Photo: 2009 Salutatorian - Jeffrey Roderick

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, family and friends, students and faculty, to the graduation of the ACA class of 2009. We are gathered here today to celebrate one of the most important transitions in our lives, the transition from children to adults, from boys and girls to men and women. However, we surely cannot pass through this transitional gate without pausing to look back and acknowledge the impact that our high school years, and more importantly, our high school, have had upon us.

Three years ago, before I started attending ACA, I was the stereotypical homeschooler with all of my fears and peculiarities, the most prominent of which, was that I was incredibly, incredibly shy. At this point in my life, I kid you not, I had one friend, granted he was and still is an amazing guy. But I’m sure you can imagine that when my parents and I first started toying around with the idea of me going to ACA I was terrified by all of my preconceived notions of what high schools were like, with their freshman and sophomore hazing, and clicks and castes to which all students fell victim. In addition to this, I also worried about whether or not I could find my place among so many other people, and whether or not I would be able to make friends. But I eventually agreed with my parents that homeschooling simply wasn’t working, and so I enrolled for the following year. And let me say this as clearly as possible, nothing could have prepared me for my ACA experience. By the end of the first week, every single one of my preconceptions of high schools was shattered. I looked around and saw no clicks or castes, but simply one school, one family, all intermingling with each other. As if this wasn’t enough, I was soon befriended by Katie Tracy and Briana King, a senior and a junior, who made it their personal mission to crack open my shell of shyness. Now why a senior and a junior were even talking to me, much less trying desperately to be my friend, I had no idea, but you know what, it worked. And as they gradually drew me out of my introversion, I began to truly enjoy high school for the first time. Before long, I found myself joining in with the house competitions and various activities, and really getting to know and love my fellow schoolmates. I had found a second family.

Although, at the time, I failed to appreciate the magnitude of what Katie and Briana had done for me and to me through their selflessness, and I can now stand back and definitively say that I am the person that I am today, in part, because of them.

But do know what the coolest thing about this story is? It’s that mine isn’t the only one. I guarantee that every single senior who’s to stand before you today has had their own “Katie” or “Briana”, in one way or another, and has been drastically impacted thereby. Once I started thinking about this, I realized that the only place, other than ACA, where relationships so consistently jump age gaps, is in the family. This, in my opinion, is the true legacy of our school. Not the outstanding education we receive, nor the extravagant musicals we put on, but the familial relationships that we have with each other, and the profound impacts that they have upon us.

It is because of these impacts that I want to not only personally thank the students and faculty of ACA, who have contributed to making our school what it is, and what it will be, but also to encourage the underclassmen to pick up the mantle of responsibility that we as seniors leave behind. As you progress through the grades, you will become more and more responsible for maintaining and upholding our family, and must fulfill these responsibilities by reaching out to the grades above you and below, and striving to make a difference in the lives of your fellow students. I challenge each and every one of you to be a Katie, or to be a Briana to those around you, or only then can we as a school, as a family, fulfill Paul’s instructions in Romans 15:5, when he says that we are to strive for a “spirit of endurance, encouragement, and unity among (ourselves) as (we) follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth (we) may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

• Posted: Tuesday, May-26-2009
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• This post was filed under School of Rhetoric and tagged with: Class of 2009, Graduation, and School of Rhetoric.