I got a little teary a few times during the Wakefield Class of 2023 graduation last night. I’m always a sucker for “Pomp and Circumstance,” so that was a given.
It was Dr. Wilmore’s address to the senior class that got me next. He talked about that day in March, 2020, when the whoops of joy erupted during D lunch when the kids heard their spring break would be two weeks long instead one. Little did they – and all of us- know what lay ahead. This class was only 3/4 of their way through their first year of high school when they were cut off from their school and everything that goes with it.
Dr. Wilmore talked about how they missed the opportunity to learn the culture of the school from the upperclassmen, yet they went ahead and formed connections, became involved, and persevered. When they returned in person, they set a tone of respect and appreciation for one another for the underclassmen to follow. He himself got a little choked up as he closed his speech, as he and Maggie Hsu, their senior class AP, will be leaving Wakefield with them.
The love and hope these administrators and teachers have for these young people, the dedication to their work, the drive to come in and give them everything they have is a thing of beauty. And the thing is, you really can’t give any less in this business or you might as well find a different job. Yes, they can be frustrating and get on our last nerve, and some of them require a lot more tending to than others, but we have to love all of them and love them hard.
My Corner of the Village 