The McDonogh community gathered for the annual convocation ceremony to kick off McDonogh’s 144th school year. Starting with a procession down Chapel Hill, the class of 2018 led the class of 2029 to Child’s Memorial Terrace. Miss Bridget Collins opened the ceremony with an invocation that was followed by an opening from Headmaster Charlie Britton. Britton challenged students to not fear failure because “great people fail and fail and fail and fail.” Senior Class President Cormac Callanan also took a turn at the podium and encouraged his peers to listen carefully and make an effort to understand one another while he closed his speech with song lyrics from Vanilla Ice. Kibber Elias, a member of the 8th grade and class of 2022, advised her peers
Walking into Walnut Hills High School right now would have anyone thinking the just walked into the middle of a tornado. Everyone you look there are students running in and out of doors, in and out of cars, and most certainly either turning in missing assignments or retaking tests. There is only one way for you to explain all this ciaos, Senior Year, the year that all teens await with so much excitement and ambition and the year that every single hour long study dates pays off. For the class of 2021 this isn’t just their final year at Walnut Hills this is the year that friends separate and head off to their different university to follow their dreams.
In 1992, Christopher McCandless set off on an odyssey into the backcountry of Alaska, an adventure that had proved fatal. After McCandless's corpse was found, Jon Krakauer wrote an article on the story of Chris McCandless, which was released in the January 1993 issue of Outside magazine. The article had received a negative response; several readers criticized McCandless for being foolish and ill-prepared, and showed no sympathy or remorse for his death. McCandless has been referred to as a nut, a kook, and a fool. However, McCandless was not a nonsensical man. In 1996, Jon Krakauer's novel, Into the Wild, was published. The novel uncovers more detail of McCandless's story. Into the Wild rebuts the idea of McCandless being someone who is foolish, and speaks of the many occasions where McCandless has demonstrated great perseverance and determination. The novel also proves the intelligence of McCandless, and brings insight into McCandless's psyche. The following examples will illustrate how McCandless was not a fool, but someone to admire.
To regard the importance of the bigger picture, he maintains parallel structure and utilizes the repetition of words in the body of the speech. “The fulfilling life, the distinctive life, the relevant life” occurs when one seizes the day—when one finds the joys in life by realizing “you are not special”. The pauses and short sentences also adds to the conversational aspect and pace of the commencement piece. To continue, he notes how in this moment of time, every single one of them is dressed “exactly the same” and their diplomas are “exactly the same”. The unification of these prospective seniors further augments the message of settling. McCullogh further critiques the phrases that defy logic. High school students have perceived that “good is no longer good enough, where a B is the new C”. The goal into doing one’s best has been shaped into doing the capabilities of another, in which McCullogh responds metaphorically to only focus on the betterment of the self: “climb [the mountain] so you can see the world, not so the world can see you”. All of these seniors have fallen into the preconceived mindset of superiority, unifying them together but it is their personal capabilities that distinguishes one from another, successes from failures. The support and inspiration he is aiming for is clearly portrayed in proposing to the students to, “[d]ream big. Work hard. Think for yourself”. He inspires them to experience life instead of accomplish
The novel Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko follows a young man, Tayo through his journey beginning when he returns home to the Laguna Pueblo Reservation, from World War Two; and is very ill. During the narrative Silko introduces us to Tayo's life before the war, which gives insight to reasons of why Tayo is ill. Through out his illness Tayo goes through many ceremonies both literally and metaphorically to try to cure his ailment. One of the ceremonies that is performed, is lead by Old Ku'oosh, the medicine man, where he performs a cleansing ceremony for someone who has killed someone in battle, even though Tayo doesn't recall killing anyone. However, he adds that this ceremony, which he has been performing for many of the returning war soldiers, has not worked for all of them. He then recommends another medicine man with the tools to cure and perform ceremonies, for the old ceremonies, since the white man had arrived, have not been able to cure the new diseases. Along with the medicine man ceremonies he also goes to American "white" doctors, which also acts as some what of a cleansing for him. In his case vomiting is can also be used as a ceremony for Tayo because he uses it to cleanse his body of the poisons and evil, both physical illness and mental illness. The ceremonies that Tayo goes through whether traditional through a medicine man or contemporary like visits to the psychiatrist and stays in the hospital, all add to his recovery, either through physical or mental cleansing.
The inherent desire to belong to a group is one that is fundamental to human nature. In his article “Evolution and Our Inner Conflict,” Edward O. Wilson writes, “A person’s membership in his group – his tribe – is a large part of his identity.” Wilson explores multilevel group selection and the proclivity for people to define themselves based on their belonging to the group. He goes on to say that people often form these groups with those who look like them and belong to the same culture or ethnic group. In the novels Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko and The Puttermesser Papers by Cynthia Ozick, the identities of the protagonist are predominantly shaped by the ethnicities and heritages that they identify with. The identity of Tayo, the protagonist of the novel Ceremony is largely shaped by his ethnicity as both a Native American and part white. Tayo’s background leads directly to his own identity as an outsider and is central to the storyline. In the novel The Puttermesser Papers by Cynthia Ozick, the title character Puttermesser’s identity and subsequently her story is also influenced by her Jewish heritage.
In order to legitimise a regime or cause, traditions may be constructed around historical or mythological events, people or symbols that reinforce the image required to focus people’s conception of the past. People can be encouraged to invent a cohesive view of their shared ‘traditions’ by what could be called cherry picking bits of history.
Growing up my parents always taught my sister and I that we should always be grateful for what we had. Take care of all our toys and expensive things that they brought us. They taught us that you have to work hard for what you want and nothing is handed to you. Even though me and my sister always got what wanted we also knew that we worked for it and that made getting it even better. I believe my parents raised me pretty good. I always respected them and knew my limits, me and my sister had chores we had to do and if they weren't done by the end of the week we would have a consequence. This taught us responsibility and that in the real world if you don't do your job you would be fired or there would be a consequence you would have to pay. Lately I have noticed that a lot of kids in today's society are very ungrateful. They feel entitled and believe that they shouldn't have to work for anything. They think things should just be handed to them without any questions asked. I think I have a way to stop this rising trait in today's youth.
A bead of sweat trickled across my neck like an ice-cold drop of rain running down a windowpane. I stood anxiously, juxtaposed to ten of my fifth grade classmates on a dusty six-inch high platform, each of us in our lint-free suits, as I stared forward to meet the unforgiving eyes of the students and teachers of Main Dunstable Elementary School. A steady stream of parents entered the gymnasium, and I heard chatter as parents and kids conversed noisily with each other. I felt my throat tighten and wished for the emcee, Mrs. Paradis, the principal of our school, to take up the microphone and begin the ceremony.
Invited back to my alma mater, Fair Avenue Elementary, I was asked to say a few words, any words, on high school and graduating.
The evening of my 8th grade honor roll ceremony is one of my favorite memories from middle school. Most people would choose graduation –or as my school liked to call it, promotion- but graduating wasn’t very special to me. Anyone who passed all of their classes with a D or above could graduate. That’s practically everyone in my grade! Another reason graduation wasn’t as important to me was because it was just middle school. I still had the two big ones. high school and college graduations. But the honor roll ceremony? That was something I was extremely excited to be a part of.
The opportunities offered me during my four years at County High have been amazing. I have begun to understand all the potential I have to live life. I don't believe it takes a trip abroad to realize all we take for granted here in Hometown, USA. However, amongst the clutter that fills our lives, seldom do we choose to stop and reflect. Today is one day we intentionally set aside for the sentimentality we rarely experience. In only a few months, many of the graduates in front of you will leave home for universities, travel, or jobs. Today is not only your day to acknowledge our accomplishments, but also a time for us to acknowledge all you have given us.
Today completes the chapter of our lives that we have been comfortable with for the past 13 years. High school may be over, but we still have a long exciting way to go in life. From our four-year experience we will take with us the memories, good and bad, and relationships we have made with each other and the County High School staff. From these experiences we have learned and grown and will continue to do so. Growing up and moving on will be a huge part of our lives in the next few months. The decisions we will make come in-part from the choices we have already made.
As freshman, we came home from school with the mentality that we were no longer children, but rather had entered into a new stage of life. Everything seemed different and new; we weren’t the big kids on campus anymore. We no longer were the persons being looked up to, but rather were the persons looking up to an entire school of older students. We remember joining our firsts clubs, going to dances, and having Orientation days.
High school graduation is a milestone in our lives where we are able to celebrate the end of a journey, our new found freedom, and our first step into the “real world”, also known as adulthood. It is a night full of reminiscing on the memories we made with the classmates who have been by our sides since kindergarten, the classmates that we may not ever see again. It is a night with mixed emotions, teary eyes, smiles of relief, laughter as we think back on all of the memories we shared, talk of the colleges and universities we will be attending, what we will be doing, and the unbelievable realization that we finally did it; we graduated. It is an accomplishment we should be proud of, a night we should look back on. High school graduation is
Graduation: the last day that I would unwillingly set foot on the fields of Horizon High School. I could feel my heart beating out of my chest, and tried so hard to keep my feet moving one after the other in order to maintain my perfect stature. After the two hour wait of opening speeches, class songs, and the calling off of the five hundred plus names that were in front of me, it was finally my turn. As my row stood up and we walked towards the stage it had set in at last, this is it, I am done. My high school career ended on that night, but it didn’t close the book that is my life, it only started a new chapter, and with it came a whole slue of uncertainties.