Graduation Speech, May 9, 2021
They came from all over the place, these 39 children. Some came from different towns, different states, and one came from all the way across the world. They never expected to end up in the same place at the same time or to be sorry to say goodbye to each other one far off day in the future. How was it possible for 39 kids so different from each other in so many ways to become so attached? After all, they were scholars and singers and artists and musicians and writers and dancers and athletes and orators. They were brown and black and Asian and white, especially Tanner Turek and Cole Kleint, whom Mr. Howard dubbed the whitest boys in America. Many of them started school together when they were 11 years old and in the sixth grade. There were grand adventures. Bats was one of them. “Stay calm,” Mr. Nick Mohr ordered in science class one day when a bat floated from the ceiling to briefly graze Jonathan Novinski’s leg. Sixth grade was also time to learn how to be polite young ladies an