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FRIDAY HARBOR HIGH SCHOOL |
Related pagesList of stories about Graduation ceremonies 2006 FHHS Graduation 2005 FHHS Graduation 2004 FHHS Graduation Grads celebrate with family and friends 2003 FHHS 2003 graduation - first page of photos FHHS 2003 graduation - second page of photos FHHS 2003 graduation - third page of photos 2002 FHHS 2002 Commencement address given by Ralph Hahn 2001 2000 Graduates:(*graduating with honors) Summer Ausilio |
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A Fare Thee WellCommencement address given by Ralph Hahn |
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Good evening ladies and gentlemen! I want to thank the Class of 2002 for inviting me to be your speaker this evening. It is an honor that I will remember and cherish. Before I begin, however, I want to answer the question that I am sure you are all wondering about. No, I have not learned how to play the banjo - yet! Preparing speeches, believe it or not, is not something with which I have a lot of experience. Thinking of something memorable to say to a group of high school graduates who have been sitting in hard chairs for 1½ hours is a daunting task. In the last two months I have written four different speeches (two while traveling on trains in Europe) and discarded them all. I was beginning to get desperate for inspiration and began asking a few of you what you thought your classmates wanted me to speak about. Anna Meyer suggested that I talk about her, which I could do. However, knowing that her father and mother are in the audience, I thought Anna might prefer that I not. Brett Bartmasser, in his own inimitable and terse fashion, told me not to use any clichés. Leah Evans, using even fewer words, just said, "Make it short and sweet." Jenna wanted me to tell everybody that the pink T-bird is fixed and ready to roll. Kristen, Jill, Jennifer, Stephanie and McKenna just wanted me to be sure to work their names in some place. I was beginning to feel that it might be best to bring a large billboard instead of a speech. While I appreciate the ideas ladies and gentlemen, I think that all of you can understand that these suggestions didn't exactly help me with my problem. Charlie Herbert, when he wasn't distracted trying to find a Web site that had an explanation of a T.S. Eliot poem, actually gave me the germ of an idea when he said, "Talk about the future." He even offered to read the speech if I was too nervous. On the topic of your future, I would like to point out that I am your future in a manner of speaking. Add 41 years to your life and this is what you have to look forward to. I have been a teacher and administrator for 35 years. The most valuable thing that I possess, the most valuable thing I have to give to you is the knowledge I have gained in that time. OK Leah, OK, not everything I learned, just four or five of the most important things. It is after all, my last chance to influence your lives. I hope that what I have to say is meaningful to you. I would like to emphasize that the knowledge that I am sharing came at a price - that's why my hair is gray and you sometimes can't tell when I am smililng. First, I have learned that, contrary to the old cliché about dogs and new bones, you are never too old to learn. In fact, the instant that you decide that you have learned everything you need to know, you will either be dead or in the later stages of senility. I was 34 years old before I decided that administering a school provided me opportunities that I couldn't acquire any other way. That decision sent me back to school for two years and the things that I have learned doing the job sometimes amaze me. I have discovered that at any given moment in my life, I did not know what I would need to know 10 years further on in my life. If I had known, I might have thought twice about being a principal. I have learned that the more you know, the more opportunities you have. A corollary to this is that I found I had to be alert and prepared to learn all of the time. Wisdom and knowledge are found in the most unlikely people and at the most peculiar times. As you may have noticed, I am an observer of people. I don't really know everything about you, I just watch and listen carefully. I also take time to think about what I hear and see. I found that it helps to read a lot - magazines, newspapers, novels. It is amazing what you can learn about human beings from good literature. |
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Second, when I faced my first classroom of students (La Serna High School 1966 - Mr. and Mrs. Biggers were seniors there but not in my student teaching class) I learned what every teacher better know quickly -- how to project confidence and self-assurance. Since that moment, I have never ceased to be surprised at how many apparently closed doors are actually open if you simply have the confidence to walk through them. People who lack confidence hesitate at what appears to be an opportunity (you might imagine what any hesitation on my part would have resulted in with that class of seniors.) Confidence comes when you believe in your own abilities, in your capacity to learn, in your ability to surmount challenges. I learned that when I see something I want, I have to just move forward, I have to be confident of my own capacities. Third, I have learned over and over again that we are biological entities. We must follow nature's rules. Growth is good, statis is impossible - either you are growing or you are decaying. I have observed that human beings grow by taking on challenges and experiencing new things. We expand mentally, adding to our knowledge and skills. Some challenges were scary and intimidating and even personally painful. It is fairly typical that the greater the challenge, the greater the potential for growth. I have learned I must accept and overcome challenges to grow. It is a sad truth that as I grow older, I have lost some of my physical abilities. It is equally a wonderful truth that I don't think I lost any of my mental facilities as I grew older. I attribute that to vigorous exercise of them. Remember our choice is simple - grow or decay. | |
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Fourth, I learned that I needed additional outlets for my creativity. I need to create things that I can see - now. I believe that everyone needs to create, to express themselves creatively outside of their job. Creative activity is my refuge from work. It is the place where I can go to soothe my mind and put distance between my problems and me. The problems don't go away but I have time to relax, regain some perspective, and think about solutions. If you don't already know what your creative outlet is I encourage you to find one. Finally, I have found that human beings have a limitless capacity to achieve wonders. Think for a few seconds about creating a 300-foot long, 60-foot high sculpture out of a mountain 100 miles from anywhere. Some of you cannot imagine why anyone would want to. Some of you might say that a single person couldn't accomplish such a task in their lifetime. Some of you might feel that the sheer dimension of the task was so great you couldn't conceive of where to begin. If Gutzon Borglum hadn't undertaken this task, our nation would be bereft of one of our national treasures. The sculpture that Borglum created is Mount Rushmore. He spent 14 years of his life on the project and died before it was finished. His son spent seven years on the project and didn't complete his father's original vision. No one sitting in this building, including you, knows what any of you might accomplish in your lifetimes. Do you think that any of my high school teachers every thought I would be a high school principal? Do you think that on my graduation night 41 years ago that I was thinking that I would be principal? If you haven't read the motto in your program, read it. I believe that you can accomplish anything to which you set your mind. If you begin something but cannot complete it, then inspire the next generation to finish it. I hope that some of you will become teachers so that you can carry on the work of educating children - a task that will never be completed. But no matter what, don't limit your dreams or hopes and never let anyone else limit them. |
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Some of you have read or seen the movie Cider House Rules. The central character is Dr. Wilbur Larch. He is in charge of the St. Cloud Orphanage for boys and girls. Each night, after reading to the children, he says good night and turns out the lights in their dorms. And each night he quietly says, "Good night you princes of Maine, you kings of New England." The author explains that Dr. Larch says this, not in any belief that that is what they are or ever will be. He knows that they are orphans, the abandoned, the poorest of the poor. Dr. Larch says what he does in the hope that they will exceed their present status and reach far beyond their circumstances. So tonight, as your teachers and I say goodbye:
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