Address to the Class of 2019

School Committee Members, Faculty, Parents, Esteemed Guests, and Graduates of the Class of 2019 –

Oh, the pressure high school and college graduates often feel after hearing graduation speeches….

The top 10 themes for speeches include taking responsibility for your actions, finding inspiration in the world around you, never giving up on a dream, and setting high expectations.  Rather than diving into one of these tried and true topics, and perhaps leave you with a pressure-induced headache, I’m going to use Nike as my model.

While Nike could have espoused winning, power, strength, or athleticism in its slogan, it instead chose, “Just Do It.”  Simple, attainable, memorable.

So my advice to you is just as simple: “Just Finish It,” or as Larry the Cable Guy puts it, “Get-R-Done.”

If your life journey includes an associate’s degree from CCRI, Get-R-Done.  Only 62% of students at CCRI remain enrolled there in the second fall semester after graduating high school and only 22% are on track to graduate within a two-year time frame.

If you plan to work for a year to save enough money to buy a food truck and travel from festival to festival selling barbecue, Get-R-Done.  Don’t let us see you driving a 10-year-old Toyota instead.

If you are heading off to Rhode Island College, like Kayla Petrone, to become certified to work in the child care field, Get-R-Done.  You may not end up even wanting to work with children in another 4 years but you will have a college degree and can take your next step in a slightly different direction, though never backwards.

I can’t wait to see Arthur Lee in a play or movie and Maia Bowker at a concert as a principal bassoonist 5 years from now and Dylan Junier, I hope to see your photographs on display at a local art gallery.  Get-r-done!

Max Blais, if police duty is your goal, get-r-done, but remember to go easy on a certain superintendent, if you see her going a bit too fast down 44.

Hogan Nelson, I hope you will have lived out your dream of winning a national championship in whatever sport you will be playing.

If business is your passion, like Justin Baglini, Lauren Gendron, Braeden Weston, or Jared Pezza, just Get-R-Done.

For Erika Rooney, Taylor Paiva, Karleigh Lamourux, Brianne Morin, Bianca Lancellotti, Sierra Vecchitto, Grace Beaudry, Kendra Wilson, Caitlin Dolan, and Jo-ann Fiano, who are pursuing careers in the nursing fields, Get-R-Done.  We have a shortage of qualified nurses but, unfortunately, no shortage of people to start on that path and don’t finish it.

Or if you, like Julie Hawkins, honestly hope to own your own surf shop that doubles as a vegan café on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, just Get-R-Done.

Each of these aims is simply a step on your life journey.  You can’t get from here to there without finishing one step at a time.  Even if you don’t exactly know where you want that journey to take you, you’ll get nowhere if you don’t finish the steps that you set out to take.  It’s ok to not take the straightest path; sometimes the most meandering routes are the most enjoyable.

You’ve already shown that you can indeed finish what you started.  You finished high school.  Finish and enjoy every step that you take both tomorrow and into your future.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *