StC News

Head of School Commencement Remarks

Delivered on May 26, 2017 at Upper School Commencement. 

Good morning and welcome to the 2017 Commencement Exercises at St. Christopher’s School, the 106th Commencement of our storied institution.
 
It is my pleasure to welcome all of you this morning, especially the parents, grandparents, family, and friends of our outstanding Class of 2017.
 
As you can imagine, an event such as this involves many hands and hearts, and I am particularly grateful for the outstanding work of our maintenance team, our Development Office, especially Cricket O’Connor and Alice Flowers, and also for Ginger Adamson, Karen Glasco, Cathy Hensby, and Beth Wood. My sincere thanks to everyone who helped us prepare for this special morning.

For the faculty of this school, including Extended Day, Lower, Middle, and Upper School, thank you for the manner in which you have raised these young men, academically, yes, but also spiritually, morally, and emotionally.
 
I am also grateful to our colleagues at St. Catherine’s School, especially Dr. Terrie Scheckelhoff, Dr. Lara Wulff, and the entire St. Catherine’s faculty for all that they do to enrich the experiences of our boys here at St. Christopher’s.
 
This is a bittersweet moment for me, as I suspect it is for our boys and their families. On the one hand, I must confess to some eagerness to shed my own freshman status here at St. Christopher’s, ready to become a sage sophomore, at least in my own mind.
 
On the other hand, the first time one does anything in life is special, and I will forever remember with fondness the 2016-2017 school year at St. Christopher’s, thanks in no small part to the grace, character, and overall excellence of these 78 gentlemen to my right.
 
When one pauses and reflects on this class, on the totality of their shared experiences and accomplishments at St. Christopher’s and culminating in their senior year, it is a rather remarkable thing. Consider, for a moment, that this group of seniors led this school through the first change in headship this community has known in nearly two decades.
 
At the same time, they helped to welcome a new US Chaplain, also the first such leadership change in well over a decade, as well as 29 other new employees into our community.
 
And mind you that these boys served their school with poise and resolve amidst a local and national backdrop of heated rhetoric and divisive politics, so heated and divisive that many of us worried, this past spring and summer, about the very civility of our campus tenor and our capacity to foster a respectful teaching and learning environment for our boys. In hindsight, we should not have worried so much.
 
From the outset, these 78 gentlemen have established a campus tone and a standard of expectations, a level of maturity, really, that belies their chronological age. On many occasions this year, I found myself simply watching them, observing, and, more often than not, learning from them. I know I am not the only faculty member who did the same.
 
To the members of the Class of 2017, from your green and admittedly slightly robotic new School Head, I want to thank you for your leadership, your poise, and your patience with me as we taught and learned alongside each other during your senior year. I will always remember this class with fondness and appreciation.
 
To the parents of the Class of 2017, I want to thank all of you, as well. It probably would not have been your or your sons’ choice to have so many transitions just before the start of this important year, but I have felt only care and support from all of you and your boys, and I appreciate that deeply.
 
This is indeed a thoughtful class, one concerned with fairness, equity, and justice. Several faculty members have shared with me how impressed they are with this class’s leadership in student-run initiatives such as Saints for Social Justice and the student panel that helped to organize the Center for the Study of Boys Syracuse 8 program this fall.
 
Academically, this class boasts a deep cohort of accomplished scholars. Over 10% of them earned National Merit distinction, and nearly 40% of them qualified as AP scholars. Our 78 boys will enroll in 38 different colleges and universities in 16 different states this fall, having collectively earned 263 acceptances to selective collegiate institutions in 29 states and the District of Columbia.
 
The faculty and I are proud of all of these boys, including the ones whose earnest effort earned National Merit or AP Scholar distinction, as well as those whose same earnest effort earned them something less than that in high school, but likely something even grander, in the years to come.
 
Artistically, this class continued to help St. Christopher’s raise its bar for both performance and visual artistry. With remarkable leadership in groups such as the Beaux Ties and Glee Club, plus performance and technical mastery in Ampersand, the Class of 2017 continued to prove that “Renaissance Men” are alive and well in Virginia and in the modern era.
 
Speaking of Renaissance Men, is there anything more delightful and compelling than watching a group of young men sing, paint, or play an instrument with precision and dedication, who, perhaps just hours ago, were performing with equal intensity in a mathematics class or perhaps on the football field? These delightful complements—not contradictions—occur each and every day on this campus, thanks to this multi-faceted senior class and a first-rate faculty.
 
In addition to excellence in music and in the visual arts, this group continued to help St. Christopher’s evolve and improve its already-strong student publications. The recently-released Hieroglyphic and the final Pine Needle, in newsmagazine form, are stunning examples of what young men are capable of producing, when provided the ideal blend of adult guidance and student ownership.
 
Athletically, as we heard at the Banquet earlier this week, this group sets a high standard for our underclassmen to reach next year. Consider just a few of their accomplishments—6 Prep League Championships and 5 State Championships. 16 three-sport athletes and 25 two-sport athletes. For the second consecutive year and fifth time in seven years, St. Christopher’s will earn the Prep League Director’s Cup for athletic excellence across all sports. 15 of these young men, nearly 20% of the class, will go on and compete athletically at the college level; two are already competing professionally.
 
At the risk of sounding boastful, this class boasts a record six Lexus Pursuit of Perfection Leadership Award winners, the most of any high school in the Richmond area, public or private. In fact, our six recipients represented 60% of the male award winners recognized this school year throughout Richmond.
 
Finally, I will remember these young men for their commitment to service—not because it is required of them but because they embrace the premise that they have a responsibility, as St. Christopher’s men, to more deeply connect with the broader world around them. Whether it was leading St. Christopher’s as a top fundraiser for the Massey Cancer Center or dutifully sharing Saturday mornings with promising Richmond City children through Saturday Academy, these boys helped to fulfill Dr. Chamberlayne’s vision of instilling in our students a deep and abiding commitment to enhancing the lives of others through service and selflessness.
 
Gentlemen, before I mercifully conclude my remarks and we prepare to confer diplomas upon all of you, I have one piece of advice for you, and it pertains to my comments about service and engagement with the adult world you will soon inhabit.
 
Too often in this year of listening and learning for me, I have heard the St. Christopher’s community described as a “bubble.” Depending on the speaker and the context, that comment can infer high praise—As in, the values and expectations we hold dear here at St. Christopher’s are not widely accepted outside of our community, and isn’t that a shame, and aren’t our boys fortunate to spend up to 14 years in such a safe, nurturing, and decent community during their formative years.
 
Alternatively, such a statement can infer at least mild condemnation—As in, “Oh, St. Christopher’s exists in a bubble; its homogeneity does not prepare its students for the real world, and the community itself is disconnected from the greater Richmond community and the world beyond.”
 
In reality, those two extremes are unfair characterizations, overly broad simplifications of this complex and dynamic school community.
 
Still, as with most generalizations, some truth can be found inside of those sweeping statements.
 
Yes, the values that we espouse and hold dear at St. Christopher’s—values such as choosing the hard right over the easy wrong, the very values embodied in our student-run Honor Code—are sadly counter-cultural.
 
They are not found in every college campus and far too few professional communities. My charge to you in that regard is to take what you have learned here and use it to positively influence whatever community you inhabit. The world needs as much decency, truth, and honor as can be mustered in complex times such as these.
 
On the other hand, the fact of the matter is that for virtually every one of you, the college campus you will soon inhabit will possess greater racial, geographic, socioeconomic, religious, and ideological variety than we possess here at St. Christopher’s. That is in no way a condemnation of this community, for we are not, as some might believe, a homogenous or monolithic community. Rather, it is a simple progression of life, of transitioning from the comfort of one’s hometown, homeschool, and base of like-minded friends into new and more widely varied environs.
 
I challenge all of you, wherever you land this fall and in the years to come, to lean into those differences and embrace them. Avoid the temptation to self-segregate with those who look, think, and act as you do. Indulging in such temptations may provide immediate comfort, but I can tell you from personal experience that comfort is ultimately fleeting and shallow.
 
Surrounding yourself with people different from you can be uncomfortable, for sure, just as it is uncomfortable to live or travel to a new city or a new country or to take a new job in a new community, but it is the most fulfilling and transcendent way to live one’s life.
 
 
May you all live such lives of transcendence while positively influencing those fortunate enough to know you. May God bless St. Christopher’s School and its Class of 2017.  
 
It is my pleasure to now introduce the Class of 2017 Salutatorian Trent Levy.  Thank you. 
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