What a year it’s been!? (PHEW!!) It is so fitting that we are gathered here this morning on this beautiful day and at this amazing setting since you are such a remarkable class, and a group of students no more deserving than to make this commencement a great celebration. This time last year there were so many unknowns and we were all scared. Heck, what we are standing and sitting on didn’t even exist a year ago! While we still need time to feel even greater comfort as a community, and we are all scarred by the loss of life and threats to our safety, the sun is shining this morning, and we can all commit to being positive and moving forward together.

This year has been a year like no other in terms of breaking from tradition. So, our commencement off campus is in line with so many new moments that have now become traditions. The Blue Bench was replaced by the blue backpack chair, while some of them have seen better days, I hope you’ll cherish the individuality and the little bit of freedom you could have while you were staying safe, trying to adhere to the myriad of Covid rules, and of course trying to remain distant - while attempting to come together as a unified class in a manner like the 129 other senior classes before you. While going off campus at lunch, the Senior Homecoming Dance and two seasons of athletics were canceled and suspended along with other important aspects and privileges of being a senior, life did get much much better for you all in this final quarter; you’ve your made your college commitments, and we finished the year creating new traditions and bringing joy for all through school events such as our first live broadcast of Compchorea, our first ever performance of Addams Family, and a spring season of lots of joy for sailing, tennis, and lacrosse competition (with lots of wins), a return to a really joyful Senior Day. Oh, yeah, and thanks to a generous senior parent, we were able to build you an outdoor senior lounge to truly call your own. It is cliche, but you will indeed best remember the good days more than the bad, and in this final part of your senior year, you certainly have made up for a lot of the downers you experienced from September 2020 to late February.

Now, let’s turn back the clock to seven years ago, when 15 of you were proud members of our very first six grade class, squinting into the camera on that hot August day in your new Williams sweatshirts - my how far you have come, and how truly special you are (Ozzie I so agree with your reflection on this “experiment” as you called it). As you reminisce, I hope you’ll take a moment and applaud and commemorate two very important people who chaired the study to begin a new Sixth Grade - they are both here and both are deeply close to this class: Jane Hannon and trustee/parent Joe Madaus! The two of them, eight years ago, led the committee to make Sixth Grade at Williams a reality. Since then, your class has added amazing contributors each and every year, including our four new seniors who joined us from the former Chase Collegiate School. Each of you 50 made this class truly remarkable and unforgettable.

To all 50 of you in the Class of 2021: Life around you over the past 14 months has been marked by the three P’s: the Pandemic, Politics, and Protest, and true to form you’ve remained steadfast in your personal success while respecting and becoming involved in the adult world around you. Politically and Socially, your level of sophistication and need to explore the many sides of issues have helped you fulfill our mission to be active citizens in a changing world. While this year and/or the past 15 months will not define you, you have learned the skills to endure and face, and when needed, fight adversity, and move forward. I don’t expect you to do this now or perhaps not even in the near future, but I can assure you that someday, you will reflect on how you prevailed through some really difficult and anxious times - individually and as class. Your strength can be drawn from these experiences.

What I hope you will do as you transition to a new world of college and freedom, is to try and remove some of these phases from your vocabulary: (as shared by TheChronicle of Higher Education):

Unprecedented, you’re muted, social distancing, zoom fatigue, back to normal, in this together, asynchronous, virtual pedagogy, lockdown, in this space, hunker down, and new normal (an expression that I personally loathe).

Rather than looking back and reflecting on this past year or the past seven, I now ask you to look ahead while focusing on the things that have been sacred about your experience at Williams. I’ll call them the "Three R’s" (no, not "reading, 'riting, 'rithmatic,") but rather Resilience, Reinvention, and Relationships.

Your resilience has shown in many ways from dealing with personal and community-wide challenges, and you all have become stronger by facing and conquering them. You have certainly reinvented how you learn and work with others. Think about the many ways you have accepted, adapted to, and grown from your experiences on zoom, podcasts, online sources, and of course, social media. I contend that some of the best and most meaningful learning has taken place during the pandemic and you’ve met your toughest challenge. Finally, and most importantly, Relationships. The relationships formed with and among your classmates, your performance cast, your teams, your advisee groups, cohorts and clubs as well as those made with adults here in our community will carry you all through to success beyond Williams.

I witnessed lots of tears over the past few weeks, and these did not necessarily always happen in my home. You cried, your teachers, coaches, and advisors cried, your parents cried. These tears mean you cared, you cared for each other, about your social groups, your teammates, your classmates, your friends, and of course your family.

In closing, all 50 of you are undoubtedly off to do amazing things in a wide variety of schools, colleges, and universities in our country and abroad . And whether you are attending a large public university on the west coast, a liberal arts college in the northeast or south, or staying close to home here in Connecticut and Rhode Island, you will carry with you all the you’ve learned from Williams, and the love and care from your families - so go forward with optimism, great vision, and with confidence.

Seniors, Thank you so much for your daily support in helping me to lead and care for Williams as you did this year. I always say that I crave the energy that each class brings, so I am grateful for you keeping me supercharged throughout this year.  Furthermore, and I’ve said throughout my tenure as Head of School, I believe that there are no more powerful words in our language than “THANK YOU.” For Me - Thank you Class of 2021 so very much for leaving your indelible, and today, your historic mark on Williams and me, and it’s been a pleasure growing with, and learning from you.

On a personal note, and I’ll only get to say this to three graduating classes: There are so many of you seated out there that I’ve known long before you came to Williams, whether I was at one of your birthday parties, trick or treating at Halloween, at a game, a dance recital, on a boat in Hamburg Cove, at a swim meet, or a preschool Donuts With Dad. I will cherish my time with you like none other.

I am so proud of you AND…ALL the BEST to EACH and EVERY ONE of YOU!

I can promise you that 2021 and your class are a permanent part of our past and a prominent part of our future.

CONGRATULATIONS CLASS OF 2021!!