Category Archives: Convocation Address

Senior Dinner Speech by Emmett O’Malley ’15

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Hey! It’s dinner time!

Firstly, a huge shout out to the best Class Dean and Cross Country coach in the land—Ms. Talbot a.k.a Mrs. Talbot-Syfu.  a.k.a Ms. Talfu.  a.k.a Sybot

Frankly, it’s surreal to be chatting at a dinner without my mouth full of food, but I guess my mom finally got her way in terms of my learning something about etiquette. Anyway, I feel as if my convocation speech was a tad on the Darth Vader side of the force —Socrates, Success, Summing Up, etc. That’s why I now feel this neurotic compulsion to venture away from my dark side in an attempt to bring some balance to the universe. Fortunately, I didn’t actually sound like old, wheezy Darth earlier today, which, by the way, sounds a lot like Sameer’s snoring.

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Posted in: Convocation Address, Student Speaker

Senior Dinner Speech 2014: Opportunity

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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…

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Posted in: Alumni Speaker, Convocation Address, Visiting Speaker

Class President’s Welcome by Maddy Stern ’14

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Faculty, staff, guests, students, class of 2014 welcome to the 173rd Williston Northampton Convocation,

My name is Maddy Stern and I am the president of the senior class. I’d like to extend a huge thank you to everyone here at Williston, to the teachers and staff who’ve spent the past weeks preparing for our arrival, to the guests who have traveled to join us, to the senior class for giving me the opportunity to stand up here before everyone. And also I probably won’t be getting a ride to school tomorrow or the necessary Dunkin coffee if I don’t thank my family for everything they’ve done for me. Since this is my only opportunity to get up and address the entire school I’d like to take a picture of you all real quick. Thanks. Please like that when I Instagram it.

But now to the real reason I’m up here. This speech is something I have been thinking about for a long time and I knew that I would be talking to the entire student body, therefore I should write a speech everyone could relate to. So last spring I began asking people what made a “good” convocation speech. The two pieces of advice I continually received were, “be funny” and “please keep it short.” If you know me, I really like to talk and I’m not that funny, so after ruling my only two pieces of advice inapplicable I did what any well-educated student would do, I went to Wikipedia.

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Posted in: Convocation Address, Student Speaker

Senior Dinner Address by Sara Delano Collins ’98

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Good evening faculty, staff, honored guests, and most importantly Williston Class of 2014. Thank you for having me as part of your senior dinner. It is truly an honor to be here and be back on campus. Believe it or not, when I come back I feel like I was just here yesterday. Campus always has this wonderfully familiar feel, like putting on your favorite pair of jeans.

When Mr. Pilgrim asked me to speak at the Senior Dinner, I said, “Of course.”  And then immediately thought what could I possibly have to say to any of you 18-year-olds that you would need or even want to hear about.

I mentioned to my mother that I was deciding what I would share with you and she asked me who spoke at my senior dinner. What were their remarks and what did I think of them?

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Posted in: Alumni Speaker, Convocation Address, Visiting Speaker

Reflections for Convocation 2013 by Glenn Swanson ’64

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As the Williston Northampton School gathers together for this opening of the school year, we have an opportunity to have a few moments of reflection. Although this is obviously not the real beginning, it is the formal beginning as we convoke to celebrate the start of school. I ask that we reflect on where we are, where we have come from, and where we expect to be metaphysically at the end of the school year. We would like all of us to be here physically.

We all had some experiences this summer that offered a new perspective on life. In the next nine months—until the closing ceremony of Commencement for you seniors, followed by assessments for the rest of the students—I ask that we prepare ourselves for transitions that will come during the year.

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Posted in: Convocation Address, Faculty Speaker