Meriden
Head of School Michael Schafer, as he does each year, thanked all those who made the day possible and “prepared and inspired these talented young people to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.”
Addressing the class, Schafer spoke of achievement and possibilities.
“Each in your own unique way is a special part of this school community; a senior class full of curiosity and imagination, full of promise and purpose, full of spirit and care for one another,” Schafer said. “May the relationships and lessons endure and inspire you always and may your tomorrow be abundant with opportunity, happiness and love.”
The day was extra meaningful for Gavin McGough, of Plainfield, who followed in the footsteps of his mother, Kate Whybrow, KUA’s valedictorian in 1984, and his aunt, also a valedictorian at the school in the 1980s.
McGough, a co-valedictorian with Yuhe Zheng, said the honor is one shared with his classmates.
“There are a lot of talented students here and I feel it is a privilege I’ve gotten to be able to learn beside them,” McGough said before commencement. “KUA is a strong community and the town community is part of that connection.”
Introducing McGough, Schafer described him as intelligent, curious, full of integrity, grit and grace with a strong work ethic and intellectually mature beyond his years.
McGough, who will enter Williams College in the fall and was a four-year member of the alpine ski team, first thanked his grandparents and mother then referenced a short story, The Book of Sand, by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges that describes a book of infinite pages, in which the first and last page are impossible to find and any one page cannot be seen more than once.
McGough said he saw it as a book of memory, since human life is infinite and the vast majority of life is experienced only once.
“As I graduate, I carry with me that arbitrary, almost inaccessible book,” he said. “And in gaining it, I feel it is important also to gain a sense of individuality. Perhaps, graduation is in some ways a liberation, but also the inheritance of responsibility. Today is a day to pay attention.
“I will be thinking of memory and of the book I have built here. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Today, now, that Boresian infinity beckons. You have taught me to live ardently and there is truly much life to be had.”
Co-valedictorian Zheng’s remarks began with her interest and love for math and science, but it was self-discovery through art that had a more important impact on her personal growth at KUA.
Zheng said she explored internal strength through her paintings that showed tension and conflict, and eventually made her conclude that there were things within her that should not be compromised and mysteries to solve.
“If you find your secret voice, don’t deny it,” Zheng told the graduates. “We must discover our shadow side to become well rounded, empathetic and understanding. We must know thy mystery to choose our own path. We struggled together (at KUA) and we supported each other. Our journeys have become strengths that tie us all together.”
Class speaker Alexander Regnery lightened the mood with some well delivered jokes about his years at KUA including one about his dorm parent who made him realize JV hockey, the Grateful Dead and knowing how to grill up a fine steak are the most important things in life.
“I would like to take that opportunity to lock you in as the godfather of my first born child,” Regnery said to laughter. “That he too will have the same core values you have instilled in me.”
But the digs at the school, including spotty hot water — ended with gratitude and how KUA changed his life
“I have come to realize Kimball Union Academy is the reason I have become someone who is happy with who he is,” Regnery said. “This place has changed every single one of us who is graduating today. Whether teammate, friend, classmate, teacher or mentor, I need to thank you for every impact on my life.”
Writer and economist Charles Wheelan, the commencement speaker, tied the world of technology with government, or what he termed “communal decision making.”
Wheelan recalled what he said was one of the dumbest things he ever heard from a smart person during a conference in 2000 when a man stood up and said: “Technology will make government irrelevant.”
He then challenged the graduates.
“I want to make the case the most important contribution you graduates can make as individuals and as a generation is to help fix our capacity to govern ourselves in this country and around the world,” Wheelan said.
Government, he said, is essentially “communal decision-making” where differing groups have to come to agreement.
Whether deciding on driving belongs on right or left side of road or on whether to invade Iran, communal decision making is the essence that binds self-governing countries together, he said.
“My point is we can’t live prosperously or peacefully without making many, many communal decisions,” he said. “We must come to agreement on hard issues and the people who disagree must live with them or face serious consequences. That is the way self-government works.”
Getting back to technology, Wheelan said it has improved the lives of many but has also fragmented our news sources and not solved many of our most pressing problems from opioids to immigration.
“Technology cannot and will not eliminate the essence of self-government which is the need to come together and make decision often on very hard decisions,” Wheelan said.
“So here is my charge, to the graduates, if you want to improve the life of the graduates sitting in those seats 30, 50, 100 years from now, help improve our country and our world by upgrading our capacity to govern ourselves.”
After the class awards were presented, the diplomas were handed out. Schafer congratulated the class as parents and other stood and applauded and cheered loudly.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com
Canaan: Hugo Turcotte, Zachary Wennik. Charlestown: Caitlin Beneat. Cornish: Caitin Kuzma. Etna: Isabelle Brawley. Grantham: Cole Petrescu-Boboc. Meriden: Halle Clark, Colleen Donoghue, Alicia Goodwin, Natalie Whitehead. Plainfield: Grace Bonner; Jay Cogan; Gavin McGough; Taylor Sheehan. West Lebanon: Taylor Soule. Norwich: Riley Dole; Rose Sperry. Hartland: Morgan Emanuele; Tanner Fisher; Kyle Hammond; Garrett Zito. Quechee: Gabriella Pais; Elanna Reavill-O’Toole.
Update
West Lebanon resident Taylor Soule graduated from Kimball Union Academy on Saturday and will attend Boston College in the fall. She was inadvertently omitted from a list of KUA graduates in an earlier version of this story.
