Graduation 2016 Speeches

List of 2 items.

• 2016 Commencement Speaker: Dr. Margaret West Hodges '01

  When I was asked to give this speech today, my first thought WAS NOT: “What an honor,” “I’m so excited,” or “what shall I say?” but on the contrary it was: “Oh, definitely not.” I remember Hutchison sixth grade mythology class. I had to stand up in front of 12 girls and give a speech; that was terrifying. I will NOT speak at graduation. Then, obviously since I’m here, my mother found out. Like all good Hutchison girls know, Mom is the boss and you do whatever she tells you to do!
  
  

  While there is some truth to every joke, I am truly honored to be speaking in front of you all today, AND I am thrilled to be doing so. Hutchison prepared me for my life, and I hope I can help give today’s graduates some words of wisdom and a little reminder of how well they are prepared for their future.
  
  

  First, I would like to say that I was so blessed to have Dr. Smith as my headmaster for my junior and senior year. For the past 16 years she has helped transform this school, and she and Hutchison have surpassed all expectations.  Dr. Smith, thank you for all your time and commitment. I (and many, many others) will miss you dearly, but we wish you the best.
  
  

  I also would like to thank my parents for everything that they have done for me. The Hutchison education that they provided, and the sacrifices they made, helped me to be the woman I am today. We are all so blessed to have had our lives touched by Hutchison. Whether a graduate, parent, grandparent, friend or current student, it is obvious that the culture at Hutchison creates self-confidence that helps its graduates excel.
  
  

  While I was at Hutchison, I had many ups and downs. When it came to academics, I was somewhere in the middle of the class, much better in the sciences than English. Mrs. Pera can attest to my English skills (or lack thereof). Back then, she wasn’t the honors or AP English teacher like she is now, but she was the teacher for the “regular” English students. She had me for three years in high school, and I made sure to argue my point for every test question I got wrong. I’m pretty sure she threw a party when I graduated.
  
  

  And then there was Mrs. Covington, my senior year AP biology teacher. She was the hardest teacher I have ever had. I left Hutch not her biggest fan and vowing never to go to W & L because that must be where she learned to be so tough.
  
  

  When I look back, with all my arguing, Mrs. Pera didn’t get upset, discourage me, or ignore me completely. She embraced my stubbornness and encouraged me to discuss my thoughts with her. And of course, she suggested I go to law school. Mrs. Covington actually taught me what a hard college class would be like. She was preparing me for my future. With the knowledge I learned in her class, I was able to skip two semesters of college biology and build my future as a marine biologist and now a pediatrician.
  
  

  I wonder how my life might have been different without this Hutchison experience. At how many other schools would a student be allowed to continuously debate the answers in English class? At how many other schools would they be challenged to deal with an advanced biology class that in every respect was an Ivy League college-level course? Without these experiences, I may not have been allowed to “dream big.” I might have shied away from a degree in life sciences. I may not have had the courage to deal with pre-med classes or exams. I may not even have become a physician or developed the self-confidence to deal with sick children and their worried parents. I hope that as you, the Class of 2016, go forward, you focus on how well you are prepared. You may never fully realize how many advantages you will take away from this school, but the years you spent at Hutchison have prepared you for your future careers and accomplishments.
  
  

  Something else I learned in school was the value of friendship. I went to Hutchison for 14 years and the friends that I made are like no other. We just had our 15-year reunion, and it was great to see so many of my classmates. The crazy part is that I see many of them all the time, no matter where they live: California, New York, Texas. These friends and these bonds are stronger than many of my other relationships. There is something special about high school friends. They are irreplaceable. I challenge all of you girls to make sure that you keep in touch while away. It will surprise you how much you will cherish your Hutchison friends throughout your life.
  
  

  You will all have ups and downs in college. Whether academically, socially or emotionally, college is a new and a different place. But the foundation that you have been provided here at Hutchison, and the friends you have made, will make it much easier. You are all much more confident, more prepared, and more versatile than you were just a few short years ago.
  
  

  It is now time for the next phase in your life. While it may be scary, it is also so exciting to think of the impact you, the Hutchison Class of 2016, can have on your family, your friends, your community, and your career as you become who you want to be.  Believe in yourself and you will make a difference.
  
  

  Thank you.

• Class of 2016 Meg Thomas Student Speaker: Elisabeth Carroll Sims

  Good morning, thank you everyone for coming here on this lovely morning – parents, grandparents, friends, and family. I’m Eliza Sims, and I’ve been at Hutchison for quite a long time. I come from a family whose mother, sister, aunts, grandmother, great-grandmother, and supposedly great-grandfather, although I’ve never seen his picture in the annual, but I do also come from a long line of story tellers.
  
  

  So, because of my history, it’s fitting that I would start with one of the earliest memories of my time at Hutchison, and perhaps from the stories I share today, you will see how important stories shape and define us.

  
  The day I started school here at Hutchison, my life was changed forever. Picture this, after that first long, hot half-day in Pre-K, I climbed into my mother’s minivan with a striking revelation, and promptly informed my mother with a big blue bow on my head, “mommy all my friends sleep in beds so I can’t sleep in a crib anymore, I’ve got to get a big girl bed.” My mother cheerfully acquiesced; she had been begging me to change to a bed for months, but I had always stubbornly refused to make the transition. Already, on my first day of school, Hutchison was expanding my worldview.

  
  Over our years at the hive, we’ve all heard a plethora of slogans over the years: from “Girl Smart, World Ready,” to “Strong,” to “Anywhere She Can Imagine.” Today I’m going to tell you the stories behind the slogans. While these stories that didn’t quite make it on the billboards across Poplar, they still illustrate the unique and wonderful Hutchison experience.

  
  Let’s start with a slogan that many of you may know well, it’s a classic: “She must be a Hutchison girl,” but what does it really mean to be a Hutchison girl?

  First, she is inventive.

  
  Some of our best years at Hutch were spent playing games on the playground from eating bugs, to playing horses, to Kelly and Meagan’s Sally and Phillip show, we definitely invented new forms of play, but I know I’ll never forget the sometimes exhilarating but mostly terrifying experience of the tire swing.

  
  We all used to gather around Hutchison’s big grey tire swing to take our turn testing the frightening rides: Ellie Erickson and a few older girls created a system for pushing the tire swing, ranging from easy (inchworm), to dizzying (the hula hoop), to the scariest of them all: speed bumps – in which she would push the tire swing up as high as it could go, release it, then shake the chains of the tire swing in order to imitate “speed bumps.” It was truly awesome.
  
  However, I was never able to endure the terrors of the tire alone; I always needed a friend like Gracie Bell to hold my hand.

  
  A Hutchison girl is playful and also values kindness. Like how Carolyn Simpson helped disorganized third graders like Haley, Janie, and me arrange the chaos of crayons and papers inside our desks. And years later, as seniors, Madison, who never fails to advocate for and help our sometimes disorganized class, or the generosity in the senior commons of friends willing to drop whatever they are doing to answer a homework question.

  
  In many ways “she must be a Hutchison girl” is about each girl here, but it is also about how those around us have shaped us into who we are today.

  For example, it was a sunny day in fourth grade math class, I sat staring out the window at the fluffy white clouds, the beautiful blue sky, and the newly hatched goslings frolicking by lakeside, when suddenly, my daydream was interrupted by Ms. Denis on the table with her legs outstretched into the splits. She proudly declared to the shocked students “you should always pay attention because you never know what I’m going to do.” Needless to say, I listened after that!

  
  The next slogan is a recent one, Hutchison Strong. Sure, it might have been the strength to push tire swings when we were little but nowadays it is the athletes like Jennie, Rainy, and Elizabeth who are all battling through injuries, like Morgan taking AP exams with her broken collarbone, to the academic all-stars, to the inner strength of girls like our Madonna, Claire, who never fails to put others first.

  
  And, then of course, we couldn’t talk about Hutchison today without our enduring and endearing tagline “Anywhere She Can Imagine.” One way to view this tagline is through our successes: Destination Imagination at global finals, Legally Blonde at the Orpheum’s High School Musical Awards, lacrosse state champs, AP sculpture gold keys, Hutchison girls study in Spain, Wilson Society projects across Memphis.

  
  But another way to view this tagline is to consider how each of our imaginations has been nurtured, honed, and inspired… by great friends and great teachers. My imagination has always been captured by stories whether its Amber’s dramatic celebrity encounters, Ilsa, our own ‘It girl,’ or Mr. Robinson’s intriguing anecdotes about U.S. history.

  
  One particular story from childhood that has stuck with me is the fantastic journey of The Three Princes of Serendip. It is a story of the three sons of the great king of Persia, King Giaffer, who are sent out on a long journey through a foreign land in search of treasure. As they journey across the country, they notice particular details that others miss, such as the way the grass is cut on the left side of the road, or the sweet residue of honey on their path and through these seemingly random observations, they solve the case of a man’s missing camel!

  
  These three princes of Serendip illustrate the definition of the word ‘serendipity,’ an unexpected, but fortunate, discovery occurring by accident to the observant mind.

  
  Our journey at Hutchison has been one of serendipity. We have learned that Hutchison and life are saturated with hidden pockets of joy. From Mrs. Wesberry’s awe-inspiring biology class, to times when you rush into the commons in desperate need of a calculator and a friend is there to lend you theirs, or the days when Mrs. Gibson simply offers you a peppermint: we meet with unexpected grace.

  
  Although the accolades of the Class of 2016 are impressive, it’s the ordinary things that are extraordinary; the kindness, the playfulness, and the joy of learning. Finally it is the unity and friendship created at Hutchison, because if you have one stick by itself it’s easy to break. But if you have a bundle of sticks together, they are strong and we, the Class of 2016, are that bundle of sticks.