News & Events 2003-2004

Commencement Speeches 2004

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.

But through years of just observing the alumni in my family, this is what I’ve learned. Some of us may view this as just another chapter in our lives, but the memories we have made here are some of the greatest we will ever have, some of the friendships we have made will last a lifetime, and the Peddie Days and Alumni Days are ones we can’t wait to come back for. For Blair, although we may not be able to realize it now, has left its mark on each and every one of us. We have all grown together, taken risks, faced challenges, and overcome obstacles to become the people you see here today. The faculty and friends of Blair have become like your family, and the stone buildings and beautiful campus have become your like home. As much as each one of us is jumping from our seats to leave, take the time right now to think about our freshman selves that we are leaving behind.

Think about your first day of school, how new and scary everything was. The people, teachers, campus, and classes were all overwhelming. But as the years went on, all of these things became routine, and it was those in-between moments that taught you the lessons and made you laugh or cry the hardest. It was your advisor who took the time to persuade you not to throw in the towel and come back for another year, or the hours you spent just laughing with your best friend over nothing. Now our tears and laughter have all been absorbed into the walls and are only a memory, but the lessons they have taught us will stay with us forever. The crushes and goodnight kisses taught us how to love and how to trust. And the homesickness and loneliness taught us how to reach out to others and cement those lifelong friends. And the mistakes that each and every one of us has made are the lessons we have learned from, not the classes we have taken or the 6.0’s we have received. For if you are willing to open your eyes and look at the people and the experience that follows that mistake, you will grow as a person, as each and every one of us has.

Our generation is always moving, waiting for the next step, but right now just stop, put both feet on the ground and prevent your mind from wondering, and live in this moment. Look around you; this is a peak; life doesn’t get much better than this. This is what it’s all about, this is our day, what we have worked four and, for some, even five years to accomplish: graduation. Take notice at the way the sun is hitting your chair, and the smell of the flowers, remember how you feel. Turn around and look at your family, these are the people who have been your backbone throughout all the highs and lows of your life and will continue to be with you with each new journey that you encounter. Their love is something that all of us know and sometimes take for granted that we can always fall back on. Look over at the faculty; these are the people that have guided you throughout your time here at Blair, who have been teachers, coaches, and parents to each and every one of us. Look at all the students that will be coming back for another year, first take a sigh of relief that we are not them, but also think back to all of the experiences that they have to look forward to. Now, look at the person to the right and left of you and in front of you; this is the last time that you will sit in the alphabetical order that we have sat through for so many school meetings and chapels before. See all the faces of your classmates that have helped you become the person you are today. At this time, take a deep breathe and remember this moment, remember this feeling, and please remember these people. Right now I am going to ask you to open your eyes, to think of all the positive things that all of these people have done for your life. Now close your eyes; can you picture this moment and keep it in your mind forever?

As we graduate and walk through the arch for the last time of THIS journey, look ahead with hope and determination. Learn from the temporary lows of the valleys we may encounter, and enjoy the peaks along the way; and never, ever lose sight of the destination our new journey brings to us. Now I join the ranks of the long legacy before me, but our class of 2004 joins a longer legacy of the 155 classes that have come before us. And as my grandmother, who passed away this spring, and who I wish could be here today, once said, “This is a comma, not a period.” Now Class of 2004, let us begin the next clause.

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