Tuesday, May 28, 2019

The Last Chapel Talk of 2019


As some of you know, at the beginning of the school year my older brother had a medical emergency. He’s been fighting his life this whole year, but we're not sure how much longer he'll be with us so they are just trying to make him as comfortable as possible. Through this I wasn’t sure how I was going to be able to be there for you in the way that I would want to be or that you would need me to be while dealing with this family situation and my own pain. From the beginning, I knew the year was going to be a long one. 

My one word for 2019 was believe. When I chose it, I was thinking about how I had needed to believe in myself and believe in whatever plan there was for my brother, but as we got further into the school year I knew it was also about believing in you, your ability to travel your W, and that everything happens for a reason. One of your classmates made a passing comment about why am I always given the, let’s say, complex classes. The truth is I believe I was meant to have you as my last Loomis class. There are so many stories in this room and many of you have dealt with your own personal challenges that were about so much more than grades and scores. I’m sure some of you think that you frustrate me and I’m not going to say that there weren’t any frustrating moments in our time together, because there were. There always are. However, what you should know is that more than anything, you inspired me. You’re fighters and survivors. I don’t claim to know all the ups, downs, wins, losses, and struggles you faced this year, but for the ones I do know I saw your strength as you navigated through it and put one foot in front of the other as you took it day by day. I saw you make lemonade out of lemons, laugh, shine, and keeping standing up. You were meant to be my last class so that I could see you tackle each day despite whatever was going on and then I could do the same. 

Last year I subjected you to my reading of the poem The Dash. There was line in the poem that said, “For it matters not, how much we own, the cars… the house… the cash. What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.” I hope this experience is one you can be proud of and not one in which you spent seeing as a means to an end. I hope what you did here mattered in big and little ways. So, embrace the end and this final week on the island. Enjoy closing up this chapter of your journey. I hope you will make the most of wherever you are off to next. Do not wish that time away and do not see it as just another box to check. Make sure you pause along the way to take it all in, enjoy and learn from it. I wish the best for each of you and hope that you will always strive to be the best you you can be. I hope that you will always take care of yourself - mind, body, and spirit. While I don’t know if our paths will cross again know that I’m out there rooting for you and that you can always reach out. I am so glad that we had this time together. It has been an honor and privilege to serve as your Dean. I love you. 

** final remarks to the Loomis Chaffee Class of 2019 at the last class meeting on May 17, 2019

                      Opening Dance Sept. 22, 2018             Graduation Day - May 26, 2019

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