The ConVal Class of 2020 finally picked up their diplomas and flipped their tassels on Saturday, nearly 150 days since the last time any of them set foot in a classroom. The graduating seniors saw their entire educational system turned on its head this spring when the COVID-19 pandemic forced them into remote learning, and between that and the ensuing summer of politics and protest, the class speakers seemed ready to dismantle some systems of their own.
“We’ve had to sacrifice so much over these past few months,” senior class president Jadyn Vaidya said. “Our prom, our graduation and our senior trip. But on a national scale, we’ve lost so much more.”
Out on the ConVal stadium field where attendees sat grouped by family in socially distanced clusters, Vaidya spoke about the COVID-19 pandemic and the nation’s “dismal” response, and the summer of protests against racial injustice before pointing out that unlike other graduating classes that simply hoped to make the world a better place, the Class of 2020’s is more urgent.
“As our timeline grows darker, and the forces of malice and greed continue to spread their tendrils of corruption throughout our society, we can no longer hope to change the world,” Vaidya said. “We must change the world. Our current path is unsustainable, and if we wish to forge a better future, it must start now.”
Valedictorian Casey Jordan’s speech touched on Socrates, soccer and socialism, weaving the philosophical lessons learned in the classroom with the societal allegories he experienced on the sports field.
“We are being thrown into the world during a time of great disorder and division,” Jordan said, “two sides divided on everything, from health care and the economy to our response to a deadly pandemic.”
Jordan discussed systemic racism, the drastic effects of climate change and wars in Africa and the Middle East.
“These aren’t issues that will just go away with time,” Jordan said. “These humanitarian and environmental issues have been around for decades and we’ve let them get to the point of almost no return. How bad do these problems need to get for some sort of change to occur?…As a graduating class at this period in history, we can do one of two things. We can either sit back and watch as this world falls apart around us or we can choose to support those in need of our help.”
Jordan said that he’d learned a lot in his philosophy class reading of “Ismael,” notably that the world might be a better place if we eschewed the capitalistic worldview and embraced the policies of the world’s indigenous people, who lived in societies that valued cooperation without social or economic ranking.
“The idea of societal support is often rejected as communism or socialism,” he said. “But cooperation should not be categorized under a political or economic agenda.”
That practice was something he saw played out on the soccer pitch, where he and his Cougar teammates won back-to-back championships – the first boys’ soccer championships in school history.
“We truly were one single unit,” Jordan said. “A group of people differing in ideas and beliefs but united by a single goal. It was this unmatched cooperation that allowed us to be as successful as we were. We never let our differences get in the way of our larger goals, and now we have two championships to show for it. It just goes to show how much cooperation between people is needed right now.”
Soccer teammate and salutatorian Mather Kipka focused his speech on being yourself, speaking your mind and the flaws of the public school system.
“I could probably stand up here for 15 or 30 minutes talking about everything that was wrong with my education,” Kipka said. “About how administrators make too much money while doing a fraction of the work of the teachers, who I believe are the driving force in any school…And to whoever wrote the curriculum, I don’t think having students read a book and write an essay after with very little instruction instills any knowledge.”
The personal experiences Kipka lived through during his high school days were the true sources of knowledge, he said.
“I learned to handle a breakup, how to manage stress and how to see everyone as an individual with their own personal plights and struggles, that most likely is just trying to make it through the day, same as myself,” Kipka said. “Most importantly, though, I learned not to listen to everything my teachers, administrators or other adults told me to do, simply because they were in an arbitrary position of authority…A lot of the time, what you think should take priority in your own life truly should.”
Kipka thanked the teachers and coaches who’d connected with him on a personal level, and urged his classmates to use their talents for the good of the world.
“Each one of us has the ability to positively affect the world in a unique way,” Kipka said. “Please, let us go and do just that.”
Shannon Allen received the faculty award for her dedication to and passion for the arts, sports and the classroom and her all-around leadership.
During his closing address, Hunter Luke announced that the Class of 2020 had donated $6,800 to End 68 Hours of Hunger, an organization that provides food for students experiencing food insecurity.