Superintendent’s Message

Dr. Jane Sandbank's Graduation Speeches

Believe in Yourself Jane Sandbank Superintendent of Schools H. H. Wells MS Moving Up Ceremony June 25, 2008 Someone once said that if at first you don’t succeed, do it like your mother told you. Another important idea from the poet Ralph Waldo Emerson is a little more abstract, but you will understand it. Listen carefully and think about how this applies to your life as you move up from Wells to BHS: “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” You have within you the power and capacity to be whatever you want to be regardless of who you have been here at Wells. It is great to start a new school, be more mature, learn from your failures as well as your successes and become the kind of person you would like to be. I know you are all smart and care about your friends and family. Continue to like school and try new things. There are so many terrific classes and areas to explore in high school. Take a risk and challenge yourself and do not be afraid or say “I’m no good at . . .” Make wise decisions about your health. Don’t drink or smoke or do drugs no matter how cool someone says it is or how much pressure you get. Don’t believe anyone who says just one time doesn’t hurt. It hurts. Continue as you have in Wells with your music and athletics, performance, recycling, working and studying hard, volunteering and helping those in need. When I was about your age, I was overweight and a lot of the girls used to make fun of me. I also had thick eyeglasses and wore really dorky clothes. Let’s face it; I was a dork. I had one friend though, her name was Dolores Miranda and she was beautiful and the most popular girl in the class. She always stuck by me and liked me. She always invited me to her parties and hung out with me. I helped her with her homework sometimes and studied with her since she wasn’t such a great student. The summer between junior high and high school, I lost quite a bit of weight, cut my long hair and got more stylish glasses. Dolores and her mom took me shopping. Her mom was really cool. By the time I started high school I was not so dorky; I had more confidence and could reinvent myself maybe if not so beautiful at least attractive, lively and knowing how important it is to have and to be a good friend. And being good at school didn’t hurt either. One more thing. Read a couple of good books over the summer. Congratulations and my best wishes for your success as you begin another journey. ---------------------------------- Take Courage Jane Sandbank Superintendent of Schools Brewster High School Graduation June 28, 2008 Some people still say to me this year that they are telling their newly graduating children to “take quarters,” advice I gave to the 2007 graduates. In fact, some parents have also taken this advice and report that they haven’t gotten a parking ticket since. This year I ask you to take courage. Quarters, too, but courage may even be more important and set you on better footing both short and long term. So you can accomplish both having clean laundry and living by what you believe is right. Courage is defined in many ways. I ask you to have the courage to define yourself and not let others tell you who you are or what you should or should not do or be. Courage is to learn from failure rather than be defeated by it. Failure today will give you your best lessons for success tomorrow. Abe Lincoln, after leaving politics because he lost the nomination for Senate and was out of favor with the mainstream politicians of the day - he had made several unpopular speeches and taken oppositional positions - had the courage to continue to fight for the union and oppose slavery. J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books had the courage to take pen in hand and write a story she had in her heart for many years even though she was jobless, broke, almost homeless, a single parent living with her young child on England’s version of welfare. Michael Jordon was originally cut from his high school JV basketball team, because of his height as a sophomore. He didn’t stop playing basketball and by his junior year had grown 4 inches. The rest is history. Former Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O’ Connor, after graduating from Stanford Law School could only get a job as a legal secretary. She decided to start her own law practice which was in a shopping mall and had clients bringing every day matters – a dispute over a bill, landlord problems, nothing having to do with the big questions of the Supreme Court. She says in a recent graduation speech, “But I always did the very best I could with what I had.” We have very courageous students in BHS. They commit acts of great courage every day. They will stick up for a friend being bullied or harassed; they have saved lives and overcome loss; they have fought for themselves, each other, and their families in the face of tremendous obstacles, far beyond what most teenagers face, and individually and together been victorious, strengthened, learned great lessons. Winston Churchill tells us that “Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” Or in the words of that famous philosopher, John Wayne, “Courage is being scared to death – but saddling up anyway.” So, men and women, saddle up your horses, you have been given great training in the BHS ring and go forth bravely and with joy. As the poet Walt Whitman would tell us if he were here today, “Sound your Barbaric Yawp from the roof tops.”