On June 5th, Wayland High School’s Class of 2011 entered the school as students and left as alumni. Graduation was held on the turf field, and the attendants listened as three members of the class of 2011 delivered their graduation speeches.

Lauren Colwell – Class President

The sound of my radio woke me up this morning like any other morning. And as I lay there, I jolted awake and screamed “I graduate today!” Luckily, no one was hurt.  I turned onto my back and examined the glow-in-the-dark stars on my ceiling and tried to calm myself. Those stars were there when I woke up on Japan day and Kenya day in elementary school. They were there when I woke up at 4:30 in the morning to go see caves in New York with my 8th grade class. They were there when I fell asleep after telling my crush I liked him on the Cape Cod trip. They were there on the first day of kindergarten and the last day of high school. Always glowing, always listening, always watching me grow.

Waking up on my last day of fifth grade, I thought this day would be the biggest achievement of my life. I had my favorite purple shirt with two matching bows for my hair. I was ready to raise the roof as high as a fifth grader could. However, today certainly tops the last day in fifth grade, surprisingly. I am not moving on to the next level this town offers me, my journey in Wayland is ending today. Some of you out there are my closest friends, some of you are people I talk to when I am bouncing off the walls, others are the people I have grown to trust, whether you entered Wayland a year ago or 7 years ago. All of you are my friends. You are my family and I have loved school since kindergarten because you all fill the buildings with life and laughter.  I will miss you.

You know me as the story teller, and oh boy I could go on for hours about our numerous PG and some rated R memories. From those crazy dance moves in the senior show to chatting in the library, from the wonderful snow days to the parking troubles, from competing to drawing to singing, we have always supported each other. But as fair warning: what happens on Halloween night stays at the Halloween party.

So much joy and perhaps a pinch of stress and pressure have occurred here. But who would have thought we would be under this tent so soon, about to say goodbye to our teachers, our school.

The door behind us is shutting, but the one at the end of the hallway is now open. Today, I say goodbye, even though I wish I could stay and make rockets in chemistry class with the Juniors. Today, I tie my shoes and start the next journey, even though I want to tiptoe back to Freshman year biology.

However, Wayland has certainly prepared all of us to go out there and grab the brass ring. We should consider thanking our grandparents, sisters, brothers, uncles, aunts, anyone who has supported us through our blood, toil, tears, and sweat – and dreams. We should consider thanking our teachers and coaches for teaching us and actually listening to us. We should consider thanking the people who work at Boloco for making Wednesdays half off. Thank you. But especially consider giving a kiss and hug to our parental units, who have hung the stars above our beds, who have driven us to all our practices, who have taken pic-tures of us on all our first days. Thanks Mom and Dad. We have so much to be grateful for! The SATs are finally history, midterms are no more, We have endured a flood in Wayland, championships, musicals, performances, Prom, and most importantly we survived to receive our diplomas.

Wayland is now a place we call the keeper of our childhood. Today we share our laughter and our memories of this amazing journey we have completed. Congratulations class of 2011. You have touched my heart with your energy and spirit. You are superb and committed. From one lasting memory to another, I believe our grade never ceases to amaze our teachers, parents, and friends.

And one more thing, I am sorry to disappoint you, grandma, but I have a confession: I am a gangster and I am ending with a rap.

Class of 2011
You’re better than heaven
If I could redo these years
I would do it with the same peers
You know my dream
I have always been on your team
I know your ambitions
From actors to musicians
To politicians to physicians
Me included
Your talents will send you far past the stars
Maybe I’ll see you on Mars
2011 you’re so driven
There is so much out there you need to explore
Right now we are just on the first floor
I’ll see you all in magazines
And maybe see you again on Halloween

Fly high 2011
I wish you the best
I am so impressed
You’re way better than Beethoven
Congrats and good luck 2011!

Seth Lifland – Valedictorian

Hello Class of 2011. I am very glad to have this chance to talk to all of you at once. The sad truth is that this is probably my last chance to do that. I’m sick of talking about how I feel about graduating, and honestly, why should any of you care how I feel? Instead, I want to ask you guys to think back to the first day of kindergarten.

We’ve come a long way from digging tunnels in the sandbox at Loker. We’ve come a long way from girls chasing boys around the playground, trying to kiss them… actually, maybe some things never change. We’ve all shared heartbreak. We know how it feels to lose a classmate forever. We’ve shared some awkward moments – I don’t think any of us can forget the dance at Generous George’s. That night will be burned into my memory forever. But we’ve had so many fun times too, from “Aesop’s Hop” in 5th grade, to our bike trip to Walden Pond, to senior show, just a few months ago. And then there were moments like the first night of the DC trip. I remember sitting on the steps of the capitol, watching the sun turn the clouds red. 75 degrees, and just a tiny, gentle breeze. It was perfect. We’ve grown up together, so there’s nothing I can say to you that you don’t already know.

I’m not going to tell you how to live your lives. I’m not going to tell you how to succeed. I’m not even going to tell you all to change the world, like I’m supposed to. I have no right to tell you any of those things. But there is one thing that you have all taught me that I want to share with you. High school has taught me that it’s easy to love the people we know best; it’s way harder to give people we don’t know well the same treatment. Obviously, we will all meet people who will betray our trust, but the worst thing in the world would be to let one experience turn everyone from a potential friend into a potential enemy. In the past couple years, I’ve become friends with people I never would have expected to four years ago, or even two years ago.

I’ve learned a lot at Wayland High School, but the most important things I’ve learned are the things you guys have taught me – whether in classes, on the stage of the Little Theater, in the wrestling room, or dancing on a coffee table. It hurts to think about us all going our separate ways, but no matter what we all end up doing, I know we will show people that 2011 kids love each other and love the world. Our future is in good hands; I can’t wait to take the wheel with all of you. Wayland High School Class of 2011: this is a label I will always wear with pride. Thank you all for the last 13 years. I love you guys.

Dan Lesser – Graduation Speaker

It’s truly amazing how far we’ve come, and all the things that we’ve done, since that first day of school way back in 2007, the day that saw us struggling to find freshman orientation in room A7. It was almost like our guidance counselors were putting us through an initiation; we had to find the room that was impossible to find before they would teach us the layout of the school. But this difficulty, as difficulties always seem to, had its merits.

I vividly remember speaking to some of my classmates for the very first time in my attempts to locate the whereabouts of the room. Tucked around the corner of the arts building, this room that housed freshman orientation acted as a perfect metaphor for our future success in high school; seemingly elusive, and difficult to obtain, but only until we employed the help of our colleagues.

Fast-forward to this year, where, as seniors, we walked comfortably around campus, unworried about trivial things like locating classes or remembering the timing of the class bells. Well, at least most of us did. This comfort arose directly from our support of and collaboration with each other. For example, on spirit day, every year we‘ve always come together to win games such as trivia, kickball, and my personal favorite, Coke and Pepsi.

In fact, our class unity on these spirit days has been so strong that more than once I have suspected that the award for highest-scoring class has been wrongfully denied us, and given to the then current senior
class, if only for tradition’s sake. Each and every one of us has left our mark on this school, be it in the
classrooms, on the stage, the athletic fields, or elsewhere.

Though we may not specifically remember, we have all influenced, and been influenced by, each other.
The individual instances of this influence are hard to pinpoint, but easy to see is the tremendous growth we have all experienced as a result.

Cliché as it may sound, I know that I would not be the person I am today had it not been for the people around me – the support that kept me going when things got rough, the countless laughs, conversations and good times that made me eager to come back to school every September to see faces I’d gone without seeing for months, and both the good and bad advice that shaped my decisions and helped chart my course through high school. My only hope is that I have given back to you all a fraction of what you have
given me.

Our four years together, in many ways, culminated in the form of the Senior Show and its Weekend; we were raucous, we were crazy, but most importantly, we were unified. When we look back on our four years, those few days will most certainly stand out as a shining example of what it means to be part of a high school class; that weekend, we were not merely the sum of many moving parts – we moved as a group, as one.

Yet equally important as reflecting upon the past and the good times we have had is looking towards the future. After graduation, this great moving entity that is our class will break up into its many moving parts and we will all be released into the world as individuals. Our dreams may differ, our paths may part, but we will still be unified in our reaching for our goals. And if in the future you ever begin to question the worthiness of your goals, or your ability to attain them and to make a difference, just remember that it does not matter how high our arms can reach, but that we never let them fall. And always, always remember the impact that you had in the world of Wayland High School.