Packer Bids Farewell to 82
Seniors at Graduation
We’re ready for life, says
Class of 2010 Speaker Haru Coryne
The Packer Collegiate Institute graduated 82 students from
the Class of 2010 on the evening of Thursday, June 10 in the Alumni Garden on
Livingston Street.
Haru Coryne and Annie Hayes were elected to represent the
Class of 2010 as class speakers.
“How do you describe Packer, accurately and succinctly, to
someone who has never crossed through its doors?” Anne Hayes asked the
audience. “Indisputably, this unique school has changed us and, even if we may
doubt it now, will stay with us for many years… There is no way I could ever
forget this quirky, sometimes frustrating, often brilliant, always entertaining
class. I am immensely proud of all we’ve accomplished, and of all I know we
will accomplish, and I wish every one of you the best of luck.”
Haru Coryne followed Anne, wondering whether the Class of
2010 had reached a crossroads of sorts: “a moment in time where certainty
evaporates, and we sit shoulder to shoulder with those we have come to know and
love for perhaps the last time, collectively thinking, ‘Oh my God, what happens
now?’” Having witnessed his
class’s perseverance and resolve over the years, he proclaimed confidently,
“The only way from here is forward, the only direction upward, outward. Every
single [one of us] is going to go out there and touch lives. This is no
crossroads… There’s just life. And we’re ready for it.”
The invited guest speaker was Bruce Degen, writer of
numerous award-winning books for children, among them Jamberry, Sailaway Home, and Jazzamatazz. He is
also the acclaimed illustrator of the best-selling Magic School Bus
series.
Mr. Degen’s message to the Class of 2010 was “you never
know.” Mr. Degen said that even though he always had a sense that he enjoyed
art, he never predicted that he would end up doing children’s books until it
came to him “out of the blue.” After a fortuitous visit to gallery of Norman
Rockwell paintings, Mr. Degen said he was awakened to the idea that “art” could
tell a fun story, as so many Rockwell paintings do.
“Even if you already have a good idea who you are and what
you will be doing, you never know,” he said to the graduates. “A person, a turn
of events, or a new lead, probably will take you down a path you never
imagined.” And to those graduates who don’t yet have a clear path in mind, he
told, “don’t worry, because ‘you never know’.”
Head of the Upper School Susan Feibelman said it would be
hard to imagine Packer without the Class of 2010. “Countless times in the past
four years you have been my teacher,” she said. “I have learned more from you
than I imagined possible about the art of patience, the importance of empathy,
the ways that kindness can be offered and received, the intoxicating potential
of laughter, and that loyalty is never negotiable.”
Dr. Bruce L. Dennis, Packer’s Head of School, told the 82
seniors: “Each of you has been blessed with abundant innate gifts; you have
what it takes to reach deep within yourselves to achieve your dreams. Many of
you have been honored for your service to others, [and we] appreciate the
contributions you have made to our school.”
Packer’s graduating seniors will continue to make their mark
next year, as they matriculate to 50 colleges and universities.
