Dr. Richard T. Ewing, Jr., Commencement Speech 2016
Welcome distinguished guests, Trustees, Faculty & Staff of ACS, parents, and alumni, and welcome to the distinguished Class of 2016! I am so pleased to welcome you all to our Commencement Exercises on this wonderful occasion. Thank you for being here on this momentous occasion.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way…”
Some of you will recognize this as the opening passage A Tale of Two Cities. Others I am sure would swear that it is a recent CNN report on the American Presidential Campaign. Some of us here, given the trials and tribulations we have had, might relate it to our experience this year at ACS. I think, though, we can all agree with Dickens that, “the period was so far like the present period.” Over all these many years, his striking prose remains a compelling portrait of the world in which we live: the best of times for some, the worst of times for others.
Best of Times
Well, I can say it was the best of times because of all of you gathered here today: students, faculty, administrators, staff, colleagues, families, and friends. I am proud to be here with you, the ACS Class of 2016, on this special occasion, to celebrate with you your impressive achievements and the extraordinary people you are becoming.
We have had great leadership from this class on many different levels. The academic achievements of so many of you have been exceptional. This year we have 13 students who maintained a 6.0 average throughout their high school years. This is unprecedented in ACS history. Some years we might have none, in a good year maybe 4 or 5, this year a remarkable 13 and many more with high distinctions. Congratulations to you on your impressive scholarship.
As a class, you have shown strong service leadership and been highly engaged in community outreach, clubs, and activities, from the Interact Club to Embrace, from the Debate Club to the College Life Newspaper, from the ACS Choir to Teach for Bulgaria, from our great Student Council to the innovative Fission International Science Fair, you have provided outstanding service as well as leadership, both to our school and the broader community. And along the way you have continued to win well-deserved recognition and distinction for yourselves and for our school.
In athletics, this class has also helped lead us to new heights, with championships in five out of eight ACS Open tournaments, again the most successful we have ever had. We have had outstanding results in other competitions as well. Throughout the year our seniors have provided active participation and strong leadership, good sportsmanship as well as a competitive spirit. In addition, this class has established one of our best overall records in fitness, while also setting three new individual school records.
Almost every day I am signing official documents so that our students can participate in regional or national or international competition in academics, athletics, the arts, and related activities. I may not yet be able to read the documents, which are written in Bulgarian, but I am so proud to sign them on behalf of our students.
What has struck me in particular about you as a class and as individuals, is that you just don’t go out and win a debate, you organize and host a tournament. You don’t just win an international science competition, you go out and plan and create a new international science fair. You don’t just show the initiative to find a job shadowing opportunity for yourself; you create a new program to provide job-shadowing opportunities for fellow students.
And yet for all of these accomplishments and all of these distinctions, you have continued to impress me and my colleagues as good and thoughtful people, working well with each other, partnering with your teachers, and providing leadership to the rest of the student body. So many of you have shown how hard you have been willing to work to get the most out of your educational opportunities at this school. I have been struck, though, not just by your motivation and your determination, but also by your appreciation, your appreciation for the opportunity you have had here, your appreciation for your teachers, and your appreciation for your classmates. Last night in particular, I loved to see the delight you took in the accomplishments of your peers. You have shown your admiration and respect for others as well as your healthy respect for yourselves.
That the fortunes of life would bring me to this time and place to share with you in your glory and your achievement is a blessing for which I am deeply grateful. Congratulations to you one and all! Поздравления!
Faculty & Staff
I also want to take a moment to acknowledge and congratulate the extraordinary people around you who have helped and guided you here at ACS. As I noted in one of our e-Newsletters last fall, years from now I imagine you at some ACS alumni gathering reminiscing about your days at the College, and thinking back to the amazing teachers you had while you were here. I can see this scene in my mind’s eye and see you feeling deeply the debt of gratitude that you owe these men and women. Well you do not have to wait for that future moment. Your great ACS teachers are here, sitting around you. Let us seize the moment to salute them, to honor them, and to thank them.
Worst of Times
We had a wonderful Senior Dinner in the foyer of Ostrander Hall last night. Last September, we had our Opening Day assembly here in Whitaker Auditorium. As you all know, since then Ostrander Hall and the auditorium have been closed. Other events, other activities, other treasured moments of the year took place elsewhere.
Last June, these buildings were emptied in preparation for our Campus Center construction and renovation project, and since then they have remained empty, as though we were all waiting for Godot.
I offer you my apologies for these frustrating delays. There have been problems with design, problems with budgeting, problems with financing. Resolving these issues have taken more time than any of us could have imagined. I want to say, as I did last night, that these circumstances are not due to any lack of effort on the part of my ACS colleagues, who have worked tirelessly to make this happen. We are all in their debt. And with their efforts and their dedication, hope springs eternal that this project will move forward.
Sometimes things don’t work out the way you hoped or planned. Our disappointment and frustration about these delays are counter-balanced by the achievements of our students and faculty and staff throughout the school, by the discipline and patience that all have shown, and also by the example our students and my colleagues have set about how to carry on with grace and style as well as determination despite the constraints we have had this year.
We set out this year to build a building, and we didn’t build it. So of course we are disappointed, but shall we call these the worst of times? I don’t think so. Following the advice of a noted American philosopher, what we can say about this year is, regrets we’ve had a few, but too few to mention.
It is true, though, as you all well know, while we have had our own dramas here, the earth beneath us has turned, and we have experienced darkness as well as light. Terrorism continues to rear its ugly and pernicious head, and the effects of global warming become more and more apparent. People around the world in our time, no less than Dickens’ time, know the despair of poverty, hunger, and homelessness, and everyday the world reminds us of the sickening destruction of war and civil strife. Given the ubiquity of modern communications, no one has the luxury anymore of a sheltered childhood. Even the young already know the physics of sorrow.
Knowing this, the question before all of us is: what now, what will we do? How will we lead our lives? And for you who are so young, you may have already accomplished so much, but with this commencement you have your lives ahead of you. What will you do?
In fact, you not only can choose the path you want for life, I like, Mr. Youngs, believe you must choose the path you want. You must choose the path, when it opens, that you know is right for you. Certainly, there may be disappointments along the way, but as Mr. Youngs said last night, there needn’t be regrets. You have the power within you to create your own best of times…not just for yourself, but for others: family, friends, and the many communities of which you will become a part. Don’t just wish for your own good fortune, be your own good fortune.
And while yes, it may have seemed to some of you at times that you were in prison here at ACS the past five years – although I don’t believe most prisons have neo-classical architecture and a park like setting -- in fact, what I can tell you, is that you have been part of a dream.
The Dream Lives On
Shortly before the end of his life, Senator Ted Kennedy spoke in support of the nomination of then Senator Barak Obama to become the next President of the United States. “The work begins anew,” he said. “The hope rises again. And the dream lives on.” He spoke about the unfinished work of America as a nation. More than that he spoke about the enduring notion of what has become known as the American Idea, which like all powerful ideas knows no national boundaries. It is, of course, the idea of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and not just for some, but for all. It is the idea that lies at the heart of this school and the aim of any powerful education: to celebrate, perpetuate, and to build upon that which is good and great in the human spirit and human experience.
After living this year at ACS, I better understand how and why the idea of the College lived for 50 years while ACS was closed as a school, and why now the ACS dream lives on today:
- It lives on in the hearts and minds of ACS graduates dating back to before WW II
- It lives on in the hearts and minds of your parents’ and grandparents’ generations, many of whom wished they could have gone to a school like ACS but that option was not available to them during the years when the College was closed
- It lives on in the hearts and minds of teachers, administrators, and trustees who have become part of the ACS community
- It lives on in the minds our underclassmen, especially our prep class, who look at you, our soon-to-be graduates, and think, that could be me
- And the dream will live on within each of you as well.
Right now, as you are all about to graduate, borrowing the words of a great man who also dreamed, you may be thinking that you are “Free at last, free at last, Great God Almighty, we are free at last.” Yes, it is true that you are now free from the rigors of the ACS curriculum. And you are now free from the unrelenting and merciless demands that my colleagues have placed upon you throughout your high school years. Yes, you are freed from all of this. But you are also now being freed into an exceptional society of people: the graduates of ACS. This is a freedom that is not given. It has to be earned, and you have earned it. Congratulations to you, one and all.