Graduation Ceremony
The 164th Commencement Exercise in the rich history of Norwich Free Academy celebrated the Class of 2022 Thursday, June 16. The class of nearly 500 was honored with the richness of the Academy's time-honored traditions, including an address from Robert Weisman, a member of the NFA Class of 1972 celebrating its 50th anniversary. This year also marked the return of the ceremony to the beautiful Broadway campus. The last two years were held at Dodd Stadium.
To view a .pdf of the event program, click here.
Broadcast
Ivy Orator
Speakers at graduation are determined by participation in the Cadden-Williams Prize Reading Contest.
Ivy Orator, Hanna Young
Good afternoon, Dr. Kelly, members of the Board of Trustees, faculty, staff, family, friends, members of the class of 1972, and my fellow classmates:
It took me a long time to think of what I wanted to speak to you all about today. It led me to consider, possibly more than I ever have, the importance of words and how they can impact each and every one of us. After all that consideration, I came to a conclusion: whoever first said the phrase ‘sticks and stones may break my bones, but words may never hurt me' is wrong. Totally and completely wrong.
Words have the ability to maim and even kill just as easily as any weapon, and to assume otherwise is akin to driving down the highway at 100 miles per hour without a seatbelt, hoping the power of good thoughts alone will prevent an inevitable catastrophe. To presume our words hold no power is naive. This assumption gives us the freedom to say whatever we want without the potential pressure of guilt or regret weighing us down and shields us from exposing ourselves as vulnerable to the feelings and opinions of others.
However, how we perceive words’ influence over us does not change the reality: words are powerful. A single pronoun, a two or three letter word, can act as an expression of identity. A single compliment can make someone’s entire day just as easily as a single insult can ruin it.
Words have fueled civil rights movements and dissolved ignorance and spread ignorance and spread love and started wars then ended them. Words have power.
The rap group Public Enemy fought the power by flooding the streets of New York and later the airwaves with their lyrical message to politicians and unaware citizens overlooking the plight of black Americans. Masses have been moved to choose love over war by the gentle, loving lyrics of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine.’ The words and soothing fireside voice of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt warmed the hearts and calmed the minds of an entire nation that otherwise felt adrift and had fallen into shambles. With just three words, Nike has created a multibillion dollar brand and inspired people around the world to pursue their greatest potential, athletic and otherwise. In some nations, saying the wrong words can result in your death, the death of your family.
The power of communication isn’t unique to insightful musical artists or well-spoken world leaders or crafty marketing teams and the implications of our words can range in severity but always exist. We all can wield the might of a pen and a raised voice. And we do so every day. Through our words, we have the ability to devastate and inspire, corrupt and empower. It is imperative that we all recognize the influence we possess over the world around us so that we can share our ideas and opinions conscientiously rather than carelessly. More than anything, I hope that you choose your words carefully. Choose them kindly. Throw flower petals instead of knives, extend a helping hand instead of an accusing finger, and open your heart before your mouth. Choose your words carefully. Because words have power.
Thank you and congratulations, everybody.
Class Speaker
Speakers at graduation are determined by participation in the Cadden-Williams Prize Reading Contest.
Class Speaker, Claire Watrous
I’ve mulled over this speech for quite some time. I had convinced myself, as soon as I was given the opportunity to speak today, that whatever I say must have some sort of grandiose message. One that no one has ever heard before. Until one day when it hit me. I love movies. That's what I should talk about. So here I am about to tell you a bit about this love.
Possibly my favorite thing about movies. Especially the ones of our childhoods are their stereotypical tropes, themes, and events. I've always wanted my life to be like a movie, and for a long time I was mad that it wasn't. So I decided to change that. I created a bucket list, a bucket list of coming of age movie tropes. And I made it my mission to do these things. This bucket list is silly but it's mine, and it's the reason that I'm up here today.
“Give a speech at your high school graduation.” What's more of a coming of age film than that, a speech at the end of the movie, especially the one at graduation. I dug further into my love of movies. Beyond my bucket list. What about my life? What have I taken away from movies and implemented into my life? What should I share with you all? Then I remembered the most used trope of all: “be yourself.” It's so cheesy and easy to turn your nose up at. But it is true. Be yourself. This concept, this idea, this lesson has layers. The idea of being yourself is simple but executing it is hard.
I created my list the summer before freshman year, to guarantee the optimal high school experience. The first item was: “change the way you dress.” It wasn't much of a change, I should clarify. It was more so dressing as I wanted. So the first day of my freshman year, I did. I wore these pinstripe blue shorts, I still have them. They were fun and colorful and I loved it. I felt good. My style continued to develop and so did I. Each time I wore something new, something fun and different I grew more confident. I checked off this box, changing the way I dress, halfway through freshman year. This was the first step to being myself.
The next check on my bucket list: “have a cool bedroom.” A cool bedroom is essential in any coming of age film, in case you didn't know. Redecorating was the next step of becoming myself. At the moment, I have zero wall space. The walls of my room are plastered with things I've collected over the years. Stepping into my room is stepping into my mind. It is a reflection of me. With the check of the box “have a cool bedroom,” I became more authentic to myself.
Junior year: I have practically always known I'm set for college after high school. This path gives me another check in my stereotypical movie tropes list: “be the first person in my family to go to college.” But I couldn’t get this before figuring out the first point – “figure out college.”
As a junior, knowing what i wanted to do for the rest of my life was so incredibly intimidating. But, out of curiosity and the need for a science credit, I took forensics, and boom, I figured it out. That was my next check: ” figure out college.”
Now onto senior year and some context for this year’s story. All of my friends freshman through junior year were a grade above me. After last year’s graduation, I'm left in my senior year with no friends. That's where for the first time I added a new box instead of a new item “make friends.” This item was checked pretty early freshman year, but now I had to do it again. This was a daunting task, but with reassurance from my mom, I made them.
These new friends let me be me, and they helped to mark off many bucket list items. Looking back now, I'm honestly not sure when I “became myself.” It was never a stand-alone point on my bucket list. It seemed too impractical because at the creation of my list, I didn't know who I was. But as of today, I do.
I am myself truly. Today, I don't care about the opinions of others. The only one that matters is my own. Above all else is my own opinion. It's up to me what I wear, up to me what I put in my room, up to me where I go to college, it's up to me what I say today, what I should tell you. And what I tell you is to be yourself.
Take a classic movie trop and write it down. Put a little box next to it. Intend to check it off. This trope could be dancing to your music as you walk through the halls, running outside the next time it rains, even just saying yes. Value YOUR opinion. It is your life you get to choose how you live it.
The only person granted to be with you every step of the way is yourself. Be your biggest support system. Do what's right for you. As you go off to college, your first full time job, the military or whatever you may be doing, find yourself, and be yourself. Take your life and its path into your hands. Make choices for yourself. Your time on this earth is finite, live your life for you. Be yourself.
Class of 1972
Every year at commencement a representative of NFA's 50th Reunion Class delivers a speech on behalf of their class.
Robert Weisman '72
Fellow Wildcats, this is your day. On behalf of the graying but gritty NFA Class of 1972, it’s my privilege to salute the rising stars of the crackerjack Class of 2022 on your graduation. I applaud you for reaching this benchmark, and here’s the best news: You’re young and your adventure has only begun. It will be different for every one of you. You’ll do things in the years to come that you can’t even imagine today. And I hope that your lives will be rich and meaningful.
Fifty years ago, my classmates and I sat where you sit now. We weren’t staring at our smartphones but only because they hadn’t yet been invented. Richard Nixon was president, and the Super Bowl was only five years old. Some of us were cocky, many more confused, almost all of us relieved to be picking up our NFA diplomas and moving on to whatever came next. Few of us had the patience to endure a long-winded speech. So as honored as I am to address you this afternoon, I promise to be brief.
People my age are quick to dish out advice, even though we know it’s seldom heeded. So in that spirit, I’ll offer a few nuggets as you embark on your journeys. First, you’ll need to work to put food on the table. And when it comes to work, if at all possible, do what you love. It doesn’t matter if it’s a trade or a craft, a profession or an artistic endeavor. If you discover something you love to do, and a way to earn a living from it, count yourself fortunate. You’ll spend a large chunk of your life at work, coming and going to work, fretting and grousing about work – maybe, like me, meeting your life’s partner there. But a job that you love, and you’re good at, will never feel like work.
I was lucky to find one. And I first found what I loved to do in my senior year at NFA when I was editor of the Red and White, then a student newspaper, today a student website. I loved everything about it – the reporting, the writing, the camaraderie with fellow staffers, even the smell of the ink. It was an era before pagination, so we laid out the paper by hand at the Norwich Bulletin – and when we got tossed out for being too boisterous, in the basement of my parent’s house at 10 Rockwell St., just a block from here.
For the past 40-plus years, I’ve been a writer and editor for newspapers and websites, here in Connecticut, in the Pacific Northwest, and in Boston. My job’s taken me everywhere, to state capitals and biotech labs, undersea in a nuclear submarine, hovering over Mt. Saint Helen’s in a helicopter. My colleagues and I have exposed safety problems on Boeing jets and Covid outbreaks at nursing homes. I’ve got to ask self-important bigwigs, in politics and business, questions that made them uncomfortable and held them accountable. Sometimes I’m still amazed that they pay me to do this job.
My second piece of unsolicited advice is to try to make a difference – in your work, in the lives of your family and friends, in your community. Coach sports, volunteer at a hospital, register to vote, get involved in public life. You might find it rewarding, and it will get you out of the house. If you’re able to give someone else a lift, all the better. A lot of this will happen in your personal lives. But it will be impossible to ignore the demands and dangers of the outside world.
Some in my generation were idealistic. They rallied for peace and civil rights and clean air and water. Every generation strives to leave a better world for the next. But our track record is at best mixed.
I guess this is where I should say something reassuring about the challenges you’ll face. But you know them as well as I do. You’ve come of age in a time of plagues – Covid, mass shootings, climate disasters, racial injustice, and more. If we’re honest, we’d have to say my generation has left yours with more messes to clean up than anyone deserves. That wasn’t our intent, and some of us will be here for a while to help with the cleanup. But however unfair, the task will fall largely on your shoulders. You’re the smartest, most capable, best equipped generation to right the ship, but it won’t be easy. I wish you the best and I know you will do a better job than we did.
My third piece of advice is to use a tool that will help to tackle the challenges you’ll face: embrace the truth. Look at your many strengths and talents and build on them. Look at your shortcomings and improve on them. Don’t make excuses, don’t blame others. As a long-time newspaper guy, I’ll also say keep up with what’s going on in the world – and get your news from trusted sources where facts are vetted and verified. Our world is awash in misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracies. Seeing through them and getting to the truth will be another task for your generation.
Lastly, surround yourself with people who love and support you, and don’t take them for granted. Some are sitting next to you here today, and others are in the audience. In my life, I’ve been lucky in that respect, too, and I hope that you will be as well.
Thanks for listening. Go forth and do great things. Members of the Class of 2022, the stage is yours.
