Dear LREI Community,
I write this week’s Thursday note having just returned from LREI’s 70th Commencement Exercises. What a beautiful ceremony! I know I am biased, but it feels great to walk out of our graduation and feel proud, not only of the students but also of the program. Our graduation is a true reflection of the school’s mission. As is our custom, we will share excerpts from today’s speeches in our summer magazine. I do want to share one passage with your now. Amy Zimmerman, chair of LREI’s Board of Trustees, shared with the seniors what she thought Elisabeth Irwin would offer as advice. Among several suggestions, Amy wrote that EI would opine:
Be patient with yourself and while you can and should dream big, don’t expect yourself to be able to do things that you don’t know how to do yet. Elisabeth Irwin famously felt that children should not be pushed. She said that pushing someone to do something before they are ready to do it is like ‘overdrawing their account with life in advance. It is like paying a high price for strawberries in February when you can have them in June at moderate cost.’” Amy added, “All the strawberries will ripen eventually, but not all at the same time.
In addition to the truly moving speeches, there were performances by the high school chorus, by a group of senior singers and by a senior band. Pomp and Circumstance was performed by our high school Wind Ensemble and a tenth grader played the recessional.
Graduation was the end of a long series of senior events. I know that all grades have had lots of school events in the past few weeks, but the twelfth grade’s list tops them all. Last week, the seniors made presentations based on their Senior Projects and attended the Senior Prom. Yesterday morning, the seniors had a last gathering with their fifth grade buddies. After a nice breakfast together, the fifth graders became the audience for graduation rehearsal and for the seniors’ induction into LREI’s Alumni Association. Last night we held our annual Senior Banquet, a tremendous party for the seniors and their parents and loved ones. At the Banquet there is much celebrating, a number of performances by students, the announcement of this year’s award recipients, and a long standing tradition in which each student receives a book as a gift from one member of the faculty; my favorite moment of the night. Finally, this series of events ends with our moving commencement ceremony, held at NYU. As I noted above, the ceremony, while the most formal event we host, is heartfelt, moving, inspiring, and very LREI.
One other difference about the end of the year for the seniors in comparison to their schoolmates. As the other grades have their end of year gatherings we begin to look forward to the students return in the fall. However, with the seniors we have to say goodbye, sometimes to students we have known for 14 years! But, that is the plan. We knew this day was coming. We are so proud of our seniors and know that many good things are coming their way.