Message for Poly's Class of 2018

Several weeks ago while having lunch with one of our trustees, I had an interesting conversation about what it means to “be ready.” Our topic sprang from a question he had asked of Boy Scouts in the final stages of earning their Eagle Scout Award. It wasn’t so much a discussion about preparing for tough decisions or formidable challenges, but about assuming the responsibility of new expectations. “Are you ready for what people expect of you once they find out you are an Eagle Scout?” While the practical skills that Eagle Scout connotes are impressive — building a fire using wet wood, setting up a tent quickly, tying myriad knots — the “readiness” that he was asking about had much more to do with the character and moral fortitude that the honor projects.

Ralph Ellison spoke to a similar responsibility in "Hidden Name and Complex Fate," written in 1952. His middle name, Waldo, was given to him by his father in honor of the American philosopher and writer Ralph Waldo Emerson. While Ellison sensed a “certain magic” to this name, he also felt a great burden to live up to its expectations. The “suggestive powers” of his father’s decision intrigued and confounded him. What should he do with it? What could he do with it?

As soon-to-be graduates of Polytechnic School, you will find that some people’s expectations of you will be heightened because of where you went to school. And indeed, they should be. You have been challenged, encouraged, supported, and tested by an extraordinary faculty. You have had opportunities and experiences inside and outside of the classroom that most people in the world can’t even imagine. You have been given the chance to lead our student government, the newspaper, athletic teams, and ensembles. As Poly students, you have traveled the world and modeled the best aspects of our mission — academic excellence, personal responsibility, and service to others — in China, France, Cuba, Peru, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Nicaragua, to name a few. And, of course, you have been surrounded by an “orchestra” of sorts, classmates who have shaped you with many lessons, some joyful, some difficult, some provocative, some hilarious.

Emerson said, “What we have learned from others becomes our own reflection.” You have been shaped by a group of faculty and students who have taught you to see the possibilities and opportunities that surround you and lie before you. So now, what are you going to do with this gift?

Kennedy Odede, who spoke on campus in the fall, gave all of us some great advice on this topic. The founder of Shining Hope for Communities, a youth group in a slum in Kenya where he is from, Odede told us to stop apologizing or feeling guilty about our privilege. Instead, he said, do something with it.

That is the challenge of this education and this name, Polytechnic School, that appears on all of your diplomas. How will you manage the expectations that come with it? My advice: Hold it dear and be generous. Never shirk responsibility when you are confronted with a challenge that this education has prepared you for. And finally, be brave. The concluding line of our statement of philosophy is the “goal of Poly is to have graduates prepared to meet the complexities of a changing world with confidence and good character.” This aspiration — confidence and character — is the “magic” that Ellison described in his book. Use it.

So you are graduating now. Within a few minutes, you will have received your diploma, marking the end of quite a run. Some of you arrived when you were only 4 years old. While you have grown immensely in height, in confidence, in your convictions, and in your intellectual pursuits, some parts of your personality haven’t changed that much. Those of you who were “spirited,” as Sally Jeanne McKenna describes, are still spirited. If you were quiet and introspective at 4, you probably still are now. Staying true to who we are is an important lesson.

Through it all, you learned to consider possibilities, to pay attention, when your worldview was challenged. With a generosity of spirit, a fierce loyalty to your friends, and a deep commitment to what you believe, you have taught and inspired us. With a profound sense of empathy and unfettered intellectual curiosity, you are ready. You are ready to meet the challenges of the world ahead of you, and you are ready to honor the responsibility that comes with the diploma today. We will miss you.

Congratulations and thank you.

JWB
(Remarks from Commencement on June 7, 2018)
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