HILLTOWNS — As members of the Berne-Knox Westerlo Class of 2025 celebrated their graduation, they first got advice from two things that they probably hoped to be done with forever: clichés and essays.

Board of Education President Matthew Tedeschi said that his “cliché speech” would be filled with well-worn nuggets of truth, but emphasized that that’s why they’re well-worn in the first place. 

The five clichés he gave were: Learn something new every day, Rome wasn’t built in a day, seize the day, ask what you can do for your country, and always take the high road. 

“According to Wikipedia,” Tedeschi said, “one third of high school graduates never read another book again. Forty-two percent of college graduates never read another book after college. And 80 percent — that’s right, 80 percent — of us families have not bought or read a book in the past year ... Don’t be part of that one-third, that 42-percent, or that 8-percent. Learn something new every day.”

On investing long-term, Tedeschi said, “The things that matter take time. Relationships take time. Careers take time. Raising families take time ... You spent many, long years working hard and doing good work.”

Action is critical to that, Tedeschi said, saying, “We have a tendency to get to it later, or say tomorrow. We can do that tomorrow. But if you say that too often, and pretty soon, we’ll be looking back at a lot of yesterdays and wondering if we’re all the time.”

And, “Don't forget to get involved in your community,” he said. “Don’t forget to give a little something back, find something that you like, something that feels right, and strive to make your community a better place.”

Finally, in the sludge of mass-media discourse, Tedeschi observed, “Rather than discuss the merits of a position, we'd rather just try and come up with clever insults and put downs ... Don’t take the low road, even if you need to disagree with the person who’s talking down to you. You can do it without being disagreeable.”

“Years from now,” Tedeschi said, “you probably won’t even remember my name, but I hope you remember these five clichés.” 

Life as an essay

Superintendent Bonnie Kane, giving her first speech at a graduation ceremony in that role, used essays as a metaphor for students’ lives. 

“Before you groan,” she said, “today you stand — or sit — at the end of one chapter of life and the beginning of another. High school is over. You’ve passed the test. You’ve written the essays. And you’ve figured out, mostly, how to navigate through several different classes, juggle sports, and maybe even a part-time job. Well done. 

“This next part of your life,” Kane said, “includes you as the primary author with other co-authors as you go through the experience. Like any good essay, the light from this point will begin with an idea or a thesis. It might be, ‘I want to help people,’ or it might be, ‘I want to create music,’ or maybe it’ll be, ‘I want a vacation 350 days a year and still make a ton of money.’ And if you know how to do that, you should write a book."

Theses may change, she said, which is OK, in light of a quote often attributed to F. Scott Fitzgerald: “Vitality shows not in the ability to persist, but in the ability to start over.”

“Then come the body paragraphs,” Kane said, “the heart of your life's work. This is where the real writing happens, the experiences. Sometimes it’s the failures. It’s the friendship that adds you and defines your life in the best possible way.

“Some paragraphs will flow absolutely beautifully,” she said. “Others will feel like you copied and pasted a PDF into a Google Doc. There’ll be sentences all over the place, punctuation everywhere, and absolutely nothing lines up. Don’t panic.”

As Ernest Hemingway once said, “The first draft of everything is pretty horrible.”

“Actually,” Kane said, “he didn't say horrible. He said something far worse. But this is a school event. The point is, perfection is never the goal. Progress always is."

Memories, mentors, and values, she said, are life’s essay’s supporting details, and what stand up to counter-arguments.

“They hold your ideas and give your story credibility,” she said. “They give the major point of your story a little pizzazz that makes people extra interested.” 

Finally, Kane said, is the conclusion, “far, far from now.”

“It should reflect, it should connect,” she said, “and it should leave your reader, your family and your friends, and the world with something amazing to remember.”

In the words of Toni Morrison, Kane said, “If you want to fly, you have to give up the things that weigh you down.”

“You’ve opened the Chromebook of your future,” Kane said. “You’ve clicked the untitled new Google Doc; that blank cursor is blinking at you. It’s begging you to hit the first key to start the first sentence and write something absolutely extraordinary. Just remember, proofread every once in a while, and please, for all that is sacred, indent your paragraphs.”

No quitter

Salutatorian Elise Lendrum, who hopes to one day be a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, shared with the audience her experience of being accepted into an honors program meant to “challenge high school seniors and expose them to health care,” and the tenacity it tested in her that she knows will be useful throughout her life.  

The first quarter of the program, she said, “felt impossible” because the other kids were “way smarter,” to the point that she regretted being in the program in the first place. 

“My parents gave me the option to quit, but I couldn’t do that,” Lendrum said. “That’s not who I am, and to their credit, they knew that. So I buckled down and got to work because that was my only option.” 

“I had to sacrifice a lot of time with friends and family in order to get my work done well and on time,” she said. “Eventually, I made it to January and clinical rotations began. I got the opportunity to spend hours in 27 different departments within St. Peter’s hospital. I got to shadow professionals in every career.”

All this on top of basketball season, Lendrum said. “I’ve learned just how much I'm capable of; I learned it’s extremely rewarding, and that you don’t necessarily have to be the smartest person or the most talented person to succeed.”

She shared a parting quote from Taylor Swift: “Not a single one of us here today have said it alone. We are each a patchwork quilt of those who have loved us, those who have believed in our futures, those who have shown empathy and kindness or told us the truth, even when it wasn’t easy to hear.”

“To my classmates,” Lendrum said, “high school is not the highlight of our lives, it is the end of the first chapter of the story of our lives. So if you look back on your high school years and believe you didn’t give your best effort, you’ve got the rest of your lives to rewrite the script and achieve your goals. I encourage you to work really hard to achieve your dreams while finding enough balance to enjoy your achievements.”

Meeting challenges

Valedictorian Peyton Del Vecchio, who has enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, began the core of her message with a quote from Christopher Robin, who said, “Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”

“Now, I ask everyone on stage to think of a challenge that you’ve experienced in the past four years of high school,” she said. “Specifically, think of one challenge you thought you might never get past. Some of you may be thinking of a really difficult homework assignment or a bad test group, maybe a fight with a friend, boyfriend or girlfriend, or even a bad injury that took you out of your favorite sports.

“The point is,” she said. “I’m sure that all of you up here had trials and tribulations that have made you doubt yourself. However, despite these challenges, you’re sitting on this stage; we all made it here through hard work and determination. It is truly inspiring."

Del Vecchio encouraged her fellow graduates to “take a moment and realize the magnitude of the accomplishment that we all have all achieved. You made it through each day, no matter what the challenges were, and you earned the diploma you will soon be receiving. You earned it.”

“There is no doubt that there will be more challenges as we step into this new chapter of our life,” she said, “but sitting on this stage is proof that we can overcome whatever obstacles are thrown at us. We can all do the hard things.”

Engaging students

Class President Matthew Cyr introduced the teacher of the year, Neil McConnelee, who began by highlighting the way Cyr “reinvented himself as a student” through hard work and dedication.

Of his own teaching philosophy, McConnelee said, “I just get up there and I do what I like to do. I demonstrate things, I talk about science, that I love to talk about, and I try to engage the students and get them excited in the same way."

“I have the honor that students are thinking about their future more than maybe they ever have up to this point,” he said. “I can listen to their dreams, hear what they’re saying, and help them envision the future. And we tried to always mix that in with physics ... and that made it special.”

“Dare greatly”

The final speaker of the evening was retiring teacher Donna McGovern, who delivered the commencement address with various life principles drawn from her years of experience.

McGovern used Theodore Roosevelt’s quote about “the man actually in the arena whose faith is marred by dust and sweat and blood,” saying that credit belongs to those involved in a challenge rather than those on the sidelines.

She urged graduates to know their worth and never allow others to belittle them, saying, “Have the courage of your convictions to stand up for what you believe in, even if it is the unpopular choice.” 

Her other principles were community service, valuing time with loved ones, kindness, gratitude, and compromise.

“I have no doubt every one of you will do incredible things,” McGovern said. “Dare greatly, but please be safe.”