altoona high school graduation commencement address · pdf filei saw a movie last year in...

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Altoona High School Graduation Commencement Address June 8, 2012 Remarks of President Tom Foley Thank you--for that kind introduction, especially as it was delivered by one of the premier superintendents in the entire Commonwealth of PA. Thank you. Good evening and let me stay with that theme—thanks. First, to all your teachers, your guidance counselors, your mentors, your coaches, your classmates (who were sometimes your “teachers”). The historian Henry Adams wrote that “a teacher affects eternity—[they] can never tell where there influence stops.” I hope that statement rings true for each and every one of you, and that the lessons you learned here in the Altoona school system become life lessons that you pay forward in other locales when you become the mentors, the parents, the friends, the teachers. I also hope that before you leave here tonight, you go over and find that one person on the faculty or staff who made the biggest difference to you—and thank them in person. Second, to all the parents, brothers and sisters, grandmoms and grandpops, aunts and uncles, and best friends--thank you all for getting these graduates to this point. You should all be very proud. We thank you for the roles that each of you have played in the lives of the newest Altoona high school graduates—whether it was building up their confidence or perhaps knocking it down a few notches, whether it was showing them how to tie a slip knot or rig a fishing line, how to catch a fly ball or handle a sly insult, how to sing retro 80s songs for the school musical or make the perfect pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. You who came with them today came with them for a reason and it wasn’t just to drive the car. You came with them because you made them, because you love them and because now you are brave enough to let them go. They say courage is the first virtue, and we thank you all for showing courage in abundance—the courage it took to let these graduates walk to the bus that first day of kindergarten, and the courage it will take to let them leave walk from this stadium on this last day of high school--leaving all of us just a little behind. So thank you families for your love and for your courage!!! Now let me say something about our “almost” graduates in phrases with which we can all identify. Members of the class of 2012, you will certainly know it’s not high school anymore when you wake up tomorrow and there is no one there standing over your bed to tell you

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Page 1: Altoona High School Graduation Commencement Address · PDF fileI saw a movie last year in Altoona ... of them worked the busiest booth at our church carnival every year, ... it was

Altoona High School GraduationCommencement AddressJune 8, 2012Remarks of President Tom Foley

Thank you--for that kind introduction, especially as it was delivered by one of the premiersuperintendents in the entire Commonwealth of PA. Thank you.

Good evening and let me stay with that theme—thanks.

First, to all your teachers, your guidance counselors, your mentors, your coaches, yourclassmates (who were sometimes your “teachers”). The historian Henry Adams wrote that “ateacher affects eternity—[they] can never tell where there influence stops.” I hope thatstatement rings true for each and every one of you, and that the lessons you learned here inthe Altoona school system become life lessons that you pay forward in other locales when youbecome the mentors, the parents, the friends, the teachers. I also hope that before you leavehere tonight, you go over and find that one person on the faculty or staff who made the biggestdifference to you—and thank them in person.

Second, to all the parents, brothers and sisters, grandmoms and grandpops, aunts and uncles,and best friends--thank you all for getting these graduates to this point. You should all be veryproud. We thank you for the roles that each of you have played in the lives of the newestAltoona high school graduates—whether it was building up their confidence or perhapsknocking it down a few notches, whether it was showing them how to tie a slip knot or rig afishing line, how to catch a fly ball or handle a sly insult, how to sing retro 80s songs for theschool musical or make the perfect pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving.

You who came with them today came with them for a reason and it wasn’t just to drive the car.You came with them because you made them, because you love them and because now youare brave enough to let them go. They say courage is the first virtue, and we thank you all forshowing courage in abundance—the courage it took to let these graduates walk to the bus thatfirst day of kindergarten, and the courage it will take to let them leave walk from this stadiumon this last day of high school--leaving all of us just a little behind. So thank you families foryour love and for your courage!!!

Now let me say something about our “almost” graduates in phrases with which we can allidentify. Members of the class of 2012, you will certainly know it’s not high school anymorewhen you wake up tomorrow and there is no one there standing over your bed to tell you

Page 2: Altoona High School Graduation Commencement Address · PDF fileI saw a movie last year in Altoona ... of them worked the busiest booth at our church carnival every year, ... it was

To wake up and, “I mean now.”

To stand up straight

To speak up and stop mumbling

To look both ways.

To wipe your nose.

But not on your sleeve.

To wipe your hands.

But not on your shirt.

To grow up

But not so fast.

To stop texting at the dinner table

To stop texting under the dinner table.

To look at your mother when she talks to you

To not look at your father that way

To go ask your father

To kiss your mother good bye

To say you’re sorry

To say thank you

Because I said so.

Any of those phrases sound familiar? See what you’re going to miss?

So, to all the parents and loved ones with us today. We thank you—for all the things we cancount: lunches made, homework reviewed, and miles driven and for all the things we can’tcount: personal sacrifices you’ve made, life lessons you work hard every day to impart.

Now let me say just a few things to all our graduating seniors.

We are in awe of you. Let me tell you why.

For starters, you have been to the state tournament in so many sports, I lost count—girlsbasketball, wrestling, boys and girls track, and you’re still there in the state semifinals inbaseball. You went all the way to the semifinals in the state mock trial competition, to thenational finals in speech and debate, your musicians have been rated all state caliber, and I sawyour first rate art work at the recent Blair County Arts Festival.

I am especially impressed by your work on behalf of the community, because I represent aninstitution where community service is actually a school requirement. You raised an amazingamount of money for good causes, you used your own elbow grease to help everyone from our

Page 3: Altoona High School Graduation Commencement Address · PDF fileI saw a movie last year in Altoona ... of them worked the busiest booth at our church carnival every year, ... it was

friends at the Nehemiah Project to the 900 students who descended on Altoona high School forthe statewide Student Council Conference.

We thank you for the example of service that you set Principal Patty Burlingame, and we are inawe of all the students who followed your lead. We hope that their commitment to servingothers while at Altoona High becomes the habit of a lifetime.

We on this side of the podium are in awe of you for a whole other set of reasons as well.

You have grown up in an era when “MySpace” is already old space, where “email” is the new“snail mail,” where the first association with the word “web” is not “spider”, and where aforeign government—Egypt’s, entrenched for 40 years—can be toppled by a thousandprotesters armed with smart phones, Facebook accounts and a common cause. Thekeyboard—faster than the pen and still mightier than the sword. My goodness, if Facebookwere a country, it would be the third largest country in the world.

These new forms of communication have allowed you to define and redefine yourselves inmuch more than simply a nationalistic sense. You have created bonds of friendship andcommonality over the web, you have foraged for ideas (sometimes for whole term papers!) onthe web and you have joined and supported causes through the web. And you have done all ofthis instantaneously across schools, cross community, heck even across oceans and oftenwithout a single in-person encounter. Today’s constant communications and creativeconnectivity have shrunk your world to a fraction of its previous size. You make friends withkids in countries that didn’t exist a generation ago just as easily as you do with the kid whostood next to you in line the first day of high school.

You have taught the rest of us that going “global” doesn’t mean you can’t stay “local”—heck,you don’t even have to leave your bedroom (or for the fellows in the audience, your “mancave”) to do most of these things. So we are in awe of you.

In education today, we on this side of the podium all come late to the party, trying to keep pacewith developments we couldn’t even imagine—not just a generation ago—how about a yearago. I saw a video recently of a Good Samaritan somewhere in the Third World building a wellby following the directions on his IPAD mounted on a dirt pile next to him. I saw a movie lastyear in Altoona where a teenager dialed up his blackberry to figure out how to pick a lock. Theripple effects of all these examples of “higher” education— how to peacefully overthrow agovernment, how to pick a lock, how to build a well--are not unrelated to what we do at MtAloysius College every day and are directly related to what you must do as you go forth thisvery day from Altoona High School.

Now, I don’t want you to think that everything changed with your generation. The Penguinswere in the top echelon of hockey before you were born, the Steelers had four of those ringsbefore your parents even thought about you; and it looks like the Pirates will, again, probablynot make the playoffs (though they have, like all of you, good things ahead of them with ayoung roster and an old manager). Some things never change I guess.

Page 4: Altoona High School Graduation Commencement Address · PDF fileI saw a movie last year in Altoona ... of them worked the busiest booth at our church carnival every year, ... it was

But in the end, we are in awe of you--the generation of iPhones and iPods--whose pocket PCDshave more brain power literally—I am not being figurative here--than the Apollo computer thatlanded a man on the moon.

Now at this point in the speech, graduation speakers are supposed to have top ten lists, or fivecute rules for guaranteed success, or some catchy phrase or formula that will work for you inevery possible future situation. Don’t have any of that.

What I do have is this—there are three things that I have learned to be true. It took me aboutfifty years to figure this out, and I want to share them with you as my last words tonight, as apersonal gift to each one of you.

The first thing that I know for sure is true is this--the happiest people in the world don’tnecessarily have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything.

My father worked in an electronics factory his whole life, never made a big salary, never had abig job title. My mother, the only child of depression-fatigued parents, gave birth to and raised12 children, never complained about the dozens of carpool assignments every week, neverforgot to leave some dinner in the oven for the ones who got home late from practice. The twoof them worked the busiest booth at our church carnival every year, joined the mother’s andfather’s club at each of our schools. My father coached every team at our little grade school, heworked each chicken barbecue for every good cause in our small town, and my mother fedanybody we dragged through the kitchen door with us. They were family people first andcommunity people right after.

When my father died, it was the biggest funeral that town ever saw--4,000 people came--andevery single one of them had a story. My parents didn’t have the best of everything, but theysure made the best of everything—and that’s the best advice I can give you today. Make thebest of what you have. Better yet, share some of it—on a team, in a family, with yourcommunity. That will make all the difference.

So, the first thing I know is true—the happiest people in the world don’t necessarily have thebest of everything, but they know how to make the best of what they have.

Second thing I have learned to be true. Kindness is the universal language. Even in those rareinstances when people don’t respond to that “language,” it will at least be clear that it is theirproblem, not yours.

Now I want to be clear that kindness is not just about being “nice,” it’s about recognizinganother human being who deserves respect. One of our greatest Generals, Colin Powell, saysthat “being kind doesn’t mean being soft.” He tells the story of “young soldiers who go to basictraining and meet their worst nightmare—their drill sergeant. They are terrified of him (or her)when they first get there. The sergeant is with them every step of the way, teaching, cajoling,enforcing, bringing out the strength and confidence they didn’t know they had. When theygraduate, they leave with an emotional bond they will never forget.” Powell says that if you askthose same soldiers forty years later the name of their drill sergeant and they will know it.

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So, I’m not saying that facts and figures don’t matter—they do, especially on SATs and finalexams. But they are not all that matters. And I am not saying that kindness is just somecoefficient of “nice-ness.” Kindness is about recognizing the essential dignity in another personand maybe sometimes bringing out the best in them. Don’t forget the old saying that “to theworld, you may be one person, but to one person, sometimes you just might be the wholeworld.”

So, second thing I know to be true, kindness is truly the universal language.

Third and finally. Every now and then take a long look at something not made by a machine—amountain, a star, the bend in a stream, a child. You will learn patience in those moments, youmight even catch a glimpse of wisdom and you will know in those moments that you are notalone.

Hope some of this makes sense to you. Don’t ever forget to enjoy the little things—yourfavorite CD, a childhood swing set, pulled pork, a baseball game, whatever—because some dayyou will look back and realize they were the big things.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Weisel likes to say that “the universe is not made up of atoms; itis made up of stories.” And we know there are 500 different stories sitting here this evening.We thank each of you for the special story of your family, the story that led your parents tobring you here to this high school. And we applaud you, parents and family, as you show yourcourage—the courage to let your children go forth and write the next chapter in the story ofyour family.

Now go out and have fun. Take some chances. And always remember the shortest prayer ismy first and my last two words this evening—“thank you.”