News & Events 2003-2004

Commencement Speeches 2004

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

Speech 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.

Blair has taught me endless lessons, some of which have come as welcome surprises and others as harsh truths. Blair has put me in uncomfortable situations in every facet of life, and in every case I have made mistakes and emerged a stronger person. I would not take back a single Blair moment – not one wrong answer on a calculus test, not one error in a softball game, not one thoughtless remark aimed at a friend. All of these mistakes maintain a spot in my memory, and I sometimes force myself to revisit them, taking in the healthy reminders that, indeed, life has gone on. But of equal magnitude as my collection of blunders, a place in my mind of great rewards has also developed at Blair. For all of us, dorm life has been the source of some of the most valuable of these rewards. The girls in South this year, although small in number, have taught me immeasurable lessons regarding relationships, handling stress, and growing up. Does it seem ridiculous to you that on certain nights, everyone would choose to spend study hall crammed in the prefect room, indulging a group mood swing in which each girl continuously yelled at the others for distracting her from her work? The fact that the rest of the dorm sat empty as a much more productive option for studying was never brought up. It is now clear why this choice was made, and why I could not bring myself to kick them out. Would you have spent these nights any other way? I can only hope that I have influenced these girls nearly as much as they have touched me.

Another important thing I will walk away from Blair with is a heightened appreciation of the unique qualities and strengths of other people. I think our class in particular represents a diverse range of backgrounds, personalities, and interests, and each individual’s contribution to the mix is a vital ingredient that makes the class of 2004 a special one. Not a day has gone by where at least one of my classmates has ceased to impress me: Eric Steere’s analysis of a Shakespearean sonnet, a piece of Meredith Habermann’s pottery, Courtney Field’s out-of-the-park homerun, Mikey Kampmann’s ability to make us laugh at school meeting, Kate Barone’s solo, Anna Hay going to run at nationals, Hamilton Davis’s genius, Seo-Young Park’s proficiency on three instruments, Lindsay Doyle coxwaing four boys to a crew victory, or simply a thoughtful act of Ken Shiosaki that seemed to go unnoticed. When we think of each member of our class, even those we have not had the opportunity to know well, a particular strength of theirs comes to mind. Whether their interests are similar to or dramatically different from ours, we have come to appreciate all of them for the unique gifts they have to offer. With this, we have gained an appreciation of ourselves, one that has given us the confidence to think independently and work well with others. Because of the broad range of individuals we are composed of, we have confirmed a principle that I strongly believe in: it is important to reach out and talk to different people not solely because you feel an obligation to be friendly, but because you have a genuine interest in what they have to say. It is only with this interest that you will truly open your eyes, your ears, and your heart to that person. It is in this way that we have developed some unsuspecting friendships, discovered some fascinating stories, and dramatically broadened our horizons over the past four years.

Perhaps the most significant realization I have come to here is that I love Blair. No, this is not just for the sake of making the administration smile, it has to do with a kind of love that I have discovered here that will ensure that Blair always remains a part of me. Loving a thing can be equated with loving a person in that even at the moments when you feel hatred towards it, the love maintains itself. A couple years ago, I realized that this is how I feel about softball. I love the excitement and precision of the game, I love the spirit of competition, I love the feeling of unity on a team, and I love my occasional moments of glory. Even so, in the most intense July heat, when it is my third game of the day and I just struck out in a key situation, I look back and see that I loved the intensity, the sweat, even the disappointment of these moments as well. The same theory applies to my time at Blair. Even when it is two in the morning and I have just spent an hour with an upset friend and have yet to begin writing a French composition and studying for a calculus test, I look back and see that part of me loved the solitude of the night, the stress, the pressure, the challenge of regaining control and assuring myself that I would get it all done. These were not always my proudest moments; in fact, I remember one of these insane nights during which a pencil slipped through my binder onto the floor and was misplaced for a brief moment, and I was actually brought to tears over it. I am appalled at the memory of crying over a dropped pencil; however, I do feel a sense of pride for having endured these nights, for embracing hard work and discovering that I love Blair regardless of what it puts me through.

As Ms. Conforti said to the softball team after a tough loss against Hun this year, losing things is a huge part of life. Sometimes, loss makes us feel hopeless, like the whole world is against us. She reminded us that even on the mornings when we feel like there is nothing to look forward to, we still get out of bed. There has to be something in our day worth waking up for that overrides this sense of loss. There has to be something that makes us keep trying when giving up seems like the easiest thing to do. Ms. Conforti is motivated by the knowledge that while we may lose things frequently, we also find something every day. Some days, we don’t find much or we have to look closely for it, but it is always there. I think about our days at Blair and the infinite things we have found here. In English class, we found a character in a novel that we could relate to. In the dining hall, we found that someone we never really noticed before has a beautiful smile. On the playing field, we found a high five from a teammate when we felt like we had just let her down. In the dorm, we found comfort in sitting by a window watching a thunderstorm with a friend. We found the sensitive side of a person who we thought was unemotional. We found the passion in a person who we thought was indifferent. We found that we could accomplish things we never thought were possible. We found that we are blessed in more ways than we have ever had the courage to express. We have sometimes found things in the most unlikely places, from the most unlikely sources, and at the most unlikely times. I know that we, members of the class of 2004, have found things every day at Blair, and that we will continue finding things and discovering the kind of love that we have discovered here wherever life should take us. Best of luck always.

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