In honor of the class of 2022

Dear Friends, 

As promised, below is the crowd-sourced poem the Center School community wrote together for the graduates.

It was a truly memorable day and the poem made things even more special!  

Thanks to all those who contributed!

Charlie Spencer, Head of School's speech:

I tried something new this year for my graduation remarks.  I decided I was running out of ideas.  I knew this because I started seriously considering writing a speech about hermit crabs as a metaphor for your class.  Don’t ask.  Then I got re-obsessed with Kate Bush’s running up that hill and imagined singing an adaptation … that would not have gone well.  My 53 year old vocal range is more Annie Lennox… maybe even Leonard Cohen at this point.  

Yeah, I needed some help. Then I remembered NPR’s poet in residence, Kwame Alexander.  He’s been crowdsourcing poems and reading them on air.  He gets contributions of poem lines from all over the country and pieces them into a poem of the people.  So, I decided to try it.  I wrote to the entire Center School community, past and present, old and young, asking if they’d help me write you guys a graduation poem.  And boom. The lines came flowing in! 

We used the poem Remember by Joy Harjo for inspiration.  In that poem, the word “remember” is repeated throughout.  So, we did that too.  And the result is part advice, part memory, part ode to you the graduates.  I will read it to you now.  With love from all of us.  

A disclaimer: in true center school fashion some of it rhymes, and some of it doesn’t.  Some of it is funny, some is sad.  All of it is deeply heartfelt.  

Here goes...

Today I remember so many things including this:

I remember you

Remember the smiles that greeted you the first day you came here?

The special friends you made who you’ll keep whether far or near

Remember the past because time slips away fast. 

Remember the beautiful new school you get to graduate from.

You’re an amazing individual with great adventures to come.

Remember it is your heart that leads you into this world that needs you. 

Trust.

It’s good to remember stuff! 

Like to always have a tasty snack tucked somewhere easy.

Remember what it’s like to be a kid, to really look, to take a breath, to slow down, to laugh.

Remember the surprises and the beauty and the hopelessness and the relief and the fear and the joy. None of them will last forever. Life is a mix.

Remember to keep returning to yourself with care and kindness

You will always be your dearest companion.

Remember to listen to stories. Remember to tell your stories.

Remember the car rides and songs sung from beneath masks

Remember the monsters and the mayhem,

Remember the joy you see in others around you that warms your soul.

Remember that change is inevitable. 

It may come in waves of joy or sorrow, accompanied by laughter, grief, rage or gratitude, but change is the only guarantee we can offer.

Embrace it. Remember it is a messenger to grow. 

Remember that change is inevitable.

The waves 

how they go up-  and down.

Remember everything passes.

Kiss the joy as it flies and know the calm when high winds cease.

Remember your radiance shining so bright,

you are pure light, like the sun and the moon.

Remember your name, first middle and last, and any extras in between.   Think of your provenance and the souls you're named for and all the family mythology that may or may not be true, which doesn't matter at all in the grand scheme of things - only that you tell the stories. 

Remember, as you move on, the guides who lovingly brought you here.

Remember the multiplying 9’s trick-

Thirty days hath September

April, June,

How to cut out a paper snowflake.

Remember how to add the perfectly timed crossfade

How you made each other laugh at morning meeting.

Remember that less is more…

Uh. Except maybe in the case of a crowdsourced poem or sleeping deliciously late.

Remember the voices of your teachers, the waves on the water. The leaves on the trees. They repeat their curiosities. You are all of the answers.

Remember your teachers, when you love and root for a young person so much your heart breaks with it. Remember we loved you that much too.

Remember how impossible it seemed.

Remember the help that you found

the help that found you.

Remember how possible it became

the possible you made real!

Remember this day and how nervous you felt

Laila

Sacha

David

Jack

David

Mela

Tess

Avery

Naama

Remember you are powerful!

Remember the Center School

Remember us

We will always remember you.