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HACKLEY REVIEW COMMENCEMENT SUPPLEMENT 2021
Fourth Grade Recognition Day Director of the Lower School Lisa Oberstein celebrated members of the fourth grade at the Recognition Ceremony held on June 8, 2021.
Good morning families, faculty and staff, guests, and students as we come together to celebrate the Class of 2029! It is a real pleasure to be standing here with all of you this morning, in person! What a year this has been. Faced with the unprecedented, our Hackley community came together in ways we never dreamed possible and experienced, all in all, a year of joys, challenges, triumphs, and powerful learning. In the Lower School, we had our first ever Fun Day, an experience that initially came out of the loss of going to Kingsland Point Park, but allowed us to create something special, brand new, and memorable. And who can forget the live streamed Halloween parade, a spectacle that received the highest accolades from families and students alike? Usually in the spring the 4th graders and their Kindergarten buddies visit the Wolf Sanctuary for a day long field trip. And although they could not do that this year, Mrs. DiStefano and all of the teachers arranged a full day of on campus activities, which culminated in a serenade by Kindergarteners to their 4th grade buddies, a song entitled “Walk Through Life.” “Walk through life. Every day is a new beginning. Shine your light. It’s your day the world is waiting. Move along to the song singing in your soul. Feel the beat, clap your hands, let it take control.” This year our character education program was still as strong as ever and the virtues we focused on in the LS included curiosity, flexibility, friendship, and integrity. These virtues helped ground us and enabled us to keep asking questions, to pivot when needed, to reach out for help from others when necessary. I found a quote by author Greg Kincaid about resilience that I found particularly fitting given the massive amounts
Lisa Oberstein addresses the Class of 2029 at their moving up ceremony on June 8. During her speech, she shared advice from the rising fifth graders to their Lower school friends.
of snow we had to deal with earlier this year — “No matter how much falls on us, we keep plowing ahead. That’s the only way to keep the roads clear.” I commend all of our Lower Schoolers for being flexible to the changes we had to make this year, and in particular I thank our fourth graders who remained our Lower School leaders throughout it all, showing the younger students how to care for one another, to be an upstander when necessary, and to show kindness and inclusivity to all even when it was a difficult thing to do. As you move onto the next chapter in your academic careers, fourth graders, I hope you remember your time in the Lower School fondly. My wish for you is that you carry the things you learned forward so you can pave the way for your younger friends who will join you in the years to come, and so you continue to serve as a role model, as the younger students look down from the Lower School and watch you playing on Akin Common. I have seen how well you as a class embody our core values of Enter here to be and find a friend, and United we help one another. I know you will continue to make us proud!
