Page 52 - 2002 Wardlaw Hartridge

48 SENIORS
The
W ardlaw -H artridge
School
An Independent, coeducational, college preparatory community for students in prekindergarten through twelfth grade
Dear Class of 2002 (The Palindrome Class):
Palindromes are words or numbers that work the same from both directions: 2002 is an easy one; can you make sense of “A man, a plan, a canal, Panama”? As the last Palindrome Class for 110 years, you might want to see if you can create some of your own. They are challenging, but fun.
This has been a challenging year for you. Almost before you realized what being a senior meant, you were asked to help us keep our community calm and organized on September 11. Your experience of being a senior will never be “typical” because of that day. Despite your own anxiety and anguish, your response was compassionate, competent, and caring. I will always admire that leadership. That response continued in a variety of ways throughout the year as you overcame the anger, confusion, and loss of irmocence that we all experienced - and as you sought to help a classmate struggling with the loss of a brother-in-law on that day. I still play your “Tribute to the Fallen” CD and am moved by your recognition of the powerful humanity and heroism displayed that day and your determination to embrace the positive core values of our nation.
At the same time, you still had to face the “typical” challenges of being seniors: could you lead others, would “your” teams be successful, how would “your” play and musical be received, would you organize a successful senior picture, be involved in Cabaret, complete your senior speech (Your speeches were uniformly moving, genuine, and effective, by the way.). You also experienced the normal fracturing that happens at some point to most senior classes as each member considers what the future holds. Yet you also had to worry about whether your applications would be delivered on time when anthrax was discovered to be contaminating the mail system. One of your speeches was about how you were not allowed into a movie theater because of your ethnicity. In
the face of those kinds of issues, many of you responded in substantial ways to strengthen our community.
I certainly have enjoyed getting to know you well. You are very creative. Among you are extraordinary writers, athletes, photographers, musicians, politicians, singers, artists, public speakers, computer experts, and humanitarians. You can also be pretty creative rationalizers. I have watched you evolve over the past eight years both at school and in more relaxed settings: trick-or- treating through Sleepy Hollow; basketball with the “Rams Team” in fifth and sixth grade; a massive water fight in the yard; birthday parties; late night discussions about movies, video games and dress code interpretations; learning Korean and teaching a stick shift; talking with you about college, absurdity, choices - and character.
Remember that your choices reveal your character, that character is revealed most in adversity, and that you can never anticipate when adversity will appear. A colleague of mine has suggested that the middle of a palindrome can symbolize “this moment - poised between the past and the future.” As you in the Class of 2002 are leaving Wardlaw-Hartridge, you are poised before your next challenge. It may well bring adversity; but remember that you have learned here how to struggle, and to triumph. I hope that you will live each moment as a palindrome moment, and that you will return often to tell us how your journey is progressing.
Sincerely,
1295 Inman Avenue ♦ Edison, New Jersey 08820 908.754.1882 ♦ Fax 908.754.4922 ♦ vmw.whschool.org