good evening please rise and remove your hats for the singing of our national anthem followed by the peters township all mater sung by graduates pam altman rachel are in good evening ladies and gentleman and honored guests on behalf of the peters township school district administration and board of directors it is my sincere honor to welcome you to the two thousand and sixteen peters township high school commencement ceremony i specially want to take a moment to welcome our distinguished our most distinguished guests the parents and families of these accomplished young men and women seated before me today each graduates diploma is a testament to the a measurable support you have provided them so tonight is also your celebration a very special welcome also goes out to the teachers counselors and principals from all of the peters township schools for not only participating in the ceremony but more importantly for contributing to the success of each and every one of the graduates here tonight joining me on stage is the superintendent of schools dr jeanine french and the school board of directors please know that is because of your leadership that we celebrate the graduation of these three hundred sixty six students today before i introduce our first speaker i would like to take a moment to recognize those individuals who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to guarantee that tonight runs smoothly our media and tech teams including our partners at channel seven the secretarial maintenance and c staffs high school administrative team the high school guidance counselors who ensure that each student made it to today many many many thank you's at this time please join me in welcoming our senior lower body so i'm not a big fan of cliches and one of the biggest just happens to be taking a selfie a graduation but it has to be done so we're going to get out of the way now sort of a smile pretty and say cheese because class of one nine hundred sixty six and say thank you to these men and women along with reflecting on the class of twenty sixteen's time here at p t h s you see we have living proof with us here today that life goes on after high school it really does and the story that currently makes up the entirety of our lives will slowly become just a small portion of our greater tell they grew up in a time without cellphones we use this resource every day to connect with our friends help us with our homework and learn about things that are happening in our world as well as to procrastinate important things like writing a speech for graduation although fifty years separates our two glasses the cell phone represents a connection between us our need for communication is tassels right my way our need for communication has not changed in the last fifty years and our need to access information has not changed in the last fifty years but our ability to access that information definitely has the and i know they couldn't use hashtags back in the day but if they could have they would have said things like hash tag the beatles rock and hash tag we can work it out just like them we've had many first they had a first day of kindergarten they had a first day of elementary school they had a first day of middle school and if you can believe it they even had a first day of high school they experienced their first high school football game together so did we rowdy red we all remember our first dance at the end of eighth grade while we were all trying to duggie they were doing the twist hash tag let peters twist just like us and just just like them sorry all of our first have led up to one all important last the last time that all of us will be gathered together today here at and sixteen graduation even though we are fifty years separated they share the same optimism and need to communicate with each other they've been around long enough to see the impact of our nation's intuition and ingenuity on how our society operates we now live in a time where we can communicate with anybody no matter who they are where they are or what time of the day is the members of the class of one hundred sixty six deserve a round of applause however so however i must ask that you do refrain from applauding until the last name is announced thanks everybody dennis b arding or bruce boland margaret burke hilton sandra butterworth altman suzanne cloud or evans joyce devor bailey so this graduation is not just about the men and women of the class of one hundred sixty six and nor is it just about us here in the class of twenty sixteen this ceremony is an opportunity for all of us here to thank all of you for the countless hours you've spent raising us as a collective community it is important to say thank you to take a moment to express to a loved one just a moment works just tell them how much their support has meant to you just like the members of the class of nine hundred sixty six would have done i am going to pick up my dang phone and make a phone call to make one of these thank you's possible so even though i am going to call my mother right now i do hope that i am able to do justice to all of the thank you's that need to be said in the near future i would like to extend this thank you to everyone who has helped all of us get to this moment and get my phone now thank you for all that you have done seriously thank you my last eighteen years of life wouldn't have led me anywhere near where i am now without you thank you for all the late nights you spent helping me work on projects prepare for tests and deal with brushes and friends thank you for helping me make good decisions and for helping me understand why some of my own words the best thank you for all the weekends you sacrificed to watch me chase a soccer ball around on the grasshopper field and to help me practice baseball and basketball and by somehow helping me realize that i'm no good at either baseball or basketball it's impossible really is for me to fathom the lengths to which you would have gone to put a smile on my face so thank you mom from the deepest recesses of my sometimes unappreciative and disrespectful self i love you we must say thank you to the class of nine hundred sixty six and to everyone else here for teaching us the class of twenty sixteen that it's important to make a point to pick up the phone and call your parents and those who help you get to where you are today because without them we truly would not have been able to accomplish the things that we have and we surely wouldn't be able to go on to accomplish what we will he raised the bar really high gentleman that phone call now we will hear from our senior speaker sebastian y we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life electric word life it means forever and that's a mighty long time because you know that's a quote from prince and if you don't know prince's just ask your parents i'm sure they'll know first i'd like to thank everyone who made it out today to celebrate the graduation of the class of two thousand and sixteen especially i would like to recognize the students parents teachers and faculty who brought this entire event together this is a big day in the history of all of our lives all right i'm going to say three numbers during the speech hopefully o them will stick it's encouraged to play in the audience and try and guess what they represent if you go three for three then i will promise there will be and i quote from mr lacy valuable points and prizes the numbers are three seventy twenty four and my favorite number four thousand six hundred seventy two i repeat three seventy twenty four and of course four thousand six hundred seventy two the number three seventy is the easiest one to guess obviously there are three hundred seventy members of the class of twenty sixteen three hundred seventy one if you count d j varun sharma never forget that's a lot of people here's my question my fellow classmates out of the three seventy how many do you know of as of this moment follow up questions how many your friends your family your teammates how many your enemies xico friends your opponents life is like a book we're all embarking and writing a new chapter of our stories some characters good and bad might stick around to the end of the novel other characters also good and bad might fail a plot and continue their own stories elsewhere one thing that we are certain about the future is that the future is filled with uncertainty i have only encourage everyone to bury the hatchet with enemies and revitalize look at their companion ships with friends the story is a lot more enjoyable with people and the more people the merrier on to the number twenty four parents remember we were small shy and couldn't cross the road by ourselves now look at us we're strong devilishly handsome tall independent educated and devilishly handsome these types of changes do not happen overnight the number twenty four represents the number of hours required per day to be a parent and in my opinion that's an understatement for all of your hard work and dedication for the future success of our lives i think i can speak for all the seniors and say thank you we are so so so grateful for all that you have done a great thank you we're so grateful this brings me to my final number also the largest four thousand six hundred and seventy two is the amount of hours of sleep and enjoyment we miss from hours of homework brought upon us from our lovely teachers know that there was actually four thousand six hundred and seventy three but who's counting right four thousand six hundred seventy two is the exact number of days it's been since a class of twenty sixteenth's first day of school at kindergarten aug twenty sixth two thousand and three you go to peter's all your life don't worry i'm sure the number isn't that much different but holy cow four thousand six hundred and seventy two days of growing up in that time we've prospered failed loved hated again last performed multiple missed devious acts and made the world a much better place we've all had different experiences canadian poet once said started from the bottom now we hear we hear b t h s the staircase of life had four thousand six hundred and seventy two steps on it and we find every single one of those steps no one knows what's going to happen on the next staircase there'll be sections of the next staircase that w you the floorboards are creaking the wallpapers peeling off there are cicadas everywhere and there will be sections of the staircase that you wish you could stay forever  our duty and our destiny to take upon this staircase no matter what the conditions are step by step day by day thanks for all the memories class twice sixteen i wish all of us this is always difficult time in the program for me it's my opportunity to talk to the class of two thousand and sixteen and i've talked to them a lot over the last couple of days i know they will concur say i thought long and hard about the message i wanted to impart on them today and so here goes four years ago these three hundred sixty six students timid peter township high school today the students sit before me ready to graduate having collectively earned somewhere around eleven thousand three hundred forty six high school credits give or take a few that's enough for four hundred thirty six graduates they did pretty well class of two thousand and sixteen you certainly are no longer timid and at times i've actually thought some of you were superhuman you must not sleep your schedules are jam packed you have rigorous classes tons of extracurricular activities lots of athletics jobs service a course lots of social time that must be included and you all one thing i know about you you're all very different but there is something that connects all of you one thing i've noticed across the entire class that is a common theme this class has a measurable talent and passion it's different for each of you but you all share it and that's unique among you are musicians and artists actors and singers athletes and leaders in the future you will be pilots doctors engineers teachers lawyers entrepreneurs and a wealth of jobs i haven't even thought of yet maybe aren't even created yet you will be successful of this i am certain so i wanted to really think about what could i talk to you about because i know you already know everything you've told me that a couple of times so i wanted to take a moment to focus a little bit on something else i want to talk to you about you as future husbands and wives parents and friends colleagues you as people in the future have you thought about what success looks like there have you imagined your life in the future my father told me when i left for college that he and my mother had done all they could to raise me at this point and that was up to me he hoped i would make good decisions no pressure was a lot for me to kind of taken at eighteen but i realized what he meant was that life over the next four years was going to present a lot of new challenges that were going to define who i was as a person and it did for sure it did and it will for you to my dad was an interesting character he was not a man that was easily impressed by much he judged you by your handshake he judged you by whether or not you looked him in the eye when you talked to him whether you had integrity and probably your ability to talk about baseball my father was an amazing baseball player in high school all i heard growing up from his brothers was he should have played in the majors i heard it a lot he had been had he been part of this graduating class that probably would have been his talent and his passion baseball he might have joined the ranks of the thirty one students in this graduating class who signed on to play college sports but circumstances beyond his control caused him to drop out of high school at eighteen and join the army there he learned a trade that would become his life's work my dad never said he wished his life would be different or he wished he would have the same opportunities that other kids had he certainly had more struggles than most but that is the hand that life dealt him all he ever said about it was he wanted to make sure life was better for his children he wanted us to value education hard work and most of all people my father passed away this year and i was really amazed at the number of people who approached me at his funeral to tell me how much my father had impacted their lives some of these people i knew many i did not these were people young and old and no one spoke of my dad's passion no one spoke of his talent no one talked about baseball no one talked of his high school years his years in the army the the many years of work people remembered him as a volunteer fireman as a member of the american legion honor guard they remember him as a friend he mentored many and made great friends in the process they remembered the times he invited them to join us for dinner or for family gatherings or the times he made them laugh when they needed it most or reminded them that things would be ok when they had a problem he had an innate ability to always know that things would work out he was a good friend and he had a big heart he was a good man from him and from this last this year i've come to realize that it is the person we become that matters most not just what we do and what we accomplish so graduates as i leave you today with your incredible talent and passion remember that the future is about identifying who you are as a person not just what you do and what you have done so class of two thousand and sixteen i want to first thank you for letting me be a part of your journey during these past four years and for the future i wish you to savor every success but most importantly be true to yourself always stay optimistic and for the most part be good people congratulations welcome superintendent of schools dr janine french good evening i'd like to begin today with an apology and a thank you i'd like to apologize first for my partner destruction to your senior year and i'd like to thank you for handling it with a grace and maturity beyond your years and now this day is finally here this day that you've been waiting for graduation is certainly a time of great celebration and joy for me is also a time of reflection and a bit of worry i question have we done enough have we done enough to prepare you for what comes next this is a particularly important question in light of all that is going on in the world around us not one of us can escape the daily news of war and terror suffering or if it acts against this earth and humanity you bring me hope though i look out at you and think of all that you already accomplished in your young lives and of all that you are capable of i know that you will continue to bring joy to those in despair comfort to those who suffer friendship to the lonely i know that you will work hard to right wrongs and to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves it is time for you to go to go and do good good with the talents that you have been given we are counting on you to create tomorrow's that are better than every today the world back ends and we are sending them our very best please welcome school board president mr thomas mcmurray to introduce our teacher speaker choices and much happiness and success the members of the class of two thousand and sixteen were asked to a consider a faculty member that they liked admired respected and in their eyes made a difference in her high school career and then later on select that person to offer words of wisdom tonight as a and bark and her license venture their choice is our next speaker kevin lawrence became a teacher at peter's time supply school seven years ago this was following his graduation from st vincent college he has taught philosophy leadership and government and currently teaches a p european history and western civilization mr lawrence grew up in maryland and dreamed of becoming a history teacher since he was in the fourth grade he currently lives in peter's timeship with his wife sarah and two children benedict and charles please welcome kevin lawrence and all the honored guests that are sitting up here with me thank you mrs pavlik for oh conducting yet another wonderful ceremony it's always a special thank you that needs to go out to the administrative staff and  keyboard that make this possible thank you and finally a very special thank you to seabass to sam and to the entire class of two thousand and sixteen for allowing us to be part of your special day i love a good commencement and this is a good commencement maybe i'm a glutton for punishment i don't know but i love all of it i love the pomp and circumstance the the air is rich with excitement  anticipation about the future the happy faces the proud parents i mean heck even the gothic moods and goofy hats with tassels i love all of it but what i love the most what brings me back every year for graduation is that look on your face that unexpected pride think about it fellas ladies what did you expect from today what did you expect to feel on your graduation day was it what you feel right now that unexpected pride boiling up inside of you making you more thankful more thoughtful more focused more in the style jack it is because of this that i am so honored and humbled that you guys picked me that you wanted me to be part of this special day and share in that special unexpected pride though i must admit it also makes me of a bit intimidated just kind of surprising to doing a talk in front of you every single day but i'm intimidated because i'm afraid i'm not sure i can do that unexpected pride justice i'm not sure i can live up to the expectations you have for this speech i mean i'm just mr lawrence i'm just a young rather unwise twenty eight year old with a bad propensity to say dumb things i mean what do i have to offer you at this age not wise heck i'm barely older than some of your siblings advice do i have to give how can i live up to your expectations but it was in these worries that i realize what i need to talk about i realize that i am barely older than so close in age are we in fact that we are from the same generation the millennial says we were born from the mid eighties to late two thousand early two thousand and we are different we are young and we are raised in the technological revolution and we are currently entering the workforce with a very different view of this world and with that come very different expectations that seem to be a bit unique in the history of our country and i know that i'm a history teacher so what advice do i have for you it's simple i can give you some advice on what it means to be a millennium we have all experienced the impact of expectations for us in everything from sports to work from friendship to romance from high school as you'll find out to college and so for many of you all of you here have met these six expectations and exceeded these expectations for example tonight this graduation you are expected twelve years ago to walk across the stage this was one of your expectations but what i have to say isn't about management of your past expectations what i have to say is about management of your future expectations the expectations that the world seems to have for us as a generation for young millennial adults and yes you are adults now this is it a student asked me the other day what age do i become an adult it seems to be a good one so the choices you make from this point forward guys will affect you in every single way so i sat down and i did some research what are the expectations of the young millennial looked at the research i thought about my own experiences and i asked a lot of questions of other millennial as well as our elders and what they thought and i came up with a short list class two thousand and sixteen and it's not pretty are your expectations that you will be lazy you will feel entitled you will be short minded and short sighted and that you are soft in fact i even found a stat that sixty percent of americans today are pessimistic about our future as the highest it's ever been even higher than it was in the depths of the cold war i asked you how does that make you feel if you agree with it i hope not does it make you upset does it make you a little bit angry but more importantly than anything is how are we as a generation going to manage these expectations and i know a simple answer manage these expectations the same way you have managed all the expectations of you up to this point by being you and knowing that actions will forever speak louder than words because when i hear that millennium goals are lazy i think of the over thirty student athletes sitting in front of me that are living their childhood dream and going off to play college sports at all levels i think of the number of students who are graduating with over a four point  and those who are already employed and working skilled labor jobs that will provide for not only them but their future families when i hear that you are entitled i think of the students who are sacrificing their own futures for us by joining the united states military that's a good reason to cla when i hear short sighted i think of the over seven million dollars that you guys have raised in college scholarships that's money at a time where most people struggle to gain financial and economic independence due to college debt trust me ana when i hear soft i think of those students who are sitting in front of me right now quietly and struggling to persevered through challenges that would break the hearts of many struggling against adversity without complaint and without looking for special treatment for those who fit this bill keep it up keep perseverance keep powering on because i promise you that grit will be rewarded tenfold lazy entitled short sighted and soft i don't see it and i hope you don't either they're wrong you're right don't you guys see to defeat these negative expectations this pessimism about the future of the united states of america we simply just have to decide that tomorrow isn't decided that tomorrow is our choice tomorrow was written not by our expectations but rather by our actions so we must learn to manage these negative expectations and not give into this pessimistic view of our future s expectations by so many is that this generation somehow can't succeed but when i look at your faces i see only reason for optimism success and a reason to believe in a brighter tomorrow so please i beg you do not give in to these negative expectations do not accept failure do not make excuses for they are the nails that built the house of failure do not let them define you but rather define your own history through your actions make america great give us a future we can believe in now you're probably thinking all right mr lawrence that's all fine and good there's the old but the old basketball coach give me the rah rah speech but how am i supposed to do this what actions do i need to take in order to accomplish this what actions will lead to a better future sorry i don't know like i said i'm a  word we're only in the same boat guess i'm trying to figure that out also sorry but i have been around a few more years than you guys and i have experienced one or two things more so i do have some advice for peace of his for pieces of exam advice that have gal excuse me have guided me through my most challenging times number one trouble trouble is one of our worst creations as humans and yes we created trouble because trouble is illogical and unnatural and only human beings have the ability to create the logical and unnatural however however the most illogical aspect of trouble is our love of squandering our time in trouble surrounding ourselves with bad influences and negative choices because we are afraid to end a relationship well class of two thousand and sixteen how can you ever expect to soar with the eagles when you insist on scavenging the dirt with chicken so please stay out of trouble number two goes closely with the first one but stiffer take the time to discern what is right in this world and have the where with all to do the right very rarely is the right going to be self serving or immediately gratifying but i promise you that choosing what is right will always lead to true and real happiness so always try to do the right thing number three we are so blessed to live in the united states of america the freedoms and liberties given to us are truly precious though this nation is not perfect it will never be perfect no nation can ever be perfect you received here in the united states a special gift that gift is a fair opportunity an opportunity to make your life whatever you want it to be an opportunity granted to us by a right to a democratic choice so whatever it is you want to be make sure you take advantage of that opportunity and make sure that you stand up for those opportunities for others so be sure to always stand up for democracy and number four finally never forget to honor respect and love those who supported you and sacrificed so much to get you here aka those people over there and behind me to they deserve that from you their self sacrifice support and love has been entered into making you the man and men and women that are sitting in front of me today make sure you take the time to humble yourself and always tell your parents that you love them so i guess if wrap this up nice and pretty and put a bow on it to make this advice something that for those of you that have had me this should be reminding you but for those of you that haven't helped it stick stay out of trouble do the right thing stand up for democracy and tell your parents that you love them congratulations class of two thousand and sixteen i will truly miss you good luck and all right two thousand and sixteen graduates are you ready i know you are we will now prevent the diplomas to the class of two thousand and sixteen first row of seniors please rise matthew john pamela marie altman claire evelyn catherine mar christian michael or do alexander thomas gabrielle grace watcher jacob melanie elizabeth jeremy michaels just alex ross operat taylor kate weary samuel michael michael westwood congratulations graduates gentlemen have a seat once this concludes our two thousand and sixteen commencement ceremony typical our boys are celebrating early thank you for celebrating with us and best of luck to our two thousand and sixteen peters township alumni congratulations graduate graduates i guess i don't need to tell them to now celebrate families are now welcome to join our graduates on the field this concludes our ceremony thank you