2013 – 14
Graduation Speech
Ladies
and gentlemen, welcome to the 2014 Graduation Ceremony for Central Cambria High
School Graduates. Even
though this evening really is all about you, you’ll have to bear with all of us
telling your families how great you are. After that, it will be all about you.
This
group of graduating seniors has garnered some impressive numbers
collectively. Allow me to share
some statistics about this group:
·
There are 130 graduating seniors this year – 71 males and 59 females.
·
Extracurricular activities -
o 40% of these seniors, or 52
students, were chorus members
o 8 were in the marching band
o 9 were in the concert band
o 7 were involved in the
musical
o 24%, or 31 seniors met the
criteria to be in the National Honor society
·
Athletics – 43% or 56 seniors involved in sports
o 41 boys and 15 girls
o 2 females involved in 4
sports
o 7 boys and 1 girls involved
in 3 sports
o 14 boys and 6 girls involved
in 2 sports
o 20 boys and 6 girls involved
in one sport
·
As for post secondary plans:
o 69% of these seniors, or 88
students, are going on to post secondary education.
o 7% will attend a community
college.
o 9% a career/technical school
o 4% serving our country in a
branch of the military
o 13% in the workforce
o 5% undecided
·
Among this exceptional group, 56 seniors took a total of 170 college
courses while CCHS students; they earned 562 college credits through dual
enrollment. That deserves a round
of applause!!
·
And finally, this class of 2014 is receiving approximately $600,000 in
scholarships.
During the month of May, I always work with a
staff member to sit down with a cross section of seniors, about 30%, to get
their perspectives on their years at CCSD. This year I added three other groups to my interviews: I met
with a representative group of 5th graders from Jackson and Cambria and
heard their views on their elementary years. Then a group of 8th
graders from the Middle School gave me their views on their middle school
years. Finally, I finished up with the high school groups. This is an activity I always look
forward to, as their perceptions and perspectives are so honest and enlightening—and
I’m never quite sure what I will hear.
All of the 5th graders I talked with
loved their elementary years. They liked some teachers better than others, they
seem to actually like homework but they’re not crazy about many cafeteria food
menu items. All are looking forward to Middle School with nervous
anticipation. They also spoke
highly of Mrs. Murin and Mrs. Mesoras.
One thing they wished could be changed was the emphasis on bullying
programs. They felt that bullying
is not that big of an issue, and that too much time is spent on bullying
awareness programs.
The 8th graders, the first to have
classes in the new Middle School three years ago, also appreciated their time
at the Middle School. Some named particular teachers, as being their favorites
while others did not have favorites. They felt that the amount of homework was
reasonable, and they like Mr. Santini as principal. They named an interesting element of the school that they’d
like to see changed: In their words “The school is too grey, our school needs
more color to make the school feel more alive.”
As expected, the seniors had a lot to say, both positive
and negative, about their district and about their high school experiences. All
those interviewed had plans to prepare for post-secondary education, the
military, trade schools or private industry.
Some of their positive comments were:
·
Dual enrollment was a great experience
·
Vo-tech is a great opportunity
·
Lots of extracurricular opportunities
·
Strong sports programs
·
The Language Arts department is awesome
·
The policy of being allowed to bring and
use your own technology is a great idea.
·
Homework is average with AP courses
requiring more time
·
The majority of students I spoke with felt
they were all prepared to leave CCSD and enter the next phase of life.
·
The students had a strong sense of pride
and named many noteworthy teachers they felt contributed to their success at
CCSD.
Some of the areas in which seniors recommend
improvements are:
·
Making sure staff members are as accountable
for their actions as the students are
·
Consistent consequences
·
Drug issues that still affect our schools
·
Continue to enhance existing technology
·
More respect for students as young adults
·
More French fries
As in years past, I will be meeting with my admin
team over the summer months to use these suggestions and others to work toward
an improved curriculum and learning environment; many thanks to those of you
who met with me. (Quite a vocal, good
group of seniors this year.)
I
have spent many years as an educator and have seen and heard many strange and
puzzling situations. I like to
share these stories when I have a captive audience. One of the stories that I
still recall and chuckle about happened when I was a principal. As I was walking through the hallways
of my building, I saw a 5th grade substitute teacher standing
outside his classroom with his forehead against a locker. I heard him mutter, “How did you get
yourself into this?” Knowing he was subbing in a challenging class, I tried to
offer moral support. “Are you
okay?” I asked. “Can I help?” He lifted his head and replied, “I’ll
be fine as soon as I get this kid out of his locker.”
Education,
as many of us know, is not an exact science; the biggest reason is the fact
that we deal with people in education. People are as unique as their
fingerprints. For this reason, the
“people factor” prevents educators from mapping out a clear-cut method of
predicting whether students will be successful or not, or even what the
definition of success is for each student. The ongoing work of educators is to
fine-tune instruction so that success can be guaranteed to all. It hasn’t
happened yet, and may never happen. Why? What is missing?
One
educator at the University of Pennsylvania has been doing research on the key
to student success. He name is
Angela Lee Duckworth. Perhaps you
have heard of her or read about her.
Having taught math in New York public schools to 7th graders,
she quickly realized that IQ was not the primary thing separating successful
students from those who struggled.
I
would like to share with you a brief video clip of Dr. Duckworth speaking at
last year’s TED conference (Technology, Entertainment and Design), where the
world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes
or less.
Key
to success? Not IQ. Not good looks. Not talent. Not social
connections. Its grit - the perseverance and passion it takes to reach long-term
goals. It’s the willingness to
start over again, the determination to keep your eyes on what you really want
to accomplish.
The direction your life takes
after tonight’s ceremony will depend on how “gritty” you are as you continue
your path to adulthood. What will
define you is the perseverance and passion you muster to reach your goals. As you heard tonight, grit is a significant
predictor of success: passion and perseverance for very long-term goals; it’s
stamina.
But after all her research,
Dr. Duckworth concedes that science knows little about how teachers or parents
can build, or instill, grit.
Instead, she makes note of a “growth mindset,” in which the ability to
learn is not fixed but can change with effort. In other words, to start over
again as needed and using lessons learned.
She also believes that educators
need to get gritty about getting our kids “grittier” about building their own
success stories. Her research has
shown that the brain changes and grows in response to a challenge, and that
gritty people are much more likely to persevere when they fail because they
don’t believe failure is a permanent condition.
Some examples of people who
persevered despite failure and succeeded:
·
Diana Nyad, who at age 64, completed a 100-mile swim from Cuba to
Florida after failing 5 previous attempts. Her advice “Find a way.”
· J.K. Rawlings, author of the
Harry Potter series. Broke, and
recently divorced, her first children’s book was rejected by publishers 10
times. When it was finally published,
the publisher told her to get a day job because there was no money in children’s
books. The
first three Harry Potter books earned approximately $480 million in three
years, with over 35 million copies in print in 35 languages. That’s my kind of
poverty….
· Dr. Ted
Geisel, whose first book was rejected by publishers 27 times. (You’ll recognize
him when I tell you that his middle name is Seuss).
· Michael
Jordan who was cut from his HS basketball team
· Or Walt
Disney, who was fired as a news editor because he “lacked imagination.”
All of
these successful people could have given up and moved on with their lives, but
they didn’t. Instead they
persevered and became successful.
So while you sit here
reflecting over the last 12 or 13 years, take time to think about your goals
and how you will persevere to achieve them. Show all of us your grit and stamina in the years to
come. It is my sincere hope that
all of you are willing to follow your dreams and be successful. I’ll be excited
to hear about your amazing accomplishments.
I wish you all a wonderful
and productive career as you begin the next phase of life’s journey. If you have not done so yet, take time to
thank those responsible for this day: your parents, grandparents, siblings,
aunts, uncles, friends, teachers, administrators, school board members and any
other significant people who had an impact on your educational career.
As we bring this night to a
close, I usually like to leave you with a quote from one of my favorite
authors, Ted Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, but tonight I would like to read you a
quote from another famous author, Mr. Frederick McFeely Rogers, aka Mr. Rogers;
it is a response to a question written to him. The question was “Dear Mr. Rogers, what is most worth
knowing?” Mr. Rogers’s reply was
the following:
“Dear Neighbor,
What I believe is most worth
knowing is that every human being has value. This is the basis of all healthy relationships; and it’s
through relationships that we grow and learn best.
I’ve learned what is most
worth knowing through living each day as it is given to me. It cannot be ‘taught’ but it can be
‘caught’ from those who live their lives right along with us. What a privilege to be able to look for
the good in our neighbor!
Thank you, good luck – and continue
to live each day as it is given to you.
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