VOORHEESVILLE — When David Lawrence was thinking through the message he wanted to send out into the world with the graduating Class of 2019 of Clayton A. Bouton High School, he had set for himself a high bar: Ensuring that it applied to every student in a class of diverse personalities. 

“Then I got the inspiration from a great source: My boys, Desmond and Dawson,” he said. Lawrence was selected by the Class of 2019 as its graduation speaker; he had been the class’s co-advisor, and has been a high school social studies teacher in Voorheesville for 12 years.

He addressed the graduates and a full house of family and friends at Voorheesville’s high school auditorium on Friday night.

Desmond and Dawson, their father said, are similar in some ways but very different in most. Desmond is an old soul, he said; Dawson is “our little wrecking ball.”

As their father, Lawrence said, it’s his job to teach his boys about life, which, at times, with such different personalities, can be difficult. So, whenever one of his sons does something he is proud of, he will ask, “Dada, did I do good?” 

“Once I heard the question,” Lawrence said, he smiled a little bit because he was able to correct his son’s grammar with a joke only a dad would find funny: “Superman does good, you do well.”

That concept of “doing good,” Lawrence said, is one that is often taken for granted.

He understood, he said, that many in the Class of 2019 had long-term goals and dreams of “doing well,” goals and dreams that they were ready to start working toward the day after graduation. But lifelong goals take time, so, Lawrence asked, why not do some good in the meantime?

“To do good — that’s something we can do every day.” 

Too often, too little value is applied to the good things that we’ve done, Lawrence said. “We look at it and think it wasn’t a big deal.” 

The truth is, he said, so few people look to do good every day, “and that is a big deal.” Far too often, the little acts of kindness that can be achieved every day, he said, are cast off in the pursuit of results that can take years to achieve. 

And, in high school, a little act of kindness, like paying a peer a compliment, Lawrence said, “Could save their life — literally.” As a teacher, he’s seen his fair share of bullying, and yet he’s has also seen students do good, but if more good is to be done, Lawrence said, it has to be a personal choice.

“If we get caught up on what is proper, we forget to focus on what is right,“ he said. “Doing good helps those who sometimes cannot help themselves, and, yet, what is right, may not necessarily be proper. Doing good so someone doesn’t have to go all day feeling sad or alone, it’s the one thing that every person can control — and will absolutely lead to positive results.”

As he wound down his speech, Lawrence asked the Class of 2019 to check under their chairs where wristbands had been placed with a simple message: “Do good.” 

Lawrence closed by asking the graduates to go out into the world and do good. “In some way, shape, or form,” he concluded, “it could very well make the world a better place for my boys.”

Life’s not a track meet; it’s a marathon

Student-chosen speaker Olivia Barringer offered her fellow graduates an athletic allegory of what it’s like to grow up in Voorheesville.

Imagine, she said, you are a member of the track team who had never run a day in your life. You are there because you enjoy competing in the field portion of track-and-field events like javelin and high jump. 

And, up until now, the team’s coach has been OK with that.

However, at your next practice, the coach has you running 3,000 meters, or 2.5 miles, but you’ve never run more than two laps around the track, let alone the eight required of a 3000-meter race. But you are a team player and you agree to run. 

At the race, you’re running at your own steady pace, but then comes a runner’s worst nightmare: Being lapped, but not by one person — by every runner in the race. 

The revelation hits that you have to run the last lap completely alone, with the entire crowd watching. 

Then, as you hit the homestretch, the negative thoughts race (faster than you can run) through your head: How embarrassing it will be; the sad pity clap you’ll receive as you cross the finish line. 

But instead, what you see as you’re finishing the race is someone coming down from the bleachers, and it could be anyone, Barringer said, your father, mother, brother, or sister, and they jump on the track and run the last 100 meters with you, cheering you on every step of the way. 

And when you finally cross the finish line, it’s not a pity clap, but the roar of the crowd that meets you. 

High school, Barringer said, is a race that some are prepared for it; others are not. 

“At times, it seems to be a struggle,” she said, and, sometimes, the days and weeks feel like continuous laps around the track. “But when times get hard, know that you have the biggest supporters sitting in the bleachers and your biggest fans cheering you on from the sidelines,” she said. 

Some may think that they aren’t up for the race; however, overcoming that challenge may turn out to be one of their greatest accomplishments. 

Others may think the race is over because a reputation has been ruined, she said, but, in truth, it’s just the start of their redemption story. “That’s because someone’s redemption story will long outlive the story of your reputation,” Barringer said. ​