oh to leave together and i came and spoke to her class every member standing there watching and thinking i couldn't have done that and thinking about  i don't think it is totally hit me yet after today nothing will ever be the same way your family your friends your life will never again be quite like today you will go away to school or work or travel and you'll come home to a room  meanwhile your sister will really know your family will face an empty chair at the dinner table and phone bills big phone bills senior year is the oxymoron defying waiting you've lived your whole life to be a senior in high school you thought for sure you would never be standing on the field in the shape of the ninety nine and yet sitting here today those college essays discuss some issue of personal local national or international concern and its importance to you in five hundred words or less you were so busy your parents only saw you when you needed money senior year is about expectations and disappointments it doesn't all unfold the way we had imagined it would because too often senior year is seen as an end in itself instead of a ritual passage to the rest of you in my senior year is about slowly saying goodbye to what you are without knowing yet what you will become senior year in the last thanksgiving day the last soccer game against winchester or field hockey you can see watertown the halloween dance crossing the finish line the last race the last performance of how to succeed in business and turning in your you are losing their lives and blaming it on you if you can meet with triumph and design aster and treat those two impostors just the same as first graders some of you learned to read here at the high school and others have an entire middle school invade your high school for two years as a classic face many challenges hard lessons of the outside world about alcohol and relationships were brought home in ways that you  had a difficult time handling as individuals some of your classmates have overcome family tragedy and personal adversity to be here for all those just coming to school went along bus ride or decision to keep it together one more day the ability of those students to not merely and do or to prevail is a tribute to the our strength as well as your support and friendship for the class of ninety nine success and honor to belmont high school we are sometimes criticised for placing too much emphasis on sports or class rank or eight hundred but your achievements on the playing field in the classroom and in the performance hall speak to harden our and team spirit which in compass is everyone you know winning seasons in football the first and some of your parents days at p h s golf cross country swimming basketball hockey both boys and girls and tennis have given the town an excuse to cheer math science history art and music awards celebrate the down and diversity challenge of the whole class acceptance to specialize schools and programs architecture music cinematography and military academies reflects the unusual degree of focus in your class sensitivity to the needs of others is evident in your commitment to both school and community service projects you are not afraid to be creative forming new clubs from the former to step school nor to speak out in support of youth commission or open campus yes i what makes belmont high school special today the last day of senior year is a special day for your parents too but it's also very hard we've spent the past four years really the past thirteen on the sidelines we've cheered and screamed catch the ball run faster we've worried about broken bones and more on our blue hair and body piercing computer printers how many of you know staples hours by heart passing english and deadlines parents remember when the most pressing concern was one to send in for kindergarten snack every choice we've made for thirteen years pale for which come dress the glo for the silver and college don't raise your hands but how many of you have mailed deposits to more than one school we want our hamper a worked on every conceivable committee from re my party and chaperone trips everywhere from plymouth plantation to new york city we even post software which for the record for some of us no one ever heard of when we were in school and all hand us i'm sure one special teacher comes to mind for all the parents here let me say a special thank you to the kindergarten teacher who helped a shy child make a friend to the first grade teacher who helped a little boy  so the third grade teacher one covered a little girl's hidden talents their shining now so the fifth grade teachers who made environmental camp happen and the art teachers who inspired genius to the middle school teacher who understood that baseball was more important than homework and the band excel in math and science and to the guidance counsellor who listened when it mattered most to the high school foreign language teacher who enthusiastically shared her culture and through the photography teacher who exposed the beauty of black to the string teacher who kept a chair open to the coach who saw her off attentional and nurtured and trained a winner to the high school teacher who said come back let's try again thank you to every staff member who helped our children along the way we wish merry crispy many healthy healthy years of retirement and eunice yost many days without a phone call the new year look back with fondness take a picture of your friends tonight and pack it when you leave tomorrow is the first day of your future your success what you become is up to you dream things that never work and do them and remember one thing sometimes in the anxiety of waiting for that college acceptance in the bittersweet moment of the last game the last day of classes and all the excitement of the senior banquet and graduation caroline and no joseph john video richard williams marketing