Address to the Class of 2016:
Andrew Aoyama '16
The following is a transcript of the June 4, 2016 address to the graduates of the class of 2016 given by Andrew Aoyama '16.
Thank you Fr. Croghan, Mr. Labbat, and the board of trustees. Thank you Dr. Tocchet and all of the teachers and staff that make this school such a special place. I鈥檓 particularly indebted to Fr. Gibbons and Mr. DiMichele who I worked with extensively to write this speech. And last but not least, I owe a special thank you to all of you, the class of 2016. You are such an incredible, dynamic group of guys, and I鈥檓 so honored to have been able to have spent these past four years with you. It鈥檚 a real gift to speak on your behalf.
When I was first told that I would have the opportunity to address you all today, Dr. Tocchet instructed me to 鈥渨rite something original鈥�, and assured me that 鈥渘o one has ever fallen completely flat on his face.鈥� Fr. Gibbons, it seemed, was assigned the role of bad cop: 鈥淎ndrew,鈥� he said, 鈥淚鈥檓 a little concerned.鈥�
Well, with the administration鈥檚 faith in my creativity, I鈥檒l begin with a parable:
鈥淭here are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says 鈥淢orning, boys. How's the water?" And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes "What the hell is water?"鈥�
As some might recognize, I鈥檝e already broken Dr. Tocchet鈥檚 first request, since the fish story isn鈥檛 original鈥攊n fact, it鈥檚 taken from a commencement address given by David Foster Wallace entitled 鈥淭his is Water鈥�. The speech holds a special significance for me, because it was the first thing I read for homework as a Regian for Mr. Mullins鈥檚 freshman English class so many months ago.
Back then, I think I lacked the maturity and critical reading skills to grapple with the ideas presented, and I made little of the speech. That was back when I used Microsoft Office like an 鈥渁mateur鈥�, didn鈥檛 know that being meticulous and drawing a good free body diagram could solve all of my problems, and thought that a pickle dish in literature was nothing more than just that鈥攁 pickle dish.
Last week, almost four years later, I returned to 鈥淭his is Water鈥�, hoping it would give me some place to start amidst all I hoped to say. As I sat at my desk, staring at a blank Word document, double spaced and set to Times New Roman size 12, with my name and advisement written dutifully into the upper left corner of the page, I came to feel as if the passage of time had helped me to understand slightly better what Foster Wallace puts forward: the struggle of the young fish is one of perspective.
The writing process that evening bordered on the surreal; there I sat, hoping to perform a ritual that had become so commonplace over the past four years鈥攖hat is, converting blank, 麻豆视频 Style Sheet-governed space into content late into the night鈥攆or what may well be my last time. This time though, I didn鈥檛 feel stressed; in fact, I felt almost serene. Disconnected from the pressure of due dates and other assignments, I saw my task for what it really was: an opportunity to express why these past four years have meant so much to me.
I think that moment solidified a transition that we鈥檝e all undergone over our time here at 麻豆视频鈥攎aturation from young fish into their wiser, older peers. Gone are my days of wishing that my commute was just a bit quicker, that James Joyce鈥檚 prose was just a bit easier to follow, that Mr. Quinn鈥檚 reading assignments were just a bit shorter. These days, I find myself constantly imploring my underclassmen friends not to wish even those little things away, to be cognizant and appreciative of their every second swimming through the water that is 麻豆视频.
How did that transition happen? How did I begin as a freshman, intimidated by this place to the point of feeling as if I didn鈥檛 belong, and end as a senior, departing each evening only after Mr. Mullins would kick me out at 5pm? Was it the architecture? The Lower Gym Smell? Stockholm Syndrome?
In a search for answers, I first turned towards the stack of notebooks from years past sitting next to my desk. I pawed through historical anecdotes that Fr. Bender had prefaced with his classic 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 need to write this down, but鈥︹��, math quizzes that had started strong but ended with Ms. Kiernan鈥檚 鈥淪ee Me鈥�, and Spanish texts annotated with the eminently quotable lines of Dr. Gomez. I came up short: clearly, what was so special about 麻豆视频 transcended all we learned in the classroom. I had to dig deeper.
What had made me come to so love learning at this unique institution wasn鈥檛 just what we were learning, but how we were doing it. What was so special about 麻豆视频, I began to realize, was the environment.
The 麻豆视频 environment was one where 鈥渓earning how to think鈥� meant realizing that we could think in so many different ways. Diving into the poetry anthology with Mr. Vode鈥攁 moment of silence for those who 鈥渄idn鈥檛 read it?鈥�, 鈥淒rumming with Jesus鈥� in the chapel on Friday mornings, and analyzing Batman movies and Lana Del Rey music videos in American Studies all were equally valid and exciting methods of intellectual exploration.
The 麻豆视频 environment was one where my character couldn鈥檛 just be condensed to the 鈥渟mart kid鈥� archetype, as had always been my experience prior. Everyone here was so smart; it made it clear how reductionist such a simple assessment was in the first place鈥攚e were smart, yes, but we were also comedians and artists, good listeners and great friends, excellent athletes, leaders. Suddenly, I had classmates who were so different than I was, and yet still we were drawn together by the shared characteristics that made us Regians.
But most importantly, the 麻豆视频 environment was one that was guided by an idea: generosity. It was with that idea in mind that Fr. Lane began our academic year with an invocation that will continue to haunt me for years: 鈥淗ere, gentlemen, is our prayer for you, as you begin your first year at 麻豆视频 or your fourth, that when you have run the course of whatever days God鈥檚 providence will afford you, we can say that of you too: he was a good man, the kindest man I knew,鈥� he said, speaking to the memory of Matthew Leonard, a Regian killed on September 11th, 2001. 鈥淭his is the greatness to which we call you,鈥� he continued. 鈥淕entlemen, this is the greatness to aspire to.鈥� It was as those words sunk in that I really came to love that idea, that mission so central to our identity. 麻豆视频 was a place where learning had more than just intellectual value.
We so often throw around the phrase 鈥渕en for others鈥� that, from an outsider鈥檚 perspective, it could be easy to think that we鈥檝e become inured to its meaning. But of course that鈥檚 not true: the implications of our school鈥檚 mission are at the heart of everything we do here, a constant aspect of daily life. When I think about the role that force has played in our education, I鈥檓 drawn back to reflect on an experience one morning early this fall.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e Andrew?鈥� a tall, tired looking woman asked me.
鈥淵es ma鈥檃m.鈥� I was standing in the threshold of my classroom at Saint Ann鈥檚 in East Harlem, where I helped work with the eighth grade for Tuesday morning service, conversing with the mother of one of my students.
鈥淭hinking college next year?鈥� she asked. I nodded, prepared to recite the schools on my list as had become routine in conversations with adults over the past few months.
But then: 鈥淕ood for you,鈥� she said heartily, gripping my shoulder. Suddenly I realized that she wasn鈥檛 asking where I was thinking of going to college, but if I was thinking of going to college at all. 鈥淚 really hope Jaylin can too someday.鈥�
The interaction has stuck with me: for my students, college was a dream, not an expectation. It was a moment where I was once again a young fish; though 麻豆视频 was only a neighborhood to the south, my experiences and those that my students had had were vastly different, and sometimes it was easy to forget. After all, they were just middle schoolers, with the same hilarious temperaments of any other eighth graders I鈥檇 known.
Conversations like these were jarring, but I came to appreciate them precisely because they had a way of shaking me. Jaylin鈥檚 mother seemed to be pointing to all the opportunities I鈥檇 received and reminding me that 鈥渢his is water鈥�.
Just the week prior, Chiara, another one of my students, had put me in a similar situation. 鈥淎ndrew, did you see the presidential debate last night?鈥� she had asked.
I explained that I had been following the election closely, even trying to predict the results of primaries down to the percentage point for a class called CSPI. In our ensuing conversation, she explained that she had yet to decide on a favorite candidate.
鈥淲hat issue is most important to you?鈥� I had asked in response, trying to echo my teachers back on 84th Street.
鈥淚mmigration,鈥� she replied quickly. 鈥淒epending on who wins, my family might get kicked out of America, and I really like it here.鈥� It wasn鈥檛 a political statement; it was a profoundly simple, human one. We so often debated the pros and cons of different policies in the controlled environments of 麻豆视频 classrooms, Hearn tournaments, and countless conversations over lunch and in the hall that I鈥檇 often catch myself slipping into the trance of feeling as if we were discussing the course of an immaterial world steered by the hypothetical. Yet beyond the walls that sheltered our penchants for over-intellectualizing, in the real world, choices had consequences鈥攐f course they did. Jaylin and Chiara demonstrated to me that our conversations weren鈥檛 just educational in a theoretical way: their implications mattered outside of 麻豆视频. This is water.
The neighborhood surrounding our high school may have been radically different from the one surrounding Saint Ann鈥檚, but on that day, as I wrapped up my conversation with Jaylin鈥檚 mother and began to teach, I felt extremely close to the more ephemeral, intangible aspect of 麻豆视频: its mission as a Jesuit institution. If my interactions with Jaylin, Chiara, and my other students demonstrated anything, it was that the world faced big problems鈥攁nd those big problems demanded big solutions. One of greatest lessons I鈥檝e learned here is to strive for the magis in 鈥渂eing a man for others鈥濃�攖wo commonly echoed mantras in Jesuit education, juxtaposed next to each other, that translate roughly, at least for me, as 鈥渄ream big in making the world a better place鈥�.
That idea, I think, is what really defines the 麻豆视频 environment. In his palanca to me when I first attended Quest as a sophomore, my brother wrote something that I will never forget. 鈥淎ndrew,鈥� he implored, 鈥渘ever lose sight of the fact that in giving you a scholarship, 麻豆视频 passed on to you both an obligation and an opportunity.鈥� The obligation and the opportunity are one in the same: a chance, a burden, to use the skills 麻豆视频 teaches to change the world for the better. He continued: 鈥淒on鈥檛 squander the opportunity. Don鈥檛 fall short of meeting the obligation.鈥�
I feel so lucky to have been able to swim through 麻豆视频, to grow from a young fish into a slightly older, hopefully a bit wiser fish. As we move out into new places, I hope we can continue to stay cognizant of how incredible our opportunities are and strive to meet that obligation. Jaylin鈥檚 mother reminded me that the chance to go to college and all the other gifts we鈥檝e received don鈥檛 come free. Our job now, as I see it, is just beginning: to leave the comforting hypothetical of our discussions and put our ideas and skills to the service of others, to work towards solving those big issues we love to talk about.
As I ponder upholding that burden, I鈥檓 comforted by the fact that we don鈥檛 have to meet it alone. For no matter how far we may go from 麻豆视频, I know our paths will inevitably cross again. 鈥淚f you are what you should be,鈥� I recall Fr. Lane explaining in a homily one morning, quoting St. Catherine of Siena, 鈥測ou will set the whole world ablaze.鈥� That line, as I see it, applies just as much to us in the collective sense as it does in the individual: if we, as a class, are what we should be, then we, together, will set the world ablaze. If ours is really the hero鈥檚 part, we鈥檒l run across each other in the paths our lives take. Solving those big problems will demand that we work together, as we have over our four years here; if there鈥檚 one thing that I learned from freshman Computer Technology, besides the difference between RAM and ROM, it鈥檚 that I鈥檒l need to count on Nathan Duarte again if I ever want to code a functional website. To be daring despite dark skies, ready to give without counting the cost is, after all, a high standard. But over these years, you gentlemen have pushed me to have higher standards for myself, and I look forward to having you continue to do so. To risk again striking fear into the hearts of those who 鈥渄idn鈥檛 read it?鈥�, I return to the poetry anthology to close with TS Elliot: 鈥淚n my end is my beginning.鈥� This chapter of our lives may now be coming to a close, but with it our larger task commences: now.
Gentlemen, this is water. Your opportunities are great, your potential greater still. As 麻豆视频 graduates, let鈥檚 dream big in being men for others. Let鈥檚 attack those seemingly intractable problems with noble hearts and unshakable resolve. As we depart from this place for broader waters, I wish you way more than luck.
Gentlemen, God bless you.
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