A few of these school year endings hold particular meaning for me. In my mind's eye I can see myself standing in an empty hallway at Millacoma Junior High on the last day of my eighth grade year. I see floors littered with paper and composition books, all part of the last day tradition of emptying one's lockers and book bags in the hallway before heading off to summer and on to high school. I was not only moving on to high school that year, I was moving on to another state, a new home, and a new life. I was terrified. As my friends fled from campus at the final bell, I found myself suddenly longing for a few more days, if only to fully appreciate what those halls had meant for me.
A similar feeling came over me in my senior year of high school. I remember being overwhelmed by the knowledge that everything would change. My high school sweetheart was headed off to college far away, and we knew the inevitable was upon us. I was off to boot camp in the Marine Corps, just on the heels of watching Stanley Kubric's very graphic Marine biopic Full Metal Jacket. My official date of enlistment...4 July. All of my friends were dispersing to their new lives. Adulthood beckoned, possibility and uncertainty rolled into one. Again I stood in a lonely hallway, taking it all in one last time, the memories and uncertainty.
The hardest school ending that I have ever faced happened a little more than two years ago. This time, however, I was leaving not as a student, but as an educator. It was late June, a full month since graduation. I stood in an empty office in an empty building at the end of the day, a single box in my hand with what constituted the last of my personal possessions. I stood in this place for the last time, in a building I had helped design, which housed a program I had authored, and a faculty I had hired. Awaiting me was the promise of Baldwin School. I was excited, but saying goodbye to something that I loved and nurtured, where I came of age as an administrator, where my kids went to school, was very emotional for me.
As is often the case, summer is about renewal, possibility, and growth. Endings beget new beginnings. So long as our moral compass charts a good heading, what lies ahead is assuredly worth seeking, especially if we embrace the blessings and lessons of our past. The day after I said good-bye to that high school sweetheart, literally, I met the love of my life, to whom I am still married, and who gave me two wonderful sons. While my high school friends and I have parted ways, I have a number of dear lifelong friends earned along the way who I can rely upon, come hell or high water. And while Island Pacific Academy is a part of my treasured past, Baldwin is now my heart, and I get to come to work each day with an amazing group of colleagues who serve your children so well. It is truly an honor.
So as we gather in the next week to bid our seniors a fond farewell and to wish them good luck in their new lives, and as we say goodbye to those families moving on to new places, let's also take a few moments to embrace what has been, and what can be going forward. You just never know what lies ahead...it may very well be your best years, or the love of your life, or so many other important challenges and blessings.
May you have a truly wonderful summer wherever life takes you next.
See you around campus!