Address to the Class of 2021 by Thomas Barone '21
The following remarks were delivered by Thomas Barone 鈥�21 during this year鈥檚 Graduation Exercises at St. Patrick鈥檚 Cathedral.
Thank you Mr. DiNovi, Board of Trustees, Mr. Talbot, Fr. Andreassi, Ms. Lehn, Mr. Mariano, faculty, and staff. And thank you to the Class of 2021 for giving me the greatest honor of my life in choosing me to speak for us. I guess you didn鈥檛 mean it when you invited me in our JUG-day announcements to go on 鈥減ermanent silent retreat.鈥�
I have to say though: this is the second most important speech I鈥檝e given this month.
Not a way to win the audience over, is it?
While I did want to see the shocked reactions of parents who鈥檝e been wearing exclusively 麻豆视频 shop couture for four years, that line has some truth: I delivered the other most important speech of my life recently to my middle school鈥檚 honors society.
Giving that speech, I had to ask myself for the first time what story I鈥檇 tell about my four years at 麻豆视频.
It鈥檚 a good practice to begin that story with those who made it possible.
At my recent speech, beaming alongside my stereotypically loud Italian family, were my mom and dad, who found 麻豆视频 for me, wrangled with me to apply, hugged me before my interview, forced me鈥攃orrectly鈥攖o attend, and are now sitting in the front row of St. Patrick鈥檚 Cathedral trying not to sob as I deliver this speech. Hug your parents after this, boys.
Imagine that we鈥檙e returning to our middle schools to speak. What story would we tell?
We would tell them first that 麻豆视频 was special for its starburst collection of people, black, brown, and white, gay and straight, rich and poor, immigrant and native, from all corners of the tri-state area鈥攅ven Staten Island鈥攅ach writing part of our larger story. We have science kids like Marcus Schubert, who the 麻豆视频 website tells me discovered a galaxy or something, taking classes with kids like me, who burnt down a lab.
While the headlines of our story are special, we鈥檇 tell our middle schools that we鈥檙e most grateful for those everyday miracles that don鈥檛 make headlines. For peers filling us in on a missed reading or teachers pulling us aside to see if we鈥檙e alright after a rough night. The impact of these actions isn鈥檛 visible, but they are what makes a challenge like 麻豆视频 possible, the warmth that beats back the malaise of a difficult month and reminds us that being men for others doesn鈥檛 end with the big things.
In our stories, we鈥檇 recall how delighted we were freshman year that everyone cared about learning here. That our halls rang brightly with laughter, conversation, and debate that spilled out of classrooms, onto the Great Lawn, and disrupted the silence of a late-night 4-train. This spirit doesn鈥檛 persist on 84th street by divine favor; it鈥檚 the mosaic product of the incredible people we鈥檙e lucky to call our brothers.
While the stories we鈥檇 tell 8th graders are sweet, they are less meaningful without the stories we don鈥檛 tell; what is a beautiful experience, after all, without the backdrop of the ugly? We can only discern the stars because the night is dark.
Ask yourself: what story about these last four years would you not tell at your middle school?
I left out our challenges.
We all enter 麻豆视频 dreaming rosily of perfection, filled with that wonder first felt walking into the glowing 84th street lobby.
Often, 麻豆视频 comes close.
But reality cannot always live up to our dreams. We struggled sometimes. It is hard to tell 8th graders that our special school has occasionally seen hate, that the 麻豆视频 bubble couldn鈥檛 always keep out the racism or homophobia of an angry world. Where we鈥檇 dreamed of utopia, we spent some time divided.
But while dreams cannot always be reality, they are our aspirations. We grasped tightly to the hopes of our freshman selves and worked steadfastly to make them our realities.
That process of further realizing the 麻豆视频 we鈥檇 dreamed of began with honestly assessing how we鈥檇 fallen short. The fundamental flaw with our idealized view was the fallacy of the single story, the misbelief that what many of us experience鈥攁 loving, tolerant school鈥攊s all that there is. Dazzled by the light of 麻豆视频鈥� stars, we sometimes couldn鈥檛 see that there was darkness, couldn鈥檛 see when we caused hurt. So, rather than shying away from hard truths or hiding in ideology, we shared our experiences.
I鈥檓 reminded of the courage of one senior, who, after facing homophobic hate, chose to address the school about his experience, and of the daily courages of seniors鈥攂lack and brown, especially鈥攚ho told their stories to help us grow in compassion and understanding.
Then, we carved our dreams into reality. Our black and brown brothers led us in pushing for the Race at 麻豆视频 initiative. Our Asian brothers led us in reflection and memoriam after violence against the AAPI community. Our especially faithful brothers worked with Campus Ministry to tend to the 麻豆视频 flock as part of its first student leadership team. A wide-ranging group of our brothers established IDEALS, a committee working on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Regians of every background made the experiences of all Regians closer to our dreams.
These changes will echo beyond us: 鈥淚t is clear,鈥� one freshman shared with me during a discussion on inclusion, 鈥渉ow much 麻豆视频 cares.鈥� What a difference four years makes鈥攚hat a difference we have made. We still dream, but more clearly now, without the hazy unrealities of a rose-colored lens. And we鈥檝e written these more honest dreams into the stories of the classes that will follow us.
Four years later, we are imperfect, but we are strong. Where we were once a class divided, we now proudly enter into our record the image of a class bettered by struggle, understanding of one another because we鈥檇 once failed to understand, more faithful because we had to overcome a crisis of faith, more loving of one another because we felt the absence of love. We are the class that persisted, that survived a pandemic, that loved this school enough to change it. Against our own night sky, our dreams gave way to stars.
The point of this speech wasn鈥檛 to ask how you鈥檒l talk to local 8th graders. I asked you to consider your story of these last four years because how we view our time at 麻豆视频 inspires the actions that will one day answer the true question we must continue to ask ourselves: what stories will others tell about us?
We, the class of 2021, will each carry our own little stories of our particular string of moments at 麻豆视频. We鈥檒l live the rest of our lives in the pages after they conclude, the pages that will flip open, blank and clean, when the doors of St. Patrick鈥檚 close behind us today.
As we fill those blank pages, we must not forget to dream, because we need to dream to envision better realities. Question those dreams. Do not let them lay complacent. Make them honest. But clutch to them tightly nonetheless, because, sheathed in our dreams and our blank pages, we can create the stars in our night skies, and because those stars are what is meant when we are told to go forth and set the world on fire.
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