This should be straightforward, but for me it will not be easy. I am surely not alone in wishing for just a little more time with this tremendous class. Time for one more game, one more play, one more concert, photograph, drawing, dance or song—time for, yes, one more class or at least one more conversation (oh my!)…but that time is past. So I am left with words for you and yet words fail because, to paraphrase Lincoln, what we say here matters little in comparison with what you, the Class of 2014, have done here. So, I will endeavor to try to say some words about a crucial dimension of your Williston experience—but my words may linger because I am not alone in realizing that such greatness as the Class of 2014 comes rarely and should be celebrated fully.
We now honor the finest scholars in the Class of 2014 with their public induction in to the Williston Northampton chapter of the Cum Laude Society. In electing these young women and men as members of the Cum Laude Society, Williston celebrates their academic accomplishment and, in a broader sense, the fundamental mission of our school. These young people show what can be accomplished by an academic life inspired with purpose, passion and integrity.