Editor’s note: The following speech was presented by Ezra Barnehama ’03 during the fall Senior Dinner on Friday, September 12, 2014.

Good evening and thank you for having me.

I’m honored to be here tonight, in front of all of you bright young students.

When I received the invitation to speak to you tonight during your senior dinner, many questions raced through my head

Will I have to be in dress code?

What should I wear?

Can I negotiate for a speaker’s fee? Maybe a small statue?

And exactly how many people turned down the invitation before they asked me?

In reality, it was a simple decision to come back to Williston, to give back to this place that gave me so much, this place that will always remain a significant part of who I am.

To speak in front of the class of 2015 is not unlike the honor bestowed upon the speakers I sat before, just 12 years ago. And with this amazing opportunity comes responsibility. Responsibility to engage and empower. To motivate and to entertain.

So let’s get started…

You, are the class of 2015. You are, from what your teachers have told me, an amazing group, an outstanding group. You’ve accomplished much academically, athletically, socially.

Sure, not as much as the class of 2003, but let’s face it, who has.

Still, the class of 2015 is more than a list of awards and accomplishments.

Each one of you has your own story and this is one of those instances where the parts add up to so much more than the whole.

In less than nine months, you will walk across the podium in the quad in front of family, friends, and faculty, and you will have graduated from Williston.

Well, except maybe you.

While your day to day activities will not feel like a short time, I promise you that when you cross the podium to pick up your diploma, this year will have passed by in a flash.

You will look out at the crowd and wonder how it all went by so fast.

I want to tell you that you must not let it.

By attending Williston you have opportunities that many students are never offered.

I was a six-year Wildcat. During the fall of freshman year, my classmates seemed to grow taller every day, while I, well I didn’t.

With my dream of reaching six feet in height fading, so did my aspirations of becoming a JV basketball superstar.

I decided to save my hoop dreams for pick up games and try a sport that most Americans know only as a vegetable. Squash.

Except for Mr. Grant’s 7th grade must-try-every-sport-Willy-offers class, I’d never set foot on a court. And, to be honest, the members of the Squash team were not kids I hung out with.

My teammates were my first surprise. We liked each other. Yes we were different from each. Well mostly they were different.

But that made it interesting and I became good friends with classmates I would have otherwise never known.

I also had no idea that I would absolutely love the game.

By my second year I became Varsity Squash captain, a position I went on to hold for three years. It hasn’t actually been verified, but I set a school record for the lowest winning percentage of any Williston Squash captain.

As it turns out, I continue to play squash to this day – both for enjoyment and as a networking tool in my professional career.

There’s something called unintended outcomes. They are often life’s best surprises. And they happen when you take chances.

Now I’m not saying that you should take up squash. It’s too late for that – you’ll never break my record.

What I am saying is that every day Williston offers you many opportunities to try something new, to challenge yourself, to stretch, to do something uncharacteristic and you must seize those opportunities and see what you can learn about yourself.

Sign up for the fall play
join a club on campus
better yet, start a club
try a new sport
have a conversation with a classmate you’ve only said hello to
swim across the pond—no, scratch that—that was a different list

there are dozens of opportunities to try new things, and that’s just in the dining hall

A good friend of mine likes to say, “you can always find a reason to NOT do something.”

Can you find it in yourself to do something new, something you are drawn to but have, for whatever reason, put off?

The measure of success is in trying – and the process here matters.

Sure, not every experience will be great. But they will all be worth it.

There are opportunities you can take advantage and opportunities that you create.

Often the barrier to seizing an opportunity is fear. Fear is natural and Fear can good. It can warn you of a dangerous situation – and it can drive you to be great.

But it can also paralyze you into doing nothing. And, if you haven’t learned this by now, the fear of doing something is almost always worse than actually doing it.

How many of you football players dread Tuesday wind sprints from the moment you wake up – only to see yourself accomplish those challenges in front of you? – again – the fear of doing something is almost always worse than actually doing it.

I promise you this: You will never ever be disappointed with yourself for following your passion and jumping feet first in new opportunities.

There are daily opportunities to change your life and to make the lives of those around you better. There are opportunities to excel in athletics, theater, sciences and math. There are also opportunities to skip study hall, and sneak out of the dorms and do whatever it is you do once you’re out – so to that point, please understand, not every opportunity ends with a successful outcome.

The challenge before you is to find the reason to do something – and when you find that reason, you will have found the origin of opportunity

Like most of you, I played three sports – easily finding excuses why I was too busy to pursue any other extracurricular activities. However, in early spring of my senior year, I was longing for yet another unique experience Williston had to offer. I decided to try my hand at acting.

After convincing two of my three best friends to join me in this endeavor – I’m still trying to convince the third – we set out for auditions. Auditions went quite well, so well, in fact, that I was awarded a non-speaking role within the Spring 2003 production of MacBeth – casted as Solider #2e.

Of course, I can only assume that my non-verbal acting skills were so far above that of my peers, that the director had no choice but to place me in such a critical role.

For the better part of the spring semester, my friends and I spent two hours a night, four nights a week at play rehearsal. I was surprised how much I learned from rehearsals. So much that it made me long for a speaking role. And yes, I craved the spotlight.

As fate would have it, an opportunity arose when the post-graduate playing King Duncan abdicated his role when he abdicated his status as a member of the Williston community. He was asked to leave.

The director elevated my fellow Soldier and best-friend Colin to the role of King Duncan, while my other best-friend Sam and I remained lowly soldiers.

However, with Colin’s departure as soldier #3, my opportunity was born.

About 55 minutes into MacBeth, there is a critical, some say game changing, scene in which King Duncan confronts opposition soldiers in unknown territory deep in the forests of Scotland.

Duncan needed to verify his location and asks “What woods are these before us?”
To which I responded “The Wood Of Burnahm”

The answer had been assigned to Soldier 1 but Soldier 1 was now king. After a week of relentless begging – I was given an opportunity – one that may seem small – even trivial to the unsuspecting show-goer. However, I still maintain that this one line, arguably, holds the entire premise of the play together. Again – arguably, without the delivery of this line, King Duncan would be unable to proceed and the play would have no reason to continue.

Now, again – opportunity is what you make of it. I was given a line that lasted all of three seconds in a 2.5 hour play. Despite what I might have said to you just moments earlier, I was, by many accounts, replaceable in that play. However, I viewed the opportunity to participate in a reenactment of this eleventh century classic, as something not taken lightly. I approached this as I try to do with most anything in life—excited about the opportunities to expand my skills and experiences. I put in the same efforts here as I would with any activity at Williston —be it academics, athletics, or otherwise.
Because I know that the unintended outcomes of opportunities seized make me a better person.

With great opportunity comes responsibility. Responsibility to do anything and everything you can to improve yourself and those around you.

Again, I implore to you all, make the most of your senior year and take advantage of these amazing opportunities you have before you,

Thank you and have and OUTSTANDING senior year.