Graduation 2021

CSW was delighted to be able to do an in-person graduation on the quad this year, albeit with a few changes. To start, the event was livestreamed and timing was moved to the morning to accommodate students tuning in from different time zones. In keeping with state requirements, graduation was also a ticketed event, with each graduate allotted four tickets. Whereas graduates usually sit together at the front of the tent, this year family units sat in physically distanced “pods.” Face masks were required for all while on campus, but guests were able to remove them once seated in their pods, and for post-ceremony photos.

In her welcome to the community, Head of School Lise Charlier reflected upon the earlier stages of the pandemic, when concerns loomed about whether or not students would be able to learn and grow in the ways they normally would. “Looking back, I would argue that you have learned more about yourselves in this one singular year than you ever would have learned in a ‘normal’ year,” she said. “We, all of us, have witnessed unprecedented events and learned extraordinary lessons that we will carry with us for the rest of our lives.” This year’s elected faculty speakers were History Teacher Patrick Foley, and Dance Department Chair Nailah Randall-Bellinger. Patrick proudly asserted that he would not “go back to ‘normal’” following the pandemic, and urged graduates to live in the moment, rather than yearning for the past. “Hold your time here as sacred — be fully present to the ones you are with.

Impermanence does not harm us — it only hurts if we cling to the illusion of going back to normal,” he said. Nailah commended the Class of 2021 for their “passion, resilience, creativity, persistence, and a burning spirit of activism,” and spoke about the seemingly constant dialogue the community engaged in this year about an endless variety of highly important subjects. She encouraged graduates to “stay conscious, always think critically, remain creative, and never be afraid to engage.”

Orion Douglas and Rayne Moss were chosen by their classmates as student speakers. Orion shared his belief that the CSW community can sometimes feel like a “bubble” and challenged his fellow graduates to step outside of this bubble of safety and protection and to fight against the status quo. “My challenge for you today is to pop your own bubbles and relinquish your comfort. You cannot change what you were born into, but you can change how you talk about it, how you process, and how you move forward.” what she believed to be some of the community’s failings, and challenging audience members to reflect on their own identities and roles in society. “Failure is not a point to shut down, nor is failure a time to deflect from the problem at hand, but failure is a time to sit down, assess, address, and take action,” she said. “It’s a space for growth, confronting the problem, and working towards fixing it in a timely manner. Constructive criticism also shouldn’t be looked at as offensive, as a personal attack or one being unappreciative. It should be taken as an opportunity to do the necessary work required for improvement.”