Good evening members of the Board of Education, distinguished faculty and administration, family and friends, and most especially the Class of 2020. It is a pleasure to be here, and to share in celebrating this group of wonderful individuals, who are so many things to so many people. To your teachers, you are creators, engineers, mathematicians, and entrepreneurs. To your coaches, you are competitors, motivators and playmakers ... to your friends, you are sounding boards, comedians, confidants ... to your parents, sons and daughters ... but to me, you’ve always just been “my class.”

It might surprise you all to know that I have been working on this speech for the past four years. Way back when you first walked through the doors of the high school on that warm August evening for your freshman picnic, and we were introduced for the first time. I went home that night and began to envision our future together. I may not have yet put pen to paper (or fingers to keys), but much like you, I started to imagine what the next four years might hold. And still even then, I was also envisioning a specific day, four years in the future, where instead of looking at what lay ahead, I would be reflecting on what was now behind. Your time here at Lyme-Old Lyme High School. Today. Graduation day.

In the four-year span of time in between, I have been making mental notes, adding to my ‘outline’ of this speech with references to pep rallies, class events, spirit weeks, junior prom, senior ball and so forth. I promised myself I would make at least two good jokes about the infamous freshman Lock-In. I’m still not sure how I let the class officers convince me that would be a good idea. Going back over everything, as I’m sure some of you have in recent days, little things would pop up in memory here and there, all coming together in my mind to form the mosaic of your high school experience. The paragraphs began to take shape in my head. I would end with something about the senior banquet, our class trip, graduation rehearsal... The final moments we all shared, encapsulating your four years.

Only, as you all know, that was not the ending we got. Without warning, this school year took a drastic and unexpected turn. We have all been forced to live in a new reality, and abide by a set of rules we had no hand in making. Like many of you I have spoken to, at one point, the idea of ‘school from home’ seemed kind of wonderful. Sleep in every day? Sure. Make my own schedule? Definitely. Take breaks when I feel like it? Love that. But, as is always the case with the “greener” grass there have been drawbacks.

I returned to the draft of my speech and started to consider those drawbacks. What did I miss the most about school? What did I want back? Perhaps not so surprisingly, it was not any class event or fundraiser. It wasn’t anything in particular ... just you. All 127 of you. That’s what I was missing. Those little moments in my daily routine, where one of you bellowing ‘Hi Ms. Mass’ down the hall or giving me a fist bump would brighten my day. Seeing our many senior athletes on game day, pumped for their matches. Chatting with the line of seniors in the office for early dismissal. Daily interactions in my homeroom. Laughing at practice with my lacrosse players. A collection of tiny little moments. I imagine that I speak for many fellow faculty members when I say that I don’t have strong memories of my own high school dances, or class fundraisers, or even graduation. I have a sense of the time, composed of little seemingly insignificant moments with my friends and family. Moments that back then, seemed easy to forget. Yet here I am, age 39, still remembering them. In the end, it turns out that those little moments were actually the big moments. Or, at least, the moments that really mattered.

As you prepare to leave the confines of Lyme-Old Lyme and step into the ‘real world,’ you have a unique opportunity to experience life in a way that no one before you has. You take this next step forward in the wake of a paradigm shift, where terms like quarantine and social distance are now a part of our vocabulary. Hopefully your time away from school this spring has taught you something. I’m here to tell you, whatever it may be, do not let the lesson go to waste.

Appreciate the small things. Don’t take time for granted. Have compassion for your neighbors.

Nothing lasts forever. Be present.

There is nothing quite like a global pandemic to make the world collectively pause. Nature is powerful, and we know this, but it is an easy thing to forget, the more we become insulated in the frenetic pace of life ... always looking forward to the next thing, the next goal we want to accomplish, the next stage of our lives. Trust me, it happens in a flash.

Now, no graduation speech is complete without a quote to let the audience ponder. There is no shortage of applicable content out there, but the quote I’ve chosen for you is one that I settled many years ago, long before I took on the role of class advisor. It comes from a show called "One Tree Hill," and those familiar with the series will know that it centers on the lives of teenagers, much like yourselves, and the trials and tribulations of growing up. Sadly, it is no longer on Netflix, but with nine seasons, I assure you that it is highly binge-able should you get the chance to watch it. In the final episode, the lead character, now a father himself, reflects on the course his life has taken, and remarks: “It’s the oldest story in the world. One day, you are seventeen and planning for ‘someday.’ And then quietly and without you ever really noticing, someday is today. And then someday is yesterday. And this is your life.”

I cannot emphasize enough how much this quote still resonates with me, as it has every day since I first heard it. In my opinion, it touches on a concept that’s difficult to grasp — the passage of time, and what it is to grow up. For what feels like forever, your life is one way, and then suddenly it’s not. You knew the day was coming, and then the day is here, and then it’s gone. I don’t think anything sums up being a teenager more perfectly than that.

So be present. Live by your terms, in the moment. As much as today is a time to reflect, it is also a time to look forward, to the next chapter of your life. To all that’s ahead of you. It’s your time — what will you do with it?

Congratulations Class of 2020 — go get ‘em!

(Emily Macione is a teacher and class advisor at Lyme-Old Lyme High School.)