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Ladies and Gentemen, it is a privilege to present the President of the Class of 2012,
Gil Levy.
It’s very nice to have you all here today celebrating the graduation of the class of
2012. Here we are, the class of Norseman Nation. We are the class with the most school spirit
Northern Valley has seen in years, if not decades. We took the time and the effort to
create a school community, students could truly be proud of. Anyone who has been to
a Northern Valley football game, soccer game, volleyball game, or a basketball game, this
year knows exactly what I’m talking about. We care about each other, and I’m very proud.
You know, at a very early age, I fell in love. I fell in love with Abraham Lincoln. Maybe
was his big top hat, or maybe it was the way he preserved the union of a nation engulfed
in a bloody civil war, I don’t know. But what I do know is that I loved him, and I
still do today. Abraham Lincoln was not just a man. He was a very wise man, a wise man
who said wise things. Let me share with you my favorite Abraham Lincoln quotation. “Everyone
is born original but sadly most die copies.”
As I look at Class of 2012, it’s clear to me that my classmates and I are still in the
process of being born. We are still working towards finding our sense of meaning in the
world. We are still developing our characters. We are learning about who we are today and
deciding who we want to be tomorrow. But, as Lincoln warned us, as we get older and
life continues, our originality is often lost along the path into “the real world”.
The Real World. Where is it? Is it right here? Is it over there in the nature center? Is
it across the river in the office buildings of New York City? I’ve been hearing about
this ‘real world’ my entire life, and my understanding has been that it appears
sometime after your college graduation.
Just a few weeks ago, I attended a college graduation. When the President of the university
addressed the graduates, my brother among them, I expected him to say some cliché I’ve
heard a hundred times about entering ‘the real world’.
The president did invoke the real world, but not in the way I expected him to. Instead
he said this: “Graduates, from all around you will come calls to be more serious, more
attentive to ‘the real world’. Make no mistake: these are really calls for conformity,
demands for conventional thinking, that, if heeded, will impoverish your, economic, cultural
and personal lives.” Class of 2012, as we move into the next phase of our lives, it
is essential that we decide for ourselves what is important in life, because if we don’t,
someone else will make that decision for us. Don’t be afraid to think for yourself. Don’t
compromise. Yes, we are young and idealistic, and you know what? That’s a good thing.
Thank you to the teachers who understand what it means to take their work seriously. Their
work is their students, and they taught us that true camaraderie comes from working together,
and that trust and respect are the fundamental basis of valuable communities.
To the administration, for your sake, for our sake, for everyone’s sake, please relax.
We’re good people.
To the students who remain, utilize your resources. Create things. Be inspired. Let Northern Valley
be an intentional and welcoming community of your own creation.
To my dearest classmates, I’ll miss you all very much. As we head off to college,
remember Abraham Lincoln. If you stay true to yourself, you will never die a copy. Thank
you.