On June 8, Wayland High School’s class of 2014 graduation on the turf. Three members of the class gave speeches.

Anna Lifland – Valedictorian

Class of 2014, we’ve made it a long way. Two thousand fourteen once seemed like a number so large, large enough that it was difficult at least for me—in elementary school—to even conceptualize as a year. And now it’s suddenly arrived. Each successive year has gone by a little faster than the one before it.

It may be cliché to say but I do remember the very beginning of school as we know it. As someone who has always found the prospect of making new friends to be quite a daunting one, my first day of kindergarten was frightening—to say the least. But from the very first moments, I always found friendly, forgiving people ready to welcome me with open arms.

We began our many years of Wayland education circling the room, sampling different varieties of apples and singing songs to memorize the twelve months of the year—in order. We sat cross-legged on the carpet and tried to read books and chased each other during recess in exhilaration. In third grade, I met my future best friend on the famous “Big Rock” in the corner of the Loker Elementary school field during recess. I still remember the last day of fourth grade when I tripped and fell into the creek, and field day of fifth grade when I fainted of dehydration and had to go to the nurse’s office. I won’t delve too deeply into middle school, but I did enjoy that strange sleepover that we all shared together at a museum. My point is, though, that through thick and thin, through moments of success and moments of embarrassment or failure, there’s always been someone to turn to. We’ve seen each other at our best and worst times, and no one who we meet hereafter will have any equivalent insight into our pasts.

The public school system is a really crazy thing when you think about it. In what other situation do so many people spend nearly two decades of their lives together and witness each other go through such dramatic personal changes? When we first met, some of us didn’t know how to blow our own noses, and now—strange as it may seem—we’re technically adults, trying to decide the course of the rest of our lives. It’s also weird because we’ve all been in such close proximity nearly every day and are so connected through common experience, and while some of you I’ve gotten to know quite well, there are many of you who I wish that I had gotten to know a lot better.

I’m not going to compare our class to a children’s puzzle or a delicious soufflé—because if one ingredient or piece were taken away we would be mostly the same. People have come and gone from our class and it has remained in tact. But all of them and all of us have influenced the general character of our grade, and whether we realize it or not—and whether we like it or not—the general character of our grade has left its own permanent mark on all of us. No matter where we go next year, we will still be students of Wayland High School. No matter what we do with the rest of the lives, no matter how far apart we may get from one another, these are still our roots, and though they are invisible, our roots have affected all of us more than any of us can imagine.

The class of 2014 may be infamous for its lack of cohesion… but that’s honestly something that I’ve grown to love about it. We don’t have expectations for each other, so we can all hang out with whoever. We’ve become comfortable around each other. There are so many of you who I may never have even been that close with, but my mood gets brighter every time we happen to cross paths, and I know that when we finally separate, I’ll feel like something small but inexplicably essential to my own happiness has vanished. Just in these past few weeks with the end nearing, I’ve realized that I’m going to miss so many more of you than I’d ever anticipated.

All of these years and memories have culminated into this one sweltering June afternoon where we all sit together for a final time, and this juncture in our lives feels so bittersweet. All of our years of hard work have finally paid off but it also signifies that we’re about to leave each other behind forever. High school has had its ups and downs just like anything else, but when it all comes down to it, I know that I’ve had a great time and I don’t want to it to be over just yet and I can’t believe that it is. Of course we will make new friends, but we will never encounter another group of people that is quite like the one to which we currently belong. I love you class of 2014, and thank you for thirteen amazing years.

Melissa Kay – Class President

Good afternoon families, teachers, friends, and most importantly, graduates. I can honestly say that standing here right now is one of the scariest scenarios I could imagine. I’m sure that if I’m not bright red yet, I will be by the end of the speech. But being up here talking to all of you is important to me because I’m so proud of 2014 for pulling through at every step of the way, even if it’s usually been extremely last minute.

I would like to start off with a disclaimer that swimming was one of the many sports I did not excel at. However, when I began to write my speech, my mom sent me a link to a TED talk about grit. I was immediately reminded of the struggle that the girl’s swim team had this year with finding a motto. The word grit was thrown out by one of our coaches, and it didn’t seem like much, but after googling the definition and creating an acronym, GRIT it was. The definition of grit is “perseverance and passion for long-term goals” and for us it stood for “Greatness Requires Intensity and Tenacity”. It’s a determination and motivation to achieve objectives. It isn’t the ability to learn quickly, it’s the strength required to continue after difficulties. I admit that as a senior first year swimmer, in the pool I was basically the opposite of gritty. But I could see the girls around me pushing their limits in order to break personal records and win points at each meet. Their spirit drove our whole team forward and led the girls’ team to win States yet again.

Swimming isn’t for everyone, but grit is. Yes, we’ve started to develop our grit through the stress of junior year and college applications. We’ve come here today with the foundation for success, but unlike the high school, the teachers, and the coaches to whom we will goodbye, this grit will accompany us across the stage and into the next phase of our lives. We have been incredibly fortunate to attend the Wayland School system. We have been surrounded by a caring community, but what will be important from here on in is what’s within us, not what’s around us. Some of us have had it easier and some of us have had it harder, but from this moment on we’re no longer in the cushion of a Boston suburb. We’re going to be out in the world where there are so many more problems than not having enough time to get to Chipotle during third lunch.

I would like to speak to one of the many issues we face. While we’re sitting here on this beautiful June afternoon, half a world away in Nigeria, 276 high school aged girls are still missing from their families. They were abducted from their school by the terrorist group Boko Haram on April 14th this year. Learning about this crisis isn’t the same thing as helping to solve it. Hearing about this, we may have felt sad or angry, but continued to live our lives as usual. We need to be a generation that applies our determination to respond to world wide problems. There is a member of our community doing just that and she is an inspiration to me. Real grit looks like my friends’ parent, who traveled to Nigeria just a few weeks ago on a diplomatic trip. Her goal was to talk to the Nigerian government about the broader issue of dealing with the Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria. She was also a part of focusing international attention on getting these girls home safely. That’s just one example of someone pursuing her passion in an effort to make change. For every different set of skills that each of us possesses, our class of 2014 has the capacity to better the world around us.

I personally still have a ways to go and a lot to learn in order to develop real grit. We all should tap into the belief that we can and will learn from set-backs and failures. Every single one of us has a passion and if we care enough we have the ability to tackle the problems facing our generation. When we’re first learning grit, it’s mostly in the context of growing up, school, and extracurriculars. If we continue along that path we may find personal success, but success that would be too selfish or self-centered. Instead, we have the opportunity to open our perspective beyond the borders of Wayland, beyond the borders of our respective colleges, and make a difference in our communities and the world.

That’s the type of grit that I would like to have, and that’s the type of grit that I hope you all will strive for as well. The class of 2014 is the future and I have faith in all of you.

Congratulations 2014!

Carley Durant – Speaker

When I was asked to deliver this speech I first I thought about writing about the class of 2014 being true Wayland warriors, so I Googled the definition of warrior and thought I would get a deep and poignant definition for our class, but instead got “A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based society” but that really covered us while playing senior assassin. So I decided not to go with that one. Instead I’m going with this…

Someone once told me, “Every morning you have two choices: to continue to sleep with your dreams, or to wake up and chase them.” I sat there for a while thinking about which one sounded better to me because I love to sleep and dream, but that’s when I realized, there are 7 billion people on this planet who I have not met yet, and 192 countries I have yet to visit. Now is our time to go off to explore and experience the world, but most importantly chase the dreams we have always wanted.

I once told my friends, “I think I’d miss you even if we’d never met.” And I still think I’m right. Who would have thought that this small town of Wayland would have so many amazing people all within 15.9 square miles? And I’m pretty proud to be standing here in front of one hell of a senior class.

It’s sad that we never really appreciated all the good moments until they were over, like graduating from 5th grade and having our clap-out, off onto the D.C trip in 8th grade, to prom, senior skip day and now our high school graduation! Today our whole grade is recognizing each and every one of your phenomenal accomplishments. The time you got the role you wanted in the play, or when you made the team you worked so hard for, to even acing that class, or making that great friend. We all came here with dreams, and look how many have come true, we’ve gotten that part, made that team, aced that class and made that friend even in our “senior year no rules”.

It’s weird to think, that this moment right now is what we have worked so hard for, to graduate and be prepared for the various roads ahead of us. Who would have thought that that one night you studied an extra hour, would get you that A on your test, which boosted your final grade to an A-, that ended up raising your GPA that caught your admissions counselors eye. Or that time while fulfilling your community service hours, you found a new passion, which inspired a new action that you wanted to take in life and turned your direction 180 degrees. Who would of thought that we would have such a wise and down to earth Principle, Dr. Richie for our final year, who serenades us on his guitar, and even gets to graduate with us? Or that we could actually pull together a senior show that got our audience to laugh?

I don’t think we have enough fingers or toes to count the number of times adults have asked us, “Well, what do you want to do with your life.” And at least for me, have never had a definitive answer to give them. I know I change my mind so often because I want to do it all. I’ve ranged from, “I’ll probably be a lawyer”, to “ Well, the music industry has always interested me.” I even once said, “Maybe I’ll take the FBI into serious consideration.” And I say, do it all! Play around with everything while you have the time and until you discover your passion, or many things you have been looking for, keep exploring! The world is a big place, and I believe it has a home for every
one of you.

Someone once told me, “Every morning you have two choices: to continue to sleep with your dreams, or to wake up and chase them.” Which one sounds better to you?