Page 36 - 2003 Wardlaw Hartridge

S Z SsCiAccNrSi
The
Wardlaw-Hartridge
School
An Independent, coeducational, college preparatory community for students In prekindergarten through twelfth grade
Dear Class of 2003:
Do you remember ABCDE? I asked you in September if you remembered what the letters stood for from the previous June, I reminded you (when no one admitted remembering!):
• Accept a challenge
• Be worthy o f your lineage
• Call collect
• Drive defensively
• Elect your support system
Your class has an extraordinary gift for this alphabet. You have been particularly close knit and caring. So you know about ’’calling collect” and “electing your support system”; and you have helped each other “drive defensively.” I think of you in the AP Room as sophomores andjuniors, needing to add chairs to “your” circular tables so you would include everyone at lunch. As much as I have admired you for your wholesome exuberance, I will remember you for your tolerance and inclusivity.
You have accepted a variety of challenges, no one more so than Keith, who has shown us all how to respond to adversity -and that regardless of what we face, we control our attitude. We are in awe o f your attitude, Keith. At the same time, consider the way the class responded to Keith’s injury - the climate that you all together created in which you could support each other - throughout the summer and then that first afternoon Peer Leadership activity and opening retreat. As is typical of you, you found the substance inside each other rather than focusing on surface differences.
Y ou have been models for accepting differences. The school can take pride in having a role in that; but certainly your own backgrounds play a role. Are you aware that 24% o f you were not bom in the US, that another 24% of you have parents bom outside the US, that two of you who were bom in the US lived overseas for substantial periods of time, that one of you is 25% Japanese, that one o f you spent your senior year as a freshman in college while another o f you leaped into the class from fifth grade into the Class of 2003 part way into seventh grade! So you come by acceptance of differences naturally, which is a good thing, because you certainly have some idiosyncrasies as a class!
Our first class to spend all three years in our Middle School, you have helped create our lineage already. Having added such things as the Ping Pong Tournament, Freestyle Club, Operation Smile, and Mock Trial, you have enriched that lineage in ways that others will now need to emulate. You have tremendous energy, commitment, artistic talent, musicianship, political acumen, and concern for the world.
As you in the Class of 2003 are commencing this evening, leaving Wardlaw-Hartridge, you are poised before your next challenge. Remember that you know how to respond; you have a lineage to rely on; and you have in your families, your school and each other a powerful support system that will help you succeed. I hope 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 ♦ www.whschool.ori
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