News & Events 2003-2004

Commencement Speeches 2004

BACCALAUREATE ADDRESS 2004
Given by Robert Cooke
English Teacher
May 28, 2004

Forty-five minutes hardly seems enough time for an appropriate Baccalaureate address – wait – fifteen minutes hardly seems enough time for an appropriate Baccalaureate address.

When the shock of being asked by the Class of 2004 to speak at their Baccalaureate service had worn off to the point that I could calmly consider it, three things occurred to me:

Naturally, the first was the magnitude of the honor the class had bestowed upon me. I have given people quite a number of speeches of one kind or another over the years, but this is the first time I can remember having actually been asked to do so. (Click here to read entire speech.)

GRADUATION 2004
Given by T. Chandler Hardwick
Headmaster
May 29, 2004

Welcome to the 156th Commencement Exercises of Blair Academy. We are now firmly in the tradition of holding our graduation on the Sharpe House lawn. That is The Sharpe House behind me, built in 1927 by John C. Sharpe, the ninth Headmaster at Blair and a man who also built the Arch through which the seniors pass on graduation morning. We hope you are comfortable here and enjoy this spacious setting, as we gather this morning to send this wonderful group of graduates on their way from their high school home with our support, our blessing, and our congratulation for their accomplishments and success. (Click here to read entire speech.)

COMMENCEMENT WELCOME
Given by Kaitlin G. Maillet ’04
Senior Class Council Member
May 29, 2004

Welcome graduates, parents, family, alumni, Trustees and friends. As many of you already know, I have a long legacy at Blair, and for those of you who don’t, my mother, aunt and four cousins all walked through the arch as all of us just have. Walking to the culmination, yet not the end of our Blair careers. Each one of them felt as we do right now, filled with bittersweet emotions of leaving Blair. Counting the seconds to our freedom. Promising that once we leave, it’s for good, yet at the same time wondering if our friends that have become like family will remain even after we leave the confines of Blair. Relishing in the happiness of no more formal dinners or study halls, yet hating to admit that you want just one more night in the can. (Click here to read entire speech.)

VALEDICTORY SPEECH
Given by Carolyn Davis ’04
Valedictorian
May 29, 2004

I sometimes cringe to think that Blair is called a prep school. In every aspect of life – as students, athletes, friends – I feel as though we have been pushed to our limits, in some cases, our breaking points. If this is only the preparatory phase, what are we to expect of the real thing? Before I allow myself to be consumed in this idea of an insurmountable future, I stop and I realize that the times we have shared at Blair are real memories and that we have endured some real challenges here. I swallow my pride as I recall some of the things that seemed daunting to me as a freshman, which I now consider integral parts of my Blair career. I admit that I have never felt so lost as I did desperately trying to blend in with the crowd running up and down the court on jv basketball. Coach Hardwick’s assurances that he had coached plenty of girls who had never played basketball before seemed as distant as his head towering feet above mine. I admit that it took me nearly two years to go near the swarm surrounding the grilled cheese bar at lunch, having not yet discovered the thrill of full-contact grilled cheese making. I laugh in recollection of such trivial anxieties, but I remember that everything is relative, and everything carries with it a lesson of sorts. (Click here to read entire speech.)

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