KIT PARTING THOUGHTS

Change is inevitable How we learn, grow, and innovate in response is essential to embracing the inevitability We are reminded of the principal purpose when presenting Roeper Commencement

In my 35 years as a member of this community, I have attended every commencement exercise of The Roeper School It is a privilege I do not take for granted

My earliest memory is of witnessing the maestro — Mariann Hoag — skillfully orchestrating each element of Commencement and imbuing the event with her characteristic grace and understated elegance And even though we gathered on the lawn by the large pines at the center of the Bloomfield Hills Campus, the setting was reverent and guests — whether seated in the front in folding chairs or huddled on a blanket with fellow alumni on the hill — were all purposefully eager to celebrate our amazing students!

In these intervening 35 years, Roeper Commencement has ventured beyond that iconic tree line at the Bloomfield Hills Campus and journeyed to various neighboring venues From the Birmingham Masonic Temple to Temple Shir Shalom to the Shriners Silver Garden Events Center to the Lake Orion Amphitheatre, this meaningful passage has found an evocative setting

This most recent graduation site — the stunning Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Hills — marked a return engagement as the location for the Class of 2023 festivities (Temple Beth El was designed by the late Minoru Yamasaki, a Roeper grandparent Mr Yamasaki was one of the most prominent architects of the 20 th century )

The settings have been wide-ranging, but the response to change has been striking in purposeful innovation It reached a notable peak when the school created a “Commencement Car Procession” for the Class of 2020 and revved up our response to the pandemic

Yes, change is inevitable, but we have come to know that any site that is chosen becomes the very thing that is sought

Congratulations to the remarkable Roeperians of the Class of 2023

Yours,

Denita Banks-Sims Director of Development & Publications