One of Many Milestones Met

To our graduates:

In 2019, as the calendar steadily clicked toward 2020, high school juniors were quietly and not-so-quietly viewing the senior year with increasing intensity

The idea of donning the cap and gown grew from a fantasy, a vision of the future, to something attainable. Visions of walking the aisle were likely relived with frequency as time ticked forward. The sound of high heeled shoes clacking on the gym floor in pace with the shuffle of tennis shoes worn by the other side of the pair kept time with the presentation of the diplomas and constant clicking of camera shutters.

Then, 2019 turned to 2020 and standards changed. It started with a news conference on the national stage, and is not over yet. The coronavirus and COVID-19 has changed the way school is conducted. It has shown students can adapt to change. The lesson for graduates, for all of us, is change is inevitable. It is the one guarantee in life. Life does not remain the same. You move forward, or fall behind.

In all of his silly and imagination-tempting language, Dr. Seuss has a way of patting the reader on the back while encouraging him or her to get out of the chair. In his book, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go,” the short book starts with “Congratulations! Today is your day. You’re off to Great places!”

You seniors turned graduates. “Today” is your day. You have earned passage into adulthood, to the next stage of life. The transition takes work. It will take vision and pursuing a dream. Ask yourself what lies just beyond the horizon. Treat science as a discipline of seeking answers, not an end-all. From that, we can and should all be scientists of various disciplines.

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous speech opens with “I have a dream...” Be like King and have a dream. Have a dream worth pursuing.

Congratulations on reaching the first of many milestones graduates. Now set your sights on the next one.