Valedictorian and Salutatorian Speeches

Valedictorian & Salutatorian Speeches

Covington Latin School is pleased to announce this year’s Valedictorian, Mary Lauren Veazey, and Salutatorian, Ella Thornberry. Both of these ladies demonstrate our motto on a daily basis. This year, we were blessed to be able to hear their speeches in person. Mary Lauren spoke at graduation at the Cathedral Basilica and was praised by Bishop Foys for her strong faith. Ella continued the tradition of giving her Salutatorian speech at our graduation luncheon. This class was truly unique and Ella did a phenomenal job of capturing their spirit. Since our graduation had limited attendance, we wanted to share their words with our Latin School community.

MARY LAUREN VEAZEY

Valedictorian

Welcome to His Excellency Bishop Foys, Father Maher, Father Grady, Mrs. McGuire, Dr. Kennedy, Faculty, Honored Guests, Parents, and Classmates.

First, congratulations seniors! We are now at the culmination of our high school careers, moments away from officially being graduates of Covington Latin School.

To begin, I would like everyone to think of someone who inspires you— whether that be a historical figure, a family member, a mentor. Whoever this person is, why do they inspire you? What qualities do they exemplify? As human beings, I think we are naturally drawn to people who exhibit any number of the following characteristics: humility, perseverance, adaptability, balance, and graciousness. In other words, these people lead by example of their character.

Covington Latin School graduates are known in the community as being leaders— and rightfully so. Our demanding curriculum, extra-curricular activities, and service hour requirements have given us the tools by which we will positively impact our future communities. Yet, I believe this Covington Latin School class has become leaders not only for the previously mentioned reasons, but also for an entirely different one. The past fourteen months, it has been tempting to focus on what we have not gotten, be that the Washington D.C. trip, exchange students, house, full person assemblies, or even seeing the lower half of people’s faces. However, there is one thing in particular that I think we have gotten, or at least have had to learn in greater abundance throughout our time at CLS. And that is a choice. A choice of whether to be shaped solely by our outwards circumstances or in spite of them.

I think our unique experiences at Covington Latin these past four, five, even six years have equipped us to be people who lead not only by virtue of what we do but by virtue of who we are, our character. Every failed Latin quiz taught us humility: as much as we think we know, there is always room to learn more. Long-term projects from Ancient Day to Senior Thesis gave us stamina and perseverance. The change in faculty, students, and curriculum that we witnessed made us adaptable. We learned that it is important to work hard in the classroom but also to enjoy ourselves at events like Olympic days, sports games, dances, and mixers. In other words, life requires balance. As we saw the world, our county, and our school community navigate a global pandemic, we realized that we must live fully in the moment, to cherish even the smallest things like simply sitting together in a classroom. We learned that it is all the more important to build bridges and extend grace to others, and we can only do this because God has first loved and extended His grace to us.

Back in November on the last day before we switched to nontraditional instruction for the remainder of the semester, one of my classmates wrote on the whiteboard in the senior lounge: “six weeks until we are home again.” I think this statement accurately describes what CLS has become to us throughout our time here. Like a home, Covington Latin is a place where we have been surrounded by those who have inspired us and helped shape our character. While we may never take another GEMVAC quiz, never go to another JCL or KUNA convention, never walk through the halls as Covington Latin students again, what we will always have are the lessons these experiences taught us and the people who have guided us along the way.

In a letter to Robert Hooke in 1675, Isaac Newton said “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” While Newton was referring to scientific discoveries, his words hold true for us. Classmates, you all have already seen far and will continue to see much further in this life. I can see you at the forefront of biomedical research, designing sustainable and unique architectural buildings, debating policies and laws that determine our country’s future, and so much more. I have no doubt that wherever you go from these doors you will carry yourselves with confidence and grace. But let us not forget the metaphorical giants whose shoulders we have stood upon these past years. First, thank you parents for the sacrifices you have made for us. Dr. Kennedy, Ms. Tewes, Mr. Krebs, and Ms. Stone, thank you for ensuring that our Covington Latin education provides us with goodness, discipline, and knowledge. Teachers, from sending instructional videos during NTI in the late hours of the night to serving as mentors and people we can go to for advice, the dedication you have shown is truly inspiring. You have all shown us kindness and grace.

Finally, I want to leave you all with a quote that has often been of great encouragement to me and that I think is particularly applicable to us. 2nd Corinthians 9:8 says: “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” Indeed, I am fully confident that with the grace we have been given from God, with the education we have received, the relationships we have fostered, the circumstances we have overcome, and the character that has been formed— that the Covington Latin School class of 2021 will certainly abound in every good work. Thank you.

ELLA THORNBERRY

Salutatorian

To begin my speech I’d like to borrow a line from our unofficial senior song “See You Again”: “We’ve come a long way from where we began.” Although we are the smallest class CLS has seen since 1954, we have achieved great things since we began our time here. To give a brief glimpse of our accomplishments, as a class, we have nine state qualifying athletes across four sports, three students who attended selective national model government conferences, three Scouts of America including an Eagle Scout, three state officers for the Junior Classical League, two Governor’s Scholars, two TikTok famous influencers, two students who dedicated hundreds of hours to service for a service-learning program, and many more honors and achievements. Despite juggling all this and our academic responsibilities including multiple AP courses for some, we still managed to collectively have 16 paid jobs, three of which are Shannon’s. These accomplishments as well as our unique personalities are the reason that as a class we were accepted to over 42 colleges with significant scholarships, ten with less than a 50% acceptance rate, and two under 10%. Although these accolades are a product of our four, five, or even six years here at CLS, I would consider making it through this year together as one of our greatest achievements as a class. Now I know we are all tired of talking about COVID and these “unprecedented times” but the pandemic was an integral part of our reality this past year. Personally, I cannot imagine this school year without the challenges of the pandemic, but I don’t want to stand here and tell you about the things we’ve lost because we know that, we lived it. Rather I’d like to highlight the ways you responded to what we lost.

At the start of the school year, things were weird. We all came and helped with the underclassman orientation but it wasn’t what we expected, we had masks and had to be socially distant but we still did our best to show our leadership to the underclassmen in our houses. Whether we knew it or not, our response and attitude to new COVID restrictions set an example for the incoming students and helped set the tone for the year.

As we went through the fall, social events were obsolete but we made the best of it by doing sports like soccer to bond and spend time together as well as show our leadership on and off the field. We got to have fall sports senior night and decorate our cars and truly begin to embrace being seniors. When it was the usual time for homecoming I heard minimal complaining about its absence and rather I saw you guys get excited to decorate our hallway and dress up for the themed days, from frat boys and tourists to senior citizens and many wigs (which are most likely still hidden in the lounge as I speak) we had a blast. And more importantly, we modeled school spirit and appreciation for what we were able to do to the rest of the school.

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