Alex Kiefer '06
Commencement Address
June 2, 2006
Good
morning and welcome, Mr. Baldecchi, Ms. MacCarthy, Board members,
family members, and faculty. I am proud to introduce to you to my
friends, the graduating class of 2006. First of all, I would like to
recognize the faculty members who are retiring and extend a special
thank you to them: Ms. Eames, Mrs. Barker, Mrs. Beers, Mr. Hardesty,
and Mr. Brost. I want to thank everyone who helped all of us to make it
through eighth grade and through TLS, especially the teachers who
pushed us to the limits of our abilities and encouraged us to pursue
our dreams. I also wish to thank all of our parents; you have
sacrificed more than we can imagine, and we are grateful.
As
I am finishing my tenth year here at TLS, I can't help but to remember
my preschool years. Those were the innocent years. The years of playing
in the sandbox, climbing on the monkey bars, and shooting on a
four-foot hoop. Dressing up as a princess or a Power Ranger, carrying
around a blanket or a stuffed animal, and crawling through the tire
tunnel in the little playground. Although those years were simple and
pleasant, it is necessary to look back on those years and remember how
it felt to be a kid. A quotation from The Wonder Years stood out to me:
“Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you
are, the things you never want to lose.” By reflecting on the preschool
and grade school years at TLS, we can recall the value of the memories
that TLS has given us.
I came to TLS in Pre-K. When I
try to think back to that year, one of the only things that I can
remember is Halloween. Ms. Beers arrived at school in a Mother Goose
outfit. Ms. Russo had pinned or taped purple balloons to her clothing,
put a green piece of felt on her head, and had turned herself into a
bunch of grapes. I came as a bear—Winnie the Pooh, I've been told.
Several girls were princesses, but hey, I've never been one to follow
the crowd. Even so, the array of costumes was outstanding. I can
remember this, and remember that we are all different, just like the
costumes. My individual memories of my classmates are unique. Everyone
is special to me in his or her own way, and TLS has helped to increase
our respect and our friendship towards one another. Even though we are
all different, we all have the same basics, background, and concrete
foundation—TLS.
Kindergarten and First Grade are full
of even more memories. Candy houses were a big deal. I remember icing
the graham crackers, decorating the yard with a mirror pond and some
trees, and lining the roof with peppermints and gumdrops. Then I was
finished. Eagerly parading the house among my friends and family, I was
proud to have created such a wonderful structure. Today, I will be
finishing my years at TLS. While I am sad at the prospect, I am also
excited. Excited at highschool and what's yet to come, yes, but also
the fact that I have gotten through TLS. Made it through the exams and
the papers and the speeches—well, almost. I will be eager to show off
the TLS experience because it was a unique experience. Not only did my
candy house seem beautiful and complicated, but my years at TLS seem
that way too.
Second and Third Grade were large parts of
the growing up process. The part where boys are smelly and no one has
braces even though you have a large gap in your teeth. We learned about
different countries, by making rain sticks and icecream and drums and
journals. We learned about the Native Americans and their houses by
making our own miniatures. We learned cursive and how to multiply and
divide. I learned the importance of reading and words, by writing in a
daily journal and by completing summer reading. The major thing that I
have learned from looking back is how valuable our school is. Not any
school could teach you these things in such a unique way. Rarely has a
textbook been used on a daily basis in all ten years that I have been
here. This unique style of teaching enhances the learning process
greatly, and it also makes the memories that I have here rich and deep.
A memory is a wonderful thing. It can make you cry,
smile, laugh, become mad, or wish. Some people wish that their life
could be as simple as it was when they were five or six. I do as well.
But I mostly hope that my life will continue to follow that path that
TLS has started. A path only bound for success if I do everything that
this school has taught me. I would now like to introduce Maggie Wilson,
who will be discussing our fourth and fifth grade years.
Thank you.