Upper School
Graduation 2019

Bessie Speers

Head of School
Seniors, you are a diverse, fun loving, and thoughtful class. I have needed to give you “space” but don’t be fooled, I have watched you particularly closely! Mr. Waesco helped me early in the year, call a few of you into my office to tell you to behave. And you have! You have not only behaved, you have engaged. You are a class that has raised the bar on our newer tradition of Community Conversations. You have been a class that has modeled what can happen within a community when we have the courage to participate in real dialogue and have open, respectful conversation about race, gender, and issues of inclusivity. You have modeled within our community, what the hard work of love, respect, and real understanding looks like.
 
And I have admired you seniors, as you expressed different opinions and thoughts respectfully - about our country, your passions, our community, and the world. Whatever your future endeavors – seniors, you indeed, have developed the skills to work through complex issues and engage in respectful dialogue.
 
Seniors, it was you who set the tone this year, when you intuitively understood just when to give your peers or an underclassmen a shout out or a standing ovation, whether it was in response to a senior speech or a heartfelt comment, your ability to read the moment and understand the humanity in it - truly carried the year. Thank you for this!
 
Your teachers and I were impressed with your poise, your willingness to be vulnerable, and all the ways you chose to share your stories, your questions, your ideas, and opinions with the rest of the student body through your senior speeches.
 
Your senior year included moments of recognition including, honoring Mr. Dale Jester with a bench at Thanksgiving Assembly. The image of you sitting with our youngest students and applauding Mr. Jester so sincerely, will remain one of my favorite images of the year. You understand, seniors, the importance of giving it your all, whatever you do in life, do it with pride and passion, as Mr. Jester has done each day in the dish room at Tower Hill for 35 years.
 
While our word for the year was INTEGRITY, sadly we continue to witness some of the very opposite, whether exhibited through the misconduct of people in positions of power, or within our country’s political rhetoric, or as exhibited through the college admissions scandal. And when integrity is compromised, we too often we see continued evidence of bigotry, objectification, hatred, and violence. “While we do not get to decide the times we live in, we do get to decide how to live.” “It seems more than ever right now in our world, that we are continually forced to choose sides. But taking sides perpetuates a society of winners and losers, of “us versus them.” How do we choose inclusivity at a time when we are continually asked to choose sides? We need a world in which respect towards all - whether we are of the same faith or not, whether of the same gender or not, whether we are of the same color, or ethnicity, nationality, or background or not, whether we share political views or not. We need to be people that will not be governed by hate.”
 
Marion Anderson, the famous American singer, whose voice was so rich and beautiful, and of such a quality that many said: a voice like hers is only heard once in a hundred years – provides an example of love over hate. In 1939 Ms. Anderson’s manager tried to schedule a performance for her to sing at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC, but because of racial prejudice, she was told she could not perform. We heard last night at Baccalaureate from Mr. Speers about the power and moving impact of the Lincoln Memorial. Well, when First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt heard that Marion Anderson was denied a performance at Constitution Hall, she and President Roosevelt arranged for Marion Anderson to sing before an integrated crowd of more than 75,000 people on Easter Sunday at the Lincoln Memorial. Ms. Anderson’s voice stood for something, not only its beauty, but it stood for love over hate. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 and received many other recognitions throughout her life. She was a woman who showed us how to create a way where there was no way. Seniors, it’s ok to enjoy your rap, hip hop, and Schonda music, but do me a favor, be sure you listen to the voice of Marion Anderson before you go to college, and recognize that there will be times when your voice is needed, that you will need to use it, and that it will make a difference in ensuring that love wins over hate.
 
I hope you will remember that Tower Hill asked you to lean into the true meaning of this word: INTEGRITY- through your daily lives this year. And I hope that somewhere deep within your individual and collective fiber as a class, you have come to learn that INTEGRITY is close cousins with RESPECT and HUMILITY. As Judge Learned Hand said, the spirit of liberty is that spirit which is not too sure that it is right. In other words, it is within the intersection of integrity, respect, and humility - that we are better equipped to understand each other and ourselves.
 
Seniors, we have all admired your ability to hold simultaneously – the drive to excel with the ability to have fun. You have shared your extraordinary talents in academics, arts, theater, music, debate, model UN, robotics, service, and athletics. You have completed more than 2,880 hours of service, you have traveled near and far, been global scholars, and helped us live into our commitment to be a school of Wilmington and the world. You have competed and won multiple state championships, and racked up thousands of hours in practices, games, and most important of all, you have been recognized for good sportsmanship. You led the school in hundreds of ways during this 100th year, including an amazing all school musical in technicolor, literally! Yours was the year when the amazing 100 Years Green and White – 100th year song was created by Reese and Joseph and you led by singing along. You are off to extraordinary colleges and supported one another with such ease through some of the uneven stretch of this process. This is not always the case with every senior class and you were truly elegant in this regard.
 
Seniors, I invite you to be in touch with me directly, as you reflect on your Tower Hill experience. Your opinions and ideas are important to us and to me personally. We'll let you go to college and have a break from Tower Hill, however we are eager to always welcome you back as alumni – including Centennial in the fall of 2019!
 
So at last, a few words of advice to send you on your way:
 
As Mrs. Jordan said last night at Baccalaureate: “This is it.
It is time for your ripple, make your decisions your own and share your fears, joys, and victories with those who care about you.” And for us parents.....“Lord, protect my child.”
 
As Mr. Speers encouraged you: “always remember that you are precious, honored, and loved.”
 
As Mr. Smith said, “Yes! You can make it happen. Go make some magic, instill some hope, and share some love.”
 
As Heidi inspired us “choose your own stories and live them.”
 
And as our Student Body President, Joe reminded us: “only when we look back do we realize how much progress we have made.”
 
And I share wisdom and pragmatic advice from a few others:
  • Call someone you love back home a few times a week, even if just for a few minutes.
  • Embrace the differences between you and your classmates. Always be asking yourself, "what can I learn from this person?"
  • Working things out between friends is best done in person, not via text. 
  • Welcome failure into your lives. It's how we grow. What matters is not that you failed, but that you recovered.”
  • When you're living on a college campus with 400 things going on every day, watching repeat versions of Game of Thrones is pretty much a waste of your time and a waste of your parents' money.
  • Straighten up your room before you save the world. Then save the world.
  • Don’t stay angry about anything for more than a week, but don’t forget what made you angry. Hold your anger out at arm’s length and look at it as if it were a glass ball. Then add it to your glass ball collection.
  • Do not inhale smoke. Drink lots of water.
  • Your health and safety are more important than anything else
  • Ask for help. Often. 
  • This is the only time in your lives when your only real responsibility is to learn. Try to remember how lucky you are every day.
  • Hope for everything. Expect nothing.
  • Another head of school recently said, “Practice the art of radical listening.” Mr. Tad Roach 
  • An Oscar winning filmmaker states, “Optimism is radical. It is a hard choice, the brave choice. And it is most needed now. Optimism is not uncool. It is rebellious, daring, and vital.” Guillermo Del Toro
  • And, as the great educational reform giant of the 1800's, Horace Mann said, "Education, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of human beings, the balance-wheel of our social machinery." So do not take your education for granted.
 
And borrowing from a few of your senior pages in your amazing “Now and Then” yearbook:
 
From Sarah’s page: As Winnie the Pooh says, “We didn’t realize we were making memories; we just knew we were having fun.”
 
From Kyra’s page and Guthrie’s Tree Trim Speech: As Andy Bernard said, “I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you actually left them.”
 
From Kyle’s page: As Martin Luther King said, “the ultimate measure is not where we stand in moments of comfort or convenience, but where we stand at times of challenge and controversy.”
 
From Anand’s page: “mismanaged success is the leading cause of failure. Well-managed failure is the leading cause of success.”
 
From Anna’s page: “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”
 
And finally, dear seniors and this is from me AND by way of a
 
Benediction:  Care more about inclusivity than exclusivity, reject elitism and embrace equity, always take the high road, as your integrity will be the very bedrock of your success and remember that “love is the most reliable muscle of human transformation.” And, pay attention to ways that you can combine your intellectual might with confidence, compassion and humility, for it is in this very combination that you will help transform and inspire the world. Seniors, we will miss you, we love you, and GODSPEED.
 
 
 
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