Note: Patrick Rissmiller ’97 was inducted into the Williston Northampton School’s Athletic Hall of Fame during Reunion celebrations on June 8, 2013.
Good evening and thank you.
It is great to be back on the Williston campus this weekend – this brings back so many great memories. I’d like to start by congratulating all the other inductees tonight for this wonderful honor. I am sure that they are all just as thrilled as I am!
I’d like to thank the Williston Northampton School for a great day and event. Thank you, Chris, my brother, and Class of 1995, for your time in gathering all of the information and nominating me for this honor, as well as coming here to be my presenter. I appreciate all of your help and support.
Aristotle once said “We are what we repeatedly do. Then excellence is not an act but a habit.” It’s not about what you have done in the past, but what you will do now and in the following years, to make yourself a more knowledgeable student, a better athlete, a more talented musician, or just a better individual. Whatever you do in the following years do it for yourself, do it so that you become a better you. Whether that translates into starting a foundation and helping others, serving your country, or study for your college major, set your goals and aspire to achieve them. Be the one to take the initiative and guide others in everything you do. Why sit back when you have to opportunity lead, the opportunity to perhaps help someone and change their lives.
So what is this event called Baccalaureate, this evening with the members of the senior class, their mentors, and their parents? It is historically a religious celebration dating from the Middle Ages when universities were first established.
The first Baccalaureate service was likely held at Oxford University in Oxford, England in 1432, and in some cases graduating students receiving their Bachelor’s Degree—the bacca part—had to give a speech in Latin before they received their laurels—the laureate piece. Because the universities were connected to the Christian Church and because the Renaissance was the rebirth of classical learning, the Baccalaureate appropriately combined the power of the church with the traditional search for wisdom through learning.
Good morning and a big hello to the Williston Northampton School Class of 2013, teachers, parents, grandparents, siblings, bagpipers, webcast-watchers, and kids. Welcome and thank you all for showing up to our high school graduation.
Speaking in front of a crowd of 1000+ people is something that not a lot of people get to experience in their lifetimes and being awarded this opportunity today is a really special honor. Some people try and picture the audience in their underwear to get the nerves down. I just stuck to not wearing contacts, so if something comes out wrong, well sometimes you can’t see the whole picture in widescreen vision.
So, what’s next? Seriously though, did we get that figured out? I need to let my mom know…
Editor’s note: The following speech was presented by John Katzenbach during the 172nd Commencement Exercises at the Williston Northampton School on May 26, 2013.
Good morning…
I was delighted to be asked to stand in for the Ambassador from Colombia at this graduation. After all – what is a graduation speech? Mostly it is an opportunity for older folks to exhort younger people with all sorts of incredibly heartfelt and probably utterly useless advice. But – that said – You are – for better or worse – the classic captive audience. That is, it is my sincere belief that until Bob Hill actually hands you that diploma it is unlikely you will flee from this ceremony, regardless of what I say.
So, my first thought in putting this talk together was – obviously: What would the ambassador from Colombia tell you?
This was easy: One: Learn Spanish – a very useful language.
And two: Be diplomatic.
