News & Events 2003-2004

Commencement Speeches 2004

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.

Before turning to our welcoming speaker, I do want to tell you a story that characterizes this class. As some of you know, the State of New Jersey, in an effort to protect us all, banned our hugely traditional Peddie eve bonfire, or at least reduced it to the size of a large backyard grill. As we tried to negotiate with the state, the faculty and I fretted that the seniors would be so unhappy that the spirit of Peddie would be seriously damaged, making a wonderful tradition a sorry and sour affair. Instead, as with so many things for the Class of 2004, they rose to the occasion: they reduced the size of the bonfire; they held a rousing pep rally; and when the state relented and let them carry torches and throw them on the fire, 2004 treated the news as if I had given them a week of holidays. And when they marched that night, their faces lighted by the flames, we knew what 2004 was made of.

Now I would ask Kate Maillet, the Representative of the Senior Class Council, to welcome you on behalf of the senior class to our commencement ceremonies.

Introductory Remarks
Thank you, Kate, not only for your remarks but also for your Council’s leadership this year. From the time of your election by your peers last spring, the Faculty and I have been pleased by the responsible and enthusiastic leadership you displayed. From your creativity in Friday School Meetings to your energetic approach to school activities – including the inaugural year of the Headmaster Society games, your Council has continued the impressive line of senior leaders who have reinforced the values and traditions of this School.

I want to thank particularly Travis Featherstone, the post-graduate representative, for your leadership and involvement. Our country will benefit from your continuing education and leadership at West Point next year. Before turning to Dean of Faculty Ms. Rachel Stone, I want to acknowledge the parents, grandparents, and friends who are here today supporting this great moment in these young people’s lives. Without your support, without your commitment to their education at Blair, this day would not have occurred; you have worked with us to make the opportunity for these seniors possible, and I want to assure you that this superb class has responded responsibly to that gift, particularly in their senior year. On behalf of the faculty and the Class of 2004, we thank you.

Now Ms. Rachel Stone will introduce the faculty recognition part of this ceremony. We feel that, while commencement is primarily about the graduating class, it also serves to give them and you a chance to acknowledge the critical contributions of the Blair faculty to the success of this class and its successful arrival to this day. Rachel...

The Tedlow
The Tedlow Fellowship is the oldest faculty award and was originally given by the Tedlow family to allow faculty members to travel during the summers. Time has changed and the award is not restricted to travel, but it is nonetheless an award which acknowledges years of loyalty and service to Blair rather than excellence in a particular area.

This year’s recipient joined the Blair Faculty fourteen years ago as an English teacher, returning to the classroom after some years in the administration of one of the most highly regarded day schools in the country. The goal for Blair was to confirm the wisdom of our choice that this man be the new Dean of Academics, the position our recipient assumed in the fall of 1991 and has held actively and successfully ever since. During those thirteen years, Blair changed grading systems twice, revised our daily schedule several times, significantly altered the academic calendar too often to mention, installed the Monitor system, and constantly converted our academic program to adopt and adapt to the latest technological advances. Even so, this year’s Tedlow Fellow selflessly jumped back into the English classroom whenever the need arose; coached when coaches were needed – included junior varsity softball – and rolled up his sleeves to work with other faculty members to solve the many systematic challenges Blair has faced. Through it all, he has been a thoughtful, positive, and loyal advisor and friend to us all, particularly the individual student. I am pleased to give this year’s Tedlow Fellowship to Mr. Bacon.

Service Academy Appointments
By tradition we have set aside a moment in our graduation exercises to honor those Blair students who earned an appointment to one of the national service academies. I would ask Blair alumnus and graduate of The United States Military Academy at West Point, Norman Beatty, to step up and present the appointments to our two Members of the Class of 2004.

The Headmaster’s Prize
The Headmaster’s Prize is awarded to the student in the Senior Class who has conspicuously displayed loyalty to the School, outstanding leadership, a fine influence in sportsmanship, and Blair spirit in athletic competition.

It is beginning to feel customary to give this award to two seniors – a girl and a boy – and while there is no specific policy involved, there is a kind of appropriateness to acknowledging that while a boy’s life and girl’s life at Blair are invariably different, both arrive eventually at the same place, at the same time.

And so it is today that we are pleased to recognize two fine Blair seniors who have given much to this senior class and to the Blair community during their four years here. The girl came to us as part of a family tradition, emerging from the local public school system having grown up in Warren County and knew from an early age that Blair was going to be her high school. If her ownership of Blair comes from family history, her vivacious, positive, and intelligent leadership come from some wonderful place within her character. As Mr. Amerman said in his final chapel, this young woman seemed to be everywhere and in being everywhere, that place was better for her presence and her involvement. When this Senior Class needed something done, something you might have taken more or less for granted, the likelihood was that this girl made it happen, and but for her, what you needed as a class may not have occurred.

Similarly, the young man was thoroughly engaged, purposeful and marked as a leader. Rather than growing up in the New Jersey countryside, his heritage was from Nigeria, and, out of the urban New Jersey public system, he was given the chance to go to a boarding school to expand his personal horizons and better the school community he chose. Although all schools wanted him, the young man chose Blair, and he tells me that he did so to play football, a decision that was not fulfilled until his senior year when victory after victory gave his senior year team a championship season. But along the way to that athletic success, this boy carved out a reputation in our classrooms, in the community, and as a leader in the Class of 2004. Always his own person, this boy never fit any stereotypes, showed a genuine enthusiasm for learning and service, and reflected a mature sense of responsibility and appreciation for being at Blair. Both leaders, both possessed with a positive and cheerful approach to the world, both boy and girl exemplify what is best about your class, I am pleased to award this year’s Headmaster’s Prize to Kaitlin Gallagher Maillet and Emmanuel Bello.

Introduction to John C. Bogle, ’47
Before turning to the presentation of your diplomas, followed by my final remarks, I am proud to introduce one of the great alumni of this School and one of the great individuals of his time. Mr. Bogle will express both amazement and gratitude at the magnitude of his fame; he recently was named to the Time magazine top 100 people in the world, ranking somewhere between Tiger Woods and the Dali Lama. But he never loses sight of the importance his student days at Blair played as a foundation for that success. Coming to the school in 1945 with his twin brother David, and following his older brother William, John Bogle was a scholarship student during his time at Blair and went on to Princeton as a scholarship student as well, having the distinction of being the captain of the dining hall waiters at both institutions. His educational years at Blair and Princeton prepared him to enter the world of finance and investment, and in 1974 Mr. Bogle founded the Vanguard Group of Companies, today one of the largest and most successful mutual fund companies in the world. Throughout his career Mr. Bogle has been true to many things – perhaps most famously to his values about fairness to investors and to corporate responsibility generally. But he has also been especially true to Blair – as a student, as an alumnus (as all of you will soon be), as a Trustee, and as Chairman of the Blair Board of Trustees. And today he is true to Blair as he returns again to our campus to celebrate your graduation and speak to you on this special day. I am honored and grateful to welcome Mr. John Bogle to the podium.

Final Remarks (Seniors, please stand)
I have but a few last remarks before sending you on your way.

Today the formal structure of your Blair education is at an end. Whether you joined the school as a freshman or came just nine months ago, the Faculty and I hope that the positive impact of our lives on yours and your lives on each other’s will carry on into your adult years. Even as you have at times been at odds with the rules and structure of Blair, you were also learning with a kind of independence that few young people have.

Finally, Thank You, Class of 2004. You have been great to watch grow and mature, challenging and fun to work with, and memorable in every positive respect. I say this after some consideration, but I believe that you are the most accomplished class in Blair history and also one of the very best classes in Blair’s long history, and that includes some great classes such as last year’s.

The faculty and I have every confidence that you will distinguish yourselves in your colleges and in your adult lives and that, wherever you go, you will make this world better for your presence. You have certainly made Blair better for having been here.

We shall miss you more than you know. The faculty and I invite you to return often and keep Blair always a part of your life.

Now, by the authority conferred by the Blair Board of Trustees, I am happy to proclaim you duly graduated from Blair Academy. Congratulations!

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