FALLS VILLAGE, Conn.—The importance of community and collaboration was at the core of messages delivered by commencement speakers Friday evening at Housatonic Valley Regional High School.
Six Kent residents—Lola Moerschell, Kyle McCarron, Max Leiper, Kyle Merritt, Patrick Money and Jinxing Zhang—were among the graduates.
The class of “nice people”—so defined by main office “legend” Cindy Fuller—has already enjoyed its share of collaborative successes. Principal Ian Strever recalled the recent heroic response of two of the students, Niya Borst and Emil Urbanowicz of Cornwall, who joined in communal efforts in Cornwall to rescue a woman trapped in a burning car.
The students, “straddling the line between life and death” acted “just moments before the car was engulfed by flames,” Streever related. “The situation demanded a decision and decisions like these will reflect the person you choose to become,” he said. “The challenge of the rest of your lives will be to define that direction.”
Salutatorian and Class President Tess Marks furthered the call. She lauded her years at Housatonic, saying that attending a small school allows students to interact with students and faculty from diverse backgrounds, an experience she termed “infinitely valuable” in understanding “so much more about each individual than is exposed on surface.”
She said this perspective has allowed her to understand that “something great” can be created when “we all lend a hand and allow ourselves to collaborate. By embracing our differences, our experience will help us grow a community of people that is supportive, creative, understanding and loving, which is exactly what we as a society need for future peace and growth.
“Alone, we can make small changes,” she continued, “but when we join together as a community, we can make a world of difference.”
Kent resident and class essayist Lola Moerschelle encouraged her classmates to embrace future opportunities while building on the support and encouragement “of parents, teachers and community that have prepared [us] for the future.”
“We can only get stronger with new people and new experiences,” she prophesied.
History teacher Peter Vermilyea, chosen by the class as its commencement speaker, cited the school’s song, written by former teacher Hattie Travis. “She reminds us that we all have ‘greater work to do,’” he said. “Not more work, not harder work, but greater work that impacts the world around you.”
He applauded the work the class has already done. “You have taught us about curiosity and enthusiasm, leadership and mental toughness, and kindness, bravery and determination, he said. “The courage you have demonstrated has taught us all … what it means to be a community. ‘Greater work’ requires collaboration and few of your achievements could have been done individually—even solo players have teams and coaches behind them. The workplace of the future will be increasingly collaborative. Don’t go it alone.”
Class Valedictorian Manasseh Matsudaira, who will attend Harvard in the fall, spoke eloquently about remaining alert to human relationships even as one strives to move forward in one’s education or career.
His father, Yoshihiro “Mappe” Matsudaira, who died in January, was in the final stages of his illness just as the young man was preparing his applications to college. “It was too easy to say, ‘I have a lot on my plate,’ or ‘I am too busy,’” Manasseh said.
He later found 19 reels his father had made for him in his Instagram account, messages he had never viewed. “I found I had been looking in all the wrong places for inspiration [for this speech],” he said, “searching for words of career and college motivation that might help us achieve. But I recently made a mistake, which has lead me to caution this unrelenting pursuit of achievement.”
“The month my father sent me these reels was the most rigorous academic period of my life, but no amount of reasoning makes the pain of missing those reels from my father go away. I still have not mustered the courage to look at [them], mostly because I know I am too late. I missed the opportunity to connect and bond with my father. The lesson I learned was do not let your personal dreams ever get in the way of attending to your most important relationships.”
Referring to his Christian faith, he spoke of the importance of the ritual of communion. “So, community must be pretty important for our time on Earth,” he concluded. “And community is about relationships. … I will let my relationships take precedence over my aspirations. I will strive to achieve each and every day, but more importantly, when my mom asks how my day has been, I will try to respond with more than ‘good’ for once. When my family is home for the holidays, I will skip a workout to play a board game. In everything, I will prioritize those relationships that I cherish the most.”
With that, the class of “nice people” received their diplomas and moved on into a wider world.
