, I want to be moving and dancing”, that voice was speaking to what became the trajectory of my life

So as you move on out into the world Consider when you’re making a decision, how do I discern what’s my true voice? Consider that you really listen to your body’s responses, and you ask yourself for the sake of what? Because we really need to hear your voice We need to hear your dreams Let’s make a better world that we can all believe in

Thank you, and have fun Have fun today! It’s a day to celebrate I look forward to meeting you somewhere in the world F

Connecting with your own voice is essential as you go on out into the world …