NEW SCOTLAND — After being introduced by his own graduating senior, Superintendent Frank Macri, a former music teacher, offered his advice to the Clayton A. Bouton Class of 2023 couched in the words of one of his favorite artists. 

“Thinking of music like life,” Macri said on June 23, “I think of this quote from Charlie Parker, ‘Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn .…’”

Macri said that “Music mimics life and can hold hidden lessons. Sometimes in life, you’ll be the player … Other times, you might be the conductor, listening and watching all the intricate parts, while guiding the group towards the end of one piece and the beginning of another.”

He told students, “Being reflective and open to receiving constructive criticism is important,” but also that “it’s not good to be too critical of yourself, a good musician also knows there’s always room for improvement … Be aware of your shortcomings, but don’t dwell on them. Be proud of your accomplishments.”

Macri said practice and failure happen daily. Failure can lead to greatness, he said, “as long as you learn from your mistakes.”

He told students to be well-rounded. “I implore you to be open to different viewpoints, philosophies, and cultures as you travel through this world.”

Lastly, he said, “Be in time.”

Time, Macri said, “can be organized differently, but music is always moving. A musician by themselves doesn’t have to worry about rushing or dragging or stepping out of time, but when there are two or more of you, they have to sync up. And when they do, that’s when the magic happens. That’s called finding the groove. I implore you to please always find your own groove.”

“Life had its own plans”

Business teacher Heather Garvey, 35 years removed from her own high school graduation, offered students a final lesson with her own life story. 

Garvey told students she was excited to leave behind the small town in which she grew up, with its pettiness and drama. She couldn’t wait to start as a communications major at The College of Saint Rose. 

“I desperately wanted to meet new people, make new friends, and get on with my life,” she said. “I had big plans. I was going to get my degree, move to New York City, and get a job as a copywriter at an advertising agency and create commercials.”

The idea of living and working in New York City seemed so glamorous, she said, “and I was desperate for some glamor.”

Garvey had a plan, but she said “life had plans of its own.”

She never received her degree in communications; instead she majored in business administration. 

It was during her time at Saint Rose that Garvey met the man who would become her husband. “I tell everyone, he is the reason I never moved to New York City,” she quipped. “But the truth is, I never asked him to go because I was happy living in Albany, New York.”

The lack of advertising agencies in the Albany area led Garvey to take a sales-assistant position at a local television station, but she said, “It didn’t take long for me to realize that sales wasn’t my thing.”

The TV assistant position was followed by one as an assistant to the general manager of a local radio station, she said, “I was downsized from that position. And it was just as well because let’s just say that being an assistant wasn’t my thing either.”

Garvey said, at that point, “I felt lost. I really had a passion for business, but the business world didn’t seem to have any passion for me.”

She eventually took her school administrator father’s advice and tried her hand at teaching, which “fit me like a glove.”

Following stops at Mechanicville and Averill Park, Garvey ended up “where I was always meant to be: Clayton A. Bouton High School.”

But Garvey said her path to becoming a teacher was not as smooth as she made it sound. “There were many times when life didn’t go as I planned and I was plagued with doubt,” she said. “Changing my major in college was the first time I had ever really questioned the choices I had made.”

She said her advisor at Saint Rose, who’d also been her professor, “pulled me aside after class one day in the middle of my sophomore year and told me that I needed to change my major.”

The professor told Garvey that “the world of communications was cutthroat,” and she “didn’t have the creativity, writing skills, talent, or the tenacity to make it in advertising.”

The 19-year-old Garvey was stunned, but said she believed what this tenured professor was telling her. “Not only did I feel doubt, I felt embarrassed and humiliated. How could I have been so wrong about myself?” she said. “I seriously thought about leaving school. I was devastated and didn’t have the confidence to challenge what he said, so I changed my major.”

With hindsight, Garvey said she would have handled the situation differently.

“I would have reminded myself of all I had accomplished up to that point,” she said. “I had graduated from high school, which is an amazing accomplishment. I had also gotten into all three colleges that I applied to. Saint Rose gave me an academic scholarship. I left home and was on my own for the first time. I allowed one professor, who barely knew me, negate all of that.”

Garvey advised the graduating Class of 2023, “So whenever you find yourself doubting how far you can go, just remember how far you have come. Remember everything you have faced, all the battles you have won, and all the fears you have overcome. So follow your plans, but be prepared for the universe to step in at times and blow up your whole world.”

“A bittersweet feeling”

Student speaker Grace Reeve reflected on the past 13 years in Voorheesville, while imploring her classmates to get out into the world. 

“Sitting on this stage is such a bittersweet feeling as it signifies the day that seemed unreachable so far in the future. Today is graduation day,” Reeve said. “The sentence, ‘Have a great summer, see you in the fall’ is not something we are able to say to each other anymore. Instead, we say goodbye to each other, our teachers, our best friends, and our families. We say goodbye to Voorheesville.”

 Reeve said she and her fellow graduates “persevered through 13 roller-coaster years of school.”

But, she said, if she were being honest, “it felt more like 13 seconds … Parents, I’m sure you can agree with me on that one. Where did all the time go? All our days here, so precious and so cherishable.”

On the last day of school, Reeve said, Kimberly Simon, whom she referred to as “the best anatomy teacher out there,” said something she thought bore repeating: “There is no price tag on the people that you grew up with.”

Reeve said Simon “expressed what I’m trying to say perfectly: You are going to make so many more amazing friends throughout your life, but the connection you have with the people sitting next to you right now is irreplaceable. The sense of community that you feel here is one of a kind and so special.”

Reeve referred to the village’s recent Memorial Day Parade, “parties all day long, food, fireworks, a whole village of little kids, returning college students, elderly, literally everyone coming together for an entire day to celebrate.”

There were a “million more things” that deserved a mention, Reeve said, “I could spend all day thinking and reminiscing about growing up here.”

While moving on from such a comfortable place can be scary, she said, “I remind myself how much the world has to offer outside of Voorheesville. There are so many more opportunities, places to see, people to meet, people that are going to love you and everything about you, people that we don’t even know exist yet.”

To the Class of 2023, Reeve said, “Make it great and make it count. Go out into the world and explore. Try new things. Take risks and have no regrets. The Lumineers said it best, ‘Because if we don’t leave this town, we might never make it out.’”