Though the rainy Memorial Day weather caused Middlesex School’s graduation to be held indoors, the class of 2016 nonetheless followed one tradition as best they could; pairing up and forming a long line, they departed from the Chapel and made their way to the ceremony.
There, the day’s guest speaker dwelled on some of Middlesex’s best traditions, while also departing from the usual pattern of graduation addresses, which, as he said, typically begin with “a gracious note of thanks and congratulations.” Instead, Bret Stephens ’91 – the foreign affairs columnist and deputy editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal – opened with sincere apologies to his former teachers in the audience for having been an “intellectually arrogant” student with “opinions about everything.”
In another twist of convention, Bret then congratulated the families of the seniors for their efforts leading up to this occasion – and offered his condolences to the graduates. “This might be the worst day of your lives,” he said, for they would never again have such committed teachers and coaches, nor would they find another community bound together by the School’s ideal of being a place where students may “find their promise.”
Bret traced his own promise to the alternative newspaper that he and several friends started to rival the official school newspaper. In retrospect, he considers their publication’s content “atrocious.” Still, they met deadlines and published regularly, fundraised and mastered computer software, sparked controversies and took criticism. He learned the value of free speech – and of “being indifferent to popularity,” which he called “one of life’s great liberations.”
Two of his Middlesex compatriots are now successful Hollywood writers, and another is an accomplished entrepreneur; Bret earned the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary. Given these outcomes, Bret asked the Middlesex faculty to have patience with especially “difficult and obnoxious” students. “It may take 10 or 20 years,” he said, “but I guarantee that someday those misfits will be standouts. They will make you proud.”
Graduation might be the worst day or the seniors’ lives, Bret concluded, but if Middlesex had “stirred a deeper yearning, inspired an inner calling, aroused a great ambition,” then it might also be “the day when it all starts, when that which for so long has been promised is, at last, on its way to fulfillment.”
Elected by his peers, Valedictorian Will Christenfeld took a humorous look at his graduation role, describing himself as “woefully unqualified” to offer any advice, though he felt he had received plenty of it. But the value of a Middlesex education, he reflected, should be measured “in our ability to think critically for ourselves.” Ending not with advice but “an observation,” he suggested, “Let us continue to search for those lessons that will help define us, but remember that the ability to judge advice is more important than the advice itself.”
Returning to the topic of finding one’s promise and exploring the many facets of the idea of “investment,” Head of School Kathy Giles told the seniors that they were finished with only “a phase of finding your promise,” as this pursuit is “a lifelong process.” More and more, she continued, “People important to you will be less interested in your promise than they are in your product – in what you create, in what you contribute, in how you connect.” Reviewing recommendations made by successful individuals like Warren Buffett – and made by several seniors during their chapel speeches throughout the year – Giles emphasized that demonstrating responsibility, commitment, collaboration, creative problem solving, and caring would be important in convincing others that they should believe in and invest in them. “We’re happy we invested in you,” she said. “In fact, our investment has never felt more promising.”
Presiding over his first graduation, new Board President Stephen Lari ’90 helped award diplomas to the 93 members of the class of 2016.