Abe: Hello, my name is Abe Rothstein.

Jordana: And my name is Jordana Sampson.

Abe: Hello, members of the Supreme Court, my fellow Pelicans, Advisors, Administration, Board Members, and Families. Welcome to the Class of 2021 Commencement. For those of you watching at home, welcome. You have the privilege of air conditioning today. Thank you all for joining us in sending off the Class of 2021 to new adventures.

Jordana: Class of 2021. When I was younger, that year sounded so far away. It feels like just yesterday some of us were singing “Rio” and “Don’t Stop Believin’” in the Garden during Mayday. I don’t know if you all can believe it, but we can’t. It is really our graduation day. As I look at you all here today, I am a little surprised some of us made it to this point. Abe, did you know students who were late more than 30 times a school year could graduate?

Abe: ... Andrew.

Jordana: Abe, I also did not realize that Packer faculty could receive diplomas... 

Abe: Amadi...

Jordana: With all jokes aside —wait  Abe, what time is it? [she reads the time on her watch] Oh no, that's a bit early for her! Can someone please check if Sydney Green is awake and let her know it's time to graduate?

Abe: Sydney, are you good? 

Jordana: As I was saying, with all jokes aside, you should all be very proud of yourselves. 

Abe: We have been through a lot and I cannot believe we are standing here today. We’re the first class to have a full year of school and graduate during a pandemic. If you told a Kindergarten Jordana Sampson, who was probably the exact same height as she is today, that she would be graduating with a mask on, she would be very confused. We have been through a lot. Zoom, Covid, Protests, about 243 pictures of Ms. Dzegar’s puppy, Frayda’s Chapel jokes, and Senior Year. Yes, this is absolutely not the finale we had hoped for. If this school year was a TV show, it would absolutely be the final season of Game of Thrones, a true disappointment after so many seasons of a wonderful show.

Jordana: Abe, have you watched it?

Abe: Not a single episode. Frankly, as someone who loves to write and talk as much as I do, writing this speech was extremely difficult. For some inspiration, I dug through my endless docs on Google Drive and found a snippet from an 8th Grade graduation speech that I had hoped to give. This gave me the basis and inspiration I was looking for to write this:

“I remember walking into this school as a small ten-year-old. I looked around, amazed at the structures that I would be seeing for the coming years of my school life. The next moment was very memorable for me, as it shaped my experience at Packer. I was told that ‘you are not new anymore’. That gave a boost to a nervous kid. Those words helped bring me to who I am now, and are invaluable to anyone starting fresh elsewhere.”

Now four years later, I have the honor and the privilege to address our grade as we move onto a new adventure. 

Jordana: Over the past 14 years, to me, going to school did not feel like an obligation like it does to many students. It actually felt like a reward. As a child, I could not wait to get up at 6 a.m. on a Monday and head off to Packer; my parents thought something was wrong with me.

Picture this: you've only had about six hours of sleep because of a long day at work. Your alarm hasn’t gone off yet, but you hear footsteps entering your room. Then you hear “Mom, Mom, Mom!”

You barely open your eyes to see your Middle Schooler smiling, dressed, bag packed, and ready to go.

“Mom, we got to go to school,” they say.

Well, that was my mother’s morning daily, and I was that Middle Schooler. I’m sorry, Mom. I couldn’t help it, I wanted to get to school that bad. You probably are wondering what it was: was it being able to play basketball early in the mornings? was it the delicious breakfast Packer provided? or was it the well air conditioned building, and comfortable couches in the Student Center that I got to lay down on if I beat everyone to it?

Honestly, it was none of the above. Those were small reasons, but not why I was so eager to get to Packer. It was the students and the faculty.There is no community like Packer’s. I don’t know many schools whose teachers are willing to stop and have a conversation with you about anything other than their subject — but at Packer this happens constantly.

Abe: I could think of a 15 minute rant from [English Teacher] Teresa [Genaro] about how horse trainer Bob Baffert shouldn't be suspended, or [Upper School History Teacher] Mr. [Eric] Kelley telling us about his work with SI College Health team.

Never could I have imagined a place that would help me grow, not only as a learner, but as a person. It was here at Packer where I was able to find my path in life, and truly understand the ways I want to live my life.

I remember the Kieffer homeroom in Fifth Grade who welcomed me in with open arms after being a newcomer to the Packer community. Little did I know that the people who surrounded me would become my best friends, even years later. It's honestly hard to believe that it was eight years ago when I first walked through the main doors as a Packer student. It is also hard to fathom that I would receive detention in Tenth Grade for drawing genitalia in the snow, a day I know [Dean of the Class of 2021] Ms. [Larissa] Dzegar will cherish for years to come.
 
During the day, Packer students spend most of the days learning, but the most memorable experiences, and the memories that will last a lifetime take place sitting with your peers in the Student Center. Students, take a second to close your eyes and imagine Nolan yelling about Steph Curry, someone yelling about “who is doing Earn Your Furniture”, or the in-house CIA agent Mr. [Tory] Lacy, who seems to hear every conversation. 

Jordana: As I was writing this speech, I asked myself what it is about Packer that I love? What makes this school so unique? What great experiences, whether small or large, do we have here that I believe no student would get at any other school? and I started to think about the first and last positive interactions I have everyday at Packer. It is also not just me who has these interactions, it’s all of us. Before we even enter and exit the halls of Packer, we are always greeted with a hello or goodbye from [Packer's Maintenance and Security team members] Lou [Rios], Ramon [Perez], Rob[ert Sapienza], Mike [Senese], Nick [Griffith], Mr. [Tory] Lacy, and the rest of the staff. Sometimes those greetings would turn into long conversations that always had me leaving Packer laughing. Usually, school security is thought of as scary people who students don’t want to talk to and are sometimes afraid of, but not at Packer.

Abe: Unless you get searched...

Jordana: They even know our names! Although these are small gestures, they always made my day better because I knew people cared about me, not just my friends — but the entire Packer community. And I am not just talking about me, I am talking about all of us. I believe those moments summarize what Packer is as a school and community: friendly, caring, supportive, and inclusive. We are so lucky to have so many people in this community that care about us beyond the classroom. This has allowed us to not only do well academically, but take risks, step out of our comfort zones, and grow as people because we feel safe and comfortable. From school security to our teachers, each member of this community is invested in making sure we feel heard, seen, valued, and happy. They make sure that we actually enjoy going to school, and that it is not just a place we have to go to, but a place we want to go. 

Abe: As a small class, it’s impossible to not have to talk to everyone at least a couple times, but I don’t think it is the size of our class that has allowed us to learn and love each other. It’s the students who make up the class. Being in Packer, around the people, and in the building everyday, has left a stained smile on my face and someone who is walking out forever grateful. Grateful for my friends, grateful for small memories such as our DC trip in Eighth Grade.

The most striking memory is when the Mignatti Advisory gave up on our scavenger hunt and went to the Washington Nationals game early during batting practice. We all had the opportunity to get a baseball from the players tossing them up from the field. I remember looking over to Amelia and India jumping for a ball from a player. The next thing I see is a ball flying up to them, and the papers we needed for our scavenger hunt and evening activities slowly drift through the air, and straight into the Nationals’ Bullpen.

Jordana: There is another huge reason I wanted to go to school, definitely the largest reason why I loved being at Packer everyday — and those people make up the vast majority of the community: the students, my friends, the Class of 2021.

Seeing you all everyday never failed to put a smile on my face. You would think after knowing a lot of you all for more than 10 years, I would get tired of seeing your faces constantly. But actually, the more time we spent together, the more happy and grateful I am to know and see you all. There are a lot of words to describe this grade. While some are not good words, a lot are. This grade is so special, that one day you all decided to give your classmate a new name, a new identity: Jojo. I would like you all to know that no one ever called me Jojo, besides my dad, before I came to Packer. My mom still doesn’t.

I believe Alex Smith in Junior First overheard my dad calling me that name, and being the Alex we all know, decided that if my dad can call me Jojo, so can he. Then as time went on, here I am now, known as Jojo to the entire Packer community. There’s something very special about me being known as Jojo to you all and no one else outside of this community. It shows how comfortable I feel around you all, and that is a result of you guys being the best classmates and friends I could ask for. However, it is also bigger than that. I think it shows how much of an influence we have had on each other's lives.

Whether we know it or not, one of us has impacted a person sitting here today. Maybe you are a part of a great memory that will last a lifetime. Maybe you helped one of us discover who we are, discover a passion or even get through a really tough time. The time we have spent here together has shaped who we are today.

Abe: When I hear my parents talking about how time truly flies by, I tend to roll my eyes, but they are right. Don’t tell my mom I said that. Or as Willie Nelson puts it best, “Gee ain't it funny, how time just slips away.” When I close my eyes and think of my Packer experience, I can smile, because I am thankful and grateful for everyone I met. It's crucial to both enjoy and cherish the moments because before we know it, we will be sitting, watching our kids graduate.

To our entire grade: go out, dream big, chase your dreams. The worst thing one could do is to give up on a dream because others tell you that you can't achieve it. In reality, you control your own destiny, and I know from the bottom of my heart, that each and every one of you is capable of some pretty amazing things. We have people who fight for justice, work to make our society a better place, and I know for sure that our future is in good hands. It is the people around us today, and especially students who will lead us into the next generation. A generation that will be more equal, just, safe, and pick up where the generations before us have left us.

Before we get into anything more, we had some incredible people come into Packer every day making sure that we can still function, and on behalf of the Packer community, we say “thank you.” This school is a special place with some special people. During the height of Covid, I was inspired to see students 3D printing PPE and delivering them to hospitals so that our frontline workers could be safe. I have been inspired to see students pushing for structural changes that can truly make a positive difference in our society. It was moments like these that reminded me of the reason why I chose to come to Packer.

Jordana: Here is a quote [from Martin Luther King, Jr.] that I would like to share with you all: “Speak up, because the day you don’t speak up for the things that matter to you, is the day your freedom truly ends.”

I think we can all agree that in Middle School and our early years of high school, our class did not have the best reputation. We were known as students who did not listen to authority sometimes. Obviously, we’re not those kids now. However, one might say, there is a silver lining in us not always doing what people wanted us to do, and doing our own thing. As we matured, we have become students who are outspoken, opinionated, independent, activists and people who speak their minds for causes we love and what we are passionate about.

Over the past four years, we have actively participated in driving the changes we have wanted to see both in Packer and in our communities. We have participated and led forums for social justice and programs to support diversity, equity, and inclusion. We have protested in support of environmental issues, and we have also worked to develop a more transparent relationship with the administration. There are many ways our class has impacted communities using our voices. So, as we leave Packer, do not forget how powerful your voices are. The only way for change is by using one's voice to stand up for what you believe in. We have different voices, opinions and passions, and each and every single one matters, but not just to us to everyone. We have no idea how much our voice can help and impact others, so don’t be afraid to use it. 

Abe: We have incredible people such as Ethan Weisberg, finishing in the upper echelon in science competitions; make sure you get an autograph from Lauren, because she is certainly going places with her fencing career; Aadyn, who I am almost positive still has assignments he still has to complete; or Georgia, writing an email with words that will 100% lead me to the dictionary app on my phone. So as we move on with our lives and transition out of Packer, make sure you cherish those memories. I will always remember one of my very first friends at Packer who is standing right next to me today: Jojo.

From the bottom of my heart to all of you, I love you, and I know that you all will do incredible things in your future. Class of 2021 forever. Stay righteous Packer. 

Jordana: Seniors first!