Windsor
“This proverb does not describe the landscape,” former Windsor High School French teacher Rachel Perry Kiefer told graduating seniors during the commencement address Friday night.
“In a country so often hit by tragedy,” she went on to explain, “the cultural belief is that anytime you overcome an obstacle, you shouldn’t get too excited. There are often more obstacles to come and they are often higher and more perilous than you’ve ever experienced.”
But rather than be bummed out by this gloomy reality, Perry Kieffer told the students about her grandmother, who escaped dictatorial rule in Haiti and moved to Brooklyn in the 1960s, and about her mother, who worked hard to win scholarships to college.
They were women who pressed on regardless of the challenge. Her mother, in particular, taught her to “fuel her ambition with others’ underestimation of her,” Perry Kieffer said.
She encouraged the students to seek out their passions and always look for the next mountain to climb. Perry Kieffer also reminded students that they have privilege and opportunities that others do not. She told them to use that privilege to bring what they’ve learned and the love of their community to those who need it elsewhere.
“The biggest challenge for this graduating class, for anyone who has grown up with the privilege of love is to seek out the steepest mountain on the horizon,” she said, and later added. “Many of the obstacles that come up for you in the next year, 10 years, 50 years will be unexpected and uninvited, but the only person who can keep you from climbing your mountains is yourself.”
And all of those graduates had already climbed one big mountain: completing high school, said Windsor High Principal Tiffany Cassano.
She reminded them that as they go forward, they will be defined by their choices in life, but at the same time, they shouldn’t let the critics define them. Instead, they should write their own story. Life is a lot like high school in that “you get out what you put into it,” Cassano said.
“Take action,” she said. “Keep on pushing on. No matter what you do in life, do it with tenacity. Sting like a yellow jacket and leave your mark in life.”
In the spirit of good sportsmanship, Salutatorian Zachary O’Brian, following a standing ovation, gave a quick well wish to his class before turning the microphone over to the classmate he offered to share the academic honor with, Annie Soho, for the salutatorian’s speech. She took the opportunity to remind her class of their heads full of brains and the feet in their shoes as she read them the Dr. Suess classic Oh, The Places You’ll Go, in its entirety.
“Your mountain is waiting for you,” she read, “So get on your way.”
Valedictorian Megan Roberts let her class know that she will carry them with her wherever she goes in the memories and inside jokes they shared over the past four years and that she shared with everyone on the field.
“Once a yellow jacket,” she reminded them. “You always bleed green.”
Superintendent David Baker seemed to set aside his notes and speak from his heart when he told the graduates they could always come home.
And that no matter what, their community would always be waiting for them through the ups and downs.
“The community’s love goes with you,” he said. “My love goes with you.”
Windsor Class of 2017
Anika Abrahamsen, University of Vermont; Lakota Blaisdell, Vermont Technical College; Devon Campney, work; Natawni L. Comes, New England School of Hair Design; Morgan Crane, University of New England; Lauren Olivia Davis, Lyndon State College; Mackenzie Davis, UVM; Allen Fan, University of Massachusetts-Boston; Grady Gilman, State University of New York-Oswego; Yvette Gray; Josh Griep, work; Caleb Harrington, work; McKenzie Hartwell, Plymouth State University; Kacey Herschel, Community College of Vermont; Megan Herschel, Seton Hall University; Stephen Hurlburt, work; Robert (Will) Jaarsma, Plymouth State; Hunter William Judd, work; Rowan Kelly, Castleton University; Brandyn LeBarron; Chad Malcolm, Universal Technical Institute; Troy McCabe; Ian McKenrick; Angus Melendy, work; Kaitlyn Morris, Boise State University; Brandin Napsey, Army National Guard/Champlain College; Austin Nelson, Liberty University; Cameron O’Brien; Zachary O’Brien, Johnson State College; Hunter Patenaude, work; Megan L. Roberts, Johnson State; Isaac Robison, Johnson State; Tristan Robison, Lyndon State College; Jennah Sanderson, Castleton University; Ryan Saucier, Lyndon State; Aliyah Singelais, New Hampshire Technical Institute; Emily Smith, Fort Lewis College; Annie Soho, George Washington University; Benjamin Thornton, UVM; Brandin Tillman, Johnson State; Nicole Towne, Champlain College; Noah Turney; Jordan Wadkins; Matthew Walasewicz, UVM; Erin Wierzbicki, Southern New Hampshire University; Ashleay Wilcox, Castleton University; Kylee Williams, East Carolina University; Brooke Winter, University of Alabama; Andrew Wood, Saint Michael’s College; Tanner Wright.