Students Share Inspiration and Gratitude at
2024 Graduation Ceremonies

I admit, I look older than I am (if you haven’t already thought it). I’ve gotten it a lot from every Uber driver, barber, and family friend. There’s always that question about my major, college, or job that turns the conversation awkward when I answer. But, I figured, surely, my saving grace would be other Arabs who are used to this [points at beard] and could differentiate. I could finally have a normal conversation with a stranger. So I was in Chicago recently … I mean … this is my last resort—I’d made friends with an Egyptian, a Syrian, a Pakistani. Everything was fine and typical but then the question came:

“So you just graduated college?”

[Sigh]

At least now I can at least tell them I’ve graduated high school.

In truth, I do have at least one thing in common with the older generations—an annoyance with all things new: trends, fads, even slang, although, granted, I’m not immune to following suit sometimes. Our generation is definitely one of the strangest, though my younger siblings seem to be shaping out to be exponentially weirder still.

Regardless of that distaste that I think we all have some degree of, I’m also constantly impressed by my peers and the youth of our age, so, in that vein, I wanted to highlight the power we—our class—have to create meaningful change in our world.

Earlier in the year, I talked about the importance of our theme—Learning for Life—and I think, in many ways, us youth exemplify this drive for knowledge. While we may now have to sift through more misinformation in social media, I think we can all attest to being genuinely curious and interested and wanting to learn more—whether through hour-long YouTube explainers of redlining and urbanism or just TikTok shorts from that one etymology guy.

And what’s great is I’ve found so many of our generation to not just consume information but want to use it to better their communities or social life or the world around them. While the jokes about not learning taxes in school and never using algebra or random historical facts again outside of school have grains of truth to them, I think those worries about the significance of our classes beautifully represent how we all thirst for deeper meaning in what we learn these days—where we can apply it … how we can inspire change.

I admit that the power of youth might feel like a joke and it might feel inconsequential in a world where our presidential candidates are both old enough to have seen the end of World War II, where our choices on every level always seem to be between the lesser of two evils, and, as Sophie Baker eloquently put it, especially when “our presidents, representatives and senators cannot form coherent sentences.”

But I don’t think it’s unfair to say that we’ve also seen a lot of change pushed in other ways, by fellow students. In the past few months, we’ve watched college students across the country bring light to the genocide in Palestine while exposing the hypocrisy of our government as police continually shut them down violently. Regardless of the outcomes, these students have shifted sentiment both nationally and globally and revealed the (many) shortfalls of our government.

Similarly, in the fight against climate change, we’ve continually seen youth across the nation, including many of us, on the front lines. To my earlier point, we have both the knowledge about the causes and impacts of climate change and the desire to do something about it. And, moreover, we understand that many of these issues are complex and systematic—and that we must listen to many different diverse voices and perspectives.

But while I think our generation excels in these aspects, the skills we’ve learned from our teachers, community, friends, and shared experiences in the past four years have, and will, help us better exemplify this ability to make change in issues large and small, global and familial, long-term and short-term.

Every teacher has had a profound impact on how we view the world—on top of learning English, Spanish, physics, math … our teachers always made concepts real and prioritized knowing the skills rather than just the information. I owe a lot to KP and Dr. Hickman’s sometimes hyperbolic dedication to rhetoric, Mr. Hori’s rants about politics (and, ya know, sometimes physics), Dr. Kogan, DJ, and Ms. Walsh’s sarcastic commentaries on history, Mr. Birchler’s conversations about board games, and Señor Burnett’s casual discussions about drugs, in Spanish of course. And that’s not to mention the countless life lessons I’ve learned on Interims with Ingrid, Mr. Wilson, and my friends.

I know I’m not the only one who’s benefitted, at least a little bit, from all that.

And while, without a doubt, creating meaningful change in the world is difficult and will be difficult with so many obstacles—so much seems to not be on our side—experience, politics, heck, even housing and the economy. And, of course, the path to change is far from linear or simple at the end of the day.

However, after seeing what we have done as a community and what’s going on everywhere, and given the skills and drive we’ve all gained and improved, especially after these past years at Rowland Hall, I’m confident every one of us can and will:
go out into the world, 
find our passions, 
find what needs to be done, 
advocate for change, 
and create that change that we want to see in the world.

I’m optimistic to see our city, state, country, and the world in 20 years, and I hope that you and our families and friends can and will embody a spirit for change.

Thank you all, teachers, classmates, families, for these 18 wild years.

Thank you.

Good morning, everyone, and congratulations to the class of 2024! It’s an extraordinary honor for me to celebrate this milestone with you today. To be honest, I felt anxious when preparing this speech. I wondered, should I talk about our grade’s Olympic-level procrastination, or ending the school year with our mouths burning from spicy chicken? In reality, no volume of compliments and gratitude could do justice to our profound growth, or to the dedication of our families and teachers. Yet, when I reflect on our four years together, and look upon your confident faces in the audience, I realize that we’re all ready. Ready to spread our wings and embark on the next chapters of our lives, mastering new skills, forging new friendships, and building new communities. Rowland Hall has prepared us with its value of "Think Deeply: to learn how to think, not what to think.” Without a doubt, all of us will achieve great things in our lives, as athletes, artists, writers, researchers, entrepreneurs, and dedicated members of society. But beyond building these professional skills, we at Rowland Hall have first and foremost developed a sense of intellectual humility and empathy to tackle the world's challenges.

In our humanities classes, we’ve been encouraged to seek complexity in arguments and consider multiple perspectives. To some extent Dr. Jones’s famous sentence formulas may get old quickly, but to a greater extent, they ingrained in us an instinctive drive to explore every angle. Did you drive around the 9th and 9th whale on your way to school? Many people, myself included, used to say it was an eyesore and didn’t make sense for the land-locked Salt Lake City. However, with the added *contextualization* of modern folklore, the whale is a benevolent water deity who brings snow to the mountains and rain to the Salt Lake. This new perspective transformed the whale into a beautiful symbol of our city’s resilience and harmony. My opinion has changed: the whale may have a perplexing color scheme, but it definitely deserves to stay.

Actually, I first learned this whale folktale from a classmate’s presentation in US History. Our classroom style emphasizes learning through student-led lectures and discussions. When we worked on the critical lenses assignment in English Lit, each student became a specialized expert. We broadened our perspectives by watching our peers’ lecture videos. More importantly, we trained the ability to connect the dots between ideas to weave a comprehensive understanding. This reminds me of a famous Chinese fable. A group of blind men encounter an elephant. Each man touches a different part of the huge animal and argues what it is. One of them pulls its tail and declares, “Wow, it’s a rope.” Another one runs into its side and says, “Ouch, it’s a wall.” A third, hugging its leg, explains, “Um actually, it’s a thick pillar.” Their debate could last for eternity, and none of them would know what an elephant really is. Lacking sight, the blind men metaphorically lack *critical thinking*. Now, if you put Rowland Hall students into this story, they would never make this mistake. They’re too intellectually humble, able to connect the dots of each others’ knowledge to reveal a whole picture of the elephant.

The deeper moral of the parable is that humans, without learning empathy, tend to claim absolute truth based on their limited, subjective experience. Empathy allows us to understand others’ experiences and build relationships. At Rowland Hall, our strength lies in this empathy. From unconditionally welcoming everyone to school clubs to cheering on teammates through both wins and losses. From showing up to our peers’ Advanced Research presentations in the library to congratulating people in the halls after hearing of their achievements. From commiserating low scores on English multiple choice quizzes to relieving the stress before AP tests by celebrating the soccer team together.

In particular, empathy played a huge role in making the senior year music video—shout-out to everyone who worked on it, including our brilliant director, Adam; some of the best songs I’ve ever heard by Sam and the Sir Humphrey Truffles Band; our resident movie star Morgan; and the hardworking animation team, Gray and Izzy. (And of course, myself.) The truth is, when trying to get a head start on the music video in the summer, we struggled to agree on a song. It may have been because we didn’t know our grade well enough to represent the senior year. As fall rolled in, and we spent more time together in class, especially through the shared stress of college applications, we began to understand what brings the class of 2024 together. Sir Humphrey Truffles’s song "Run Away" perfectly captured our shared story. It is about writing essays to possibly decide our entire futures before we’re ready. But it is also about how we inspire each other and rise to the challenges of adulthood together. One by one, we don the rainbow propeller hat and smile. Although we ended up with a shorter production time, our deepened compassion for each other helped us create, dare I say, the best music video Rowland Hall has ever seen.

Lastly, many special thanks are due. Behind each graduate are dozens of people offering infinite support to make today possible.

First, I’d like to thank our teachers for being our role models in the school culture. Teachers at Rowland Hall go the extra mile to understand every student personally, never hesitating to ask how we’re doing and provide their support in any way they can. I’m sure everyone can recall a moment when they felt a personal connection with a teacher beyond the classroom. Dr. Rida’s exclamation of, “Superb work!” preceding her immensely detailed comments on every biology assignment never fails to make students smile. Ms. Croft, besides being a genius math teacher, volunteers her time to support any math-related extracurricular activities and feeds us bagels. KP and Dr. Kogan work tirelessly to write personalized recommendation letters for everyone. When you’re feeling down, Coral will find you, as she believes her role is never transactional. Teachers are personally dedicated to each and every one of their students, and for that, we are all immensely grateful.

I’d like to thank our families for being our role models in life. We started out as tiny babies. If you don’t believe me, just look at the pictures on the main office window. Our parents dragged us out of bed each morning, cooked us breakfast, and drove us to school. They came to our plays and sports games, and were always the loudest cheerleaders. Today, we are graduating as adults who can drive *ourselves* to school, who can think independently, and who lift each other up. Thank you for loving us and carefully guiding us to our futures.

And most of all, I’d like to thank the class of 2024. Being a part of Rowland Hall’s community has been the greatest gift I could have ever asked for. Our music video symbolizes our collective hope for the future, so let’s all fulfill that wish as we go forward into our multifaceted lives. I hope, when we see each other again in the near or distant future, we reflect on not only our professional accomplishments, but also on how well we have treated people with empathy and helped our communities thrive.

Congratulations again, and thank you for everything.

One hundred and twenty-two thousand eight hundred and fourteen. That's the approximate number of words that I’ve written in the past two years, while at Rowland Hall. Many of these words reside in essays for the typical writing intensive classes, whether that be in an extended English essay on Hamlet or my research paper in AR Humanities. Many reside in projects for classes that might not immediately come to mind, including short stories for creative writing, papers for biology, skits in Spanish, my college applications, and even write-ups for math. But the sheer amount that I’ve written is unimportant—what truly captivated me upon arriving at Rowland Hall was the palpable fervor for not just writing, but for language in its entirety. Through immersion in this community, I've come to understand that my experience has been shaped not solely by the act of writing, but by the rich tapestry of language exploration that defines this environment.

For some backstory: I was first truly introduced to the importance of language by my seventh-grade humanities teacher. At the start of the year, I distinctly remember him writing a quote on the white board in bold lettering that read: “The limits of my language are the limits of my world.” At the time, I don’t think I fully grasped the power of this statement, but it did set the stage for years of language exploration that I think will define my life.

Now, at my old school, this emphasis on language didn’t last; as I entered high school, there seemed to be a clear and deliberate shift to emphasize STEM dominant topics, and our writing skills were left to gather dust. It wasn’t until I came to Salt Lake that my passion for language was reignited.

For me, this revival could not have been more important and timely. You see, the social world depends on language. This is especially evident in a landscape where our presidents, representatives, and senators cannot form coherent sentences, contributing to the general chaos we see in politics.

And their general inability to communicate effectively may even be hindering their capacity to conceive of innovative solutions to our many problems. This year, in psychology, we learned about the concept of linguistic determinism, or the idea that language and its structures limit and determine the way that we think. This idea struck a chord with me, and resonated with that quote that has been idling in my head since middle school. These theories basically tell us that it's important to pursue all types of language and pursue them well, so we don't limit our thinking, and our capacity to create.

Back to Rowland Hall. Here, I see a clear dichotomy between an innate love for language and a pervasive belief in STEM (and increasingly business) superiority. I’ve met the most passionate teachers, who endeavor to share their love for language with their students every day. And I've met students who persist with the belief that in this exceedingly tech-dominant world, language is quote “useless.”

So, here’s my entirely unsolicited advice. I know that language classes aren’t for everyone, and I’m not trying to say that they should be. However, I would encourage all of you to refrain from brushing aside humanities or language classes as irrelevant and useless. Put effort into the assignments you generate for these classes. Read the books, speak the language, write the essays. Embracing the richness of language, to the great extent that this school enables you to, is not merely a choice; it is a commitment to expanding your own horizons, challenging assumptions, and ultimately, unlocking the boundless potential of human thought and expression. Thank you.

Rowland Hall places a large emphasis on celebrating diversity though the club system. Most obviously, we have affinity clubs, which allow us to celebrate our diverse identities. Activity clubs such as debate and Math Club, along with athletic teams such as the track and field team, allow us to celebrate our diverse interests.

At first glance, Rowland Hall’s clubs and teams seem just like those at every other school. And they would be, were it not for one rule. Every club is required to have an adult counselor. Again, at first glance, this does not seem like a very unique rule. Until you consider the fact that the adult counselors are members of Rowland Hall’s faculty or staff.

They are what make Rowland Hall’s clubs and teams so unique.

For example, at the Neurodiversity Affinity Club, a large percentage of our insightful conversations are stimulated by KP, our faculty counselor.

One of the main reasons I go to Math Club is to see Mrs. Croft, the Math Club counselor, who, in addition to being a sweetheart, always brings us bagels on the day of the AMC and the AIME. She’s also really good at math!

When I’m on a triple-loss streak at a debate tournament, Mr. Shackelford is always there to discuss strategy and direct me to the proper evidence.

The entire kind ethos of the track and field team is defined by our coach, Mr. Oftedal, who reminds us to cheer each other on and helps us heal from injuries ranging from minor blisters to major charley horses.

Kendra Tomsic exerts a similar influence on the athletics program as a whole.

Our faculty is what makes our clubs and teams unique.

The same can be said for the classes at this school.

To give some randomly selected examples:

My experience in Señor Burnett’s Spanish classes was defined by his humorous attitude, under which he allowed us to make random jokes and interjections, as long as they were in Spanish and especially if our interjections used a si clause. Pero si usted no hiciera eso, señor, ¡su clase todavía sería buenísima!

In the hardcore AP English Language and Composition class, the main thing that kept me going was KP’s constant energy, constructive criticism, and encouragement.

In Tascha’s AT Chemistry class, one of the most memorable elements (pun intended) was the chemistry memes that she inserted into the Pearson workbook.

Dr. Jones’s Europe and the Atlantic World class was characterized by his philosophical tangents, while Diane’s AP Psychology class was characterized by her anecdotes.

And so on. And so forth.

Lunch feels defined by the attitudes of the staff, who are always kind even when we do obnoxious things like switching our orders after they’ve served us or forgetting to pay for lunch.

My advisory’s atmosphere is set by our advisor, Wendy Butler, who often gets our advisory to do fun activities like going to Coffee Garden and playing Minecraft. Isn’t she awesome?

Every space at this school is defined by the people that run it. And they always define their spaces in a positive way. I could offer examples for every member of the faculty and staff, but that would take several hours and I only have five minutes.

Rowland Hall as a whole is exceptional because of our faculty and staff. We celebrate our unity through chapels organized by Mr. Innis. When I was trying to write a speech about how we celebrate diversity through our affinity clubs, it ended up turning into a speech about the faculty and staff who run these clubs. Everything at this school is shaped by the warmth of our faculty and staff.

As a result, if you asked me to describe Rowland Hall in a single word, I would not be able to because the idea that our faculty and staff are exceptional is too complex to fit into a single word. 

But, if I had two words to describe Rowland Hall, I would describe it as remarkably staffed. Which barely does justice to our wonderful faculty and staff, but I only gave myself two words, which are incapable of delivering such justice, so that’s kind of the best that I can do.

I do not believe that it is possible for one student to do justice to your service in five minutes, either, so in order to increase the efficiency of this ceremony’s justice doing, I invite my fellow seniors to give our faculty and staff a round of applause.

Thank you. For everything.

Mr. Gee, Ms. Smith, teachers, parents, and my fellow classmates:

Today, we are celebrating the end of one chapter and the beginning of the next.

As I started thinking about what I’ve really learned this year, I remembered a quote by Michael Jordan: "I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life, and that is what has made me successful." I heard this quote while watching the movie Air, and it made me think of what it means to be successful, both in school and in my skiing.

I’ve really learned that success isn’t about never failing. It's about what we do with those failures.

It’s about trying over and over and over again until you get it right.

Here are a few examples from this past year that really drove this home for me:

As many of you know, this was my first year in Park City. But what you might not know is that my parents aren’t afraid of change. They were determined to find the best school and the best ski academy in the world for me. So over the past five years, we’ve moved our house five times, attended four different middle schools, and I’ve raced for three different race teams. But now I’m “home.” My friends and teachers here at Rowland Hall made all the difference. They welcomed me, supported me, and helped me find my place. So all this moving, and trying different places over and over again, has made me love Rowland Hall and Rowmark even more.

Rowland Hall is different; I really mean it. It’s different because it teaches persistence and determination. Take English and history, for example. Not only did we do weekly poems, essays, readings, and my personal favorite, No Red Ink, but we took it to the next level with things like the Ethics Bowl or creating really cool, Utah-specific exhibits for a museum. Then, we went even further by going to Washington, DC. And we didn’t just “go to DC.” We saw just about everything there was to see. At first, I thought we might have been training for a marathon due to how much we walked on the first day, but then I realized: this is just part of Rowland Hall getting us to push harder, go further, and keep trying.

School didn’t stop there. Rowland Hall always takes it to the next level. Between Mr. Stern’s “black diamond” problems, Tyler’s Shark Tank entrepreneurial recreation, Ms. Alana getting us to create a Spanish movie, cutting open cow’s eyes (my personal favorite), and Mr. T inspiring us with flight and aviation, the list goes on and on. We push, we try, and, sometimes, we fail. (I think my part in the Spanish movie is evidence of that.) But we get back up, and do it all again. This persistence and determination is what makes all the difference.

Speaking of getting back up, this was really the story of my U14 year with Rowmark. To start off the season, I hurt my back and couldn’t train for three weeks. Then I had my first big race at Snow King. This race was my first one with Rowmark AND with all the U16s, so no pressure, right? I DNF'd (did not finish) and wiped out in ALL four races in that series. What a disaster! I felt like a human snowball rolling down the mountain. I have to say, I have fallen a lot. I’m sure my coaches, Matt, Tyler, and Hans, think I specialize in falling. But really, this falling, made all the difference. I’ve learned way more from these falls than I ever would have winning—these falls are what really got me to The Whistler Cup. I will continue to push, right to the edge, not just in ski racing but in my whole life. So remember, if you aren’t falling, you aren’t learning.

So, as we move on to high school, here are two things we all should remember:

Embrace falling. Remember, every fall is just a chance to learn. Don’t be afraid to try new things and make mistakes. Learn from them and keep moving forward.

Persistence makes all the difference. Whether it’s a tough poem, a tricky grammar assignment, a dissected cow’s eye, or a difficult race, don’t give up. Keep trying, keep pushing, and you’ll get there.

Michael Jordan was right. Let’s fail over and over and over again, as that will be what makes all the difference.

Thank you, and congratulations to the Rowland Hall class of 2024!

Hi, I’m JB, and I just finished the worst and best three years of my life.

Middle school isn’t 100% easy for everyone, and this past chapter of my life gave me challenges I couldn’t have predicted. My family life changed a lot for the better and definitely for the worse, and my medical issues started to put a real strain on my daily life.

I’ve never, in the history of my academic career, tried in school. I struggled immensely to make myself actually interested in what I was learning, be it history, science, especially math, or even my favorite subject, English. And to top it all off, my mentality was always "would rather drink a cup of thumbtacks than complete this assignment on time."

So when I was at a hospital appointment and my doctor told me potentially soul-crushing news, out of all the things I could be sad about, I was excited to finally have an excuse not to do my homework. But then the limitations started: no running, no stairs, no more theater, no sports, and definitely no "strenuous-high impact activities."

I was missing school a lot, my friendships were suffering, and life felt generally suffocating. When you aren’t able to do things, you tend to want to do them more. Eventually, even the best TV shows couldn’t compare to things I used to hate doing: playing sports, running outside, going on hikes.

So I started to think, "What can I do?" I could read books, I could draw, I could play video games, and I could learn. I wanted to change my relationship with school. And one day, on the ever disgusting trek through the pungent BO hallways, I found myself going to math class early. It was weird, doing something totally out of the ordinary, even though I loved to be out of the ordinary. I was, for the first time, totally and completely out of my comfort zone. So I (as much as I was allowed) ran with it. I started and submitted my first English assignment three days before it was due, I read extra material after science class, I got invested in US history. I know, crazy. And I felt successful. I put all my eggs into the academic basket and stopped worrying about a lot of things. And I got better, and after I had my freedom back, I kept going. I kept on track and I actually enjoyed it, the satisfying feeling of turning in that homework early.

Even though I have never and probably will never be perfect, I will try, going forward. So I encourage you, moving to high school, to find your spark, find what makes you excited to learn and to grow. Because believe me, it can always get worse. Take advantage of opportunities and live life knowing that you did everything you wanted to.

I know, even emotionally, growing up is the worst; you start to worry about things you wish you didn’t care about—what to wear, who to hang out with, what things will make people like you more—but try to keep doing you. Keep trying new things, learn new hobbies, experiment with new hairstyles, because at the end of the day, you are only as old as you are right now. As I finish this sentence I will never be as young as I was two words ago.

When I’m on my deathbed, I won’t be thinking, "God, I’m so glad everyone thought I was cool in freshman year." I’ll be thinking, "God, I loved drawing, and I’m glad I wore that shirt I really liked." And for your friends, be sympathetic, be understanding, and be patient. Everyone is trying their best, and that looks different for everyone. No one, ever, in their life will ever want to do everything, so know you are not alone. You can hate going to the ballet class your parents force you to go to, but you can find what you like about ballet. No one decides how much or how little you enjoy something besides you. Never forget that you are not the only one having the experiences you have. Everything you say, everything you do, has most likely already been done before, so make it yours. You are not special, and that is a gift. Everyone is going through it, so go through it together.

Hi, I’m JB. I am sometimes a terrible friend, I have chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis, and I hate cucumbers, but most people wouldn’t know that, so reach out, learn everyone’s struggles, because you are never the only one. 

Youth
By Caden B.

Hello, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Caden. I am very sure that you all are very proud of your children today for climbing the ranks and being able to enter middle school. I would also like to thank all of you parents and faculty for being able to come here today. I know that some of you parents have also graduated from fifth grade and twelfth grade here at Rowland Hall like your kids will one day, so this must be really important for you.

Think back to your own graduation. What were your parents feeling? Probably you were young back when you graduated. You most likely miss your youth from when you were young back then. You wish that you were still athletic from your youth, not that you are, of course. You wish that you were able to eat junk food every day and not have a single worry in the world about what the food might do to you. But now you have to work out for every junk item you eat to lose the calories that you gained.

When you were young you didn’t care about voting or politics. But now you are spending hours choosing which people to vote for every year when Election Day rolls around. When you were a kid you didn’t have to wake up early and go to work, besides school, of course. But now you work 9–5 almost every day wishing you were still a kid. My fellow fifth graders, before you know it your kids will be graduating fifth grade and you will be reminiscing about your time in the Lower School, with those lovely days that you will always remember. So what I’m trying to say is enjoy your youth.

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We Are Ready
By Katie P.

Hi, my name is Katie. I’ve been at Rowland Hall since I was in kindergarten. Before I went to Rowland Hall, I lived in Virginia. When I moved, I was scared to start over, but this school did a great job of helping me change schools.

Change is scary. All of us have gotten comfortable in the Lower School, I’ve been here for six years. In the last six years I’ve loved all the opportunities we’ve had. But that makes middle school that much bigger of a change.

The good thing is, we have practiced scary change. I was in first grade when the pandemic hit. During that experience, I learned that you can still be connected even when you're not face to face. Many things were hard to do online, but every day people still showed up and put their full effort toward everything. In second grade we got to come back to school, but we stayed in our classroom as much as possible to keep everyone safe. In third grade we finally got to take off our masks and see each other's faces. But we still had to get a COVID test often. In fourth grade we went on 16 field studies and took an overnight field trip. We learned all about Utah and everyone wrote a five-paragraph essay about anything in Utah. And now, in fifth grade, all of us have been preparing for middle school. Everyone has put in hard work into the preparation, and we are ready.

This whole year, we have been preparing for middle school. A lot of the time, I’ve heard that we need to be responsible and be leaders for other people. I think that we all have set a great example for others and that we all can become the change that the world needs. Rowland Hall has taught me that the world needs people who don’t give up and have new ideas. And I’ve learned about many people who have done just that. Everyone here has worked very hard to get here, and we all are ready for the next part of this journey. Congratulations to everyone.

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The People the World Needs
By Marcus T.

Good morning. My name is Marcus. One of our school’s mottos is “developing people the world needs.” As I reflect on the past seven years I’ve been at Rowland Hall, I’ve realized that the help they give us to achieve this goal is remarkable. From Chuck Chats teaching us to be a better friend to visiting the Great Salt Lake with 11th-grade buddies, Rowland Hall teaches us how to be better people for each other and solve the problems of tomorrow. Yet even with all these outstanding teachers and studies, you are in control of the outcome of your actions.

The most amazing people I have met all have two important characteristics. One is being positive. And another is doing the right thing, even if nobody is paying attention. They will make the right decision, not to show someone or impress somebody, but from the good of their heart. If you’re competing against someone and they beat you, instead of getting mad you can try to feel happy for them. You will never feel better by being bitter. If you can do more in your learning, do it not in the opinion of your parents or your teachers; do it because you want to do better. People with these characteristics are the people that the world needs. If these are the qualities of our students, then our world is in great hands.

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Graduation Speech
By Mila P. and Millie C.

Mila: Today we would like to talk about how Rowland Hall has been preparing students and us for our future.

Millie: This has been a safe environment for us throughout our journey as students. We have learned so much about culture and equality In our years at Rowland Hall. Rowland Hall has been welcoming diverse and unique people since 1867.

Mila: We would like to focus on how Rowland Hall values are important and kids are using these values and making big differences in the world. One of the values is: live with purpose. For example, Gitanjali Rao is a young scientist who created a water testing invention that showed if there was lead in drinking water. She was very intelligent and decided that she would live with purpose and use her talents to make a better future.

Millie: Rowland Hall is developing people the world needs by teaching us about many different cultures and people. In my years at Rowland Hall, we have learned about Indigenous peoples, Asian cultures, Hispanic heritage, and the Middle Eastern cultures.

Mila: In conclusion, Rowland Hall has had a positive impact on us and many other students. 

Millie: Special thanks to Alice Scott for being the best editor in the world!

Both: And congrats to the other graduating fifth graders! Thank you.