Collegiate School Celebrates the Class of 2023 at Commencement

With gentle sunlight splashed across the 142 Seniors spread out on the lawn in front of Flippen Hall, today’s Commencement, the 108th in Collegiate’s history, was a celebration of growth and transition.  

After welcoming families and friends who had gathered for the ceremony, Carter Reid P ’16 ’18, Chair of the Board of Trustees, saluted the Seniors, reminding them that although their paths are now taking them beyond Collegiate, they’ll always have a dedicated support system to rely on here at North Mooreland Road. 

“Continue to embrace Collegiate’s values in all that you do” she said. “You are now joining the 7,000 Cougars around the world who live our motto: Minds that seek. Hearts that serve.” 

When Interim Head of School Billy Peebles took the stage to deliver his remarks, he began by speaking about the gift of education and of all the people that contribute to it. “Remember to be thankful for the blessings of working with teachers and advisors and coaches and counselors who have cared for you, who have challenged you, who inspired you, who have listened to you and, indeed, who have loved you,” he told the students. 

Peebles continued, speaking of life’s great paradox of both receiving a terrific education and using that education to serve others. “Perhaps the most profound paradox is the truth that we can secure those qualities we treasure most in life and at the same time give them to others,” he said.  “Examples of those qualities that grow within our lives as we extend them to others include respect, kindness, compassion, gratitude, grace and, most importantly, love. Remember the opportunities and the responsibilities that come with the kind of education you’ve received at Collegiate.”

The valedictorians of the Class of 2023 — Madeline Port and Nat Lurie — were next to speak.  

Madeline discussed the embrace of Collegiate’s community and its great balm of support. “The network of support that we have built here will never truly leave us,” she said. And as the Class of 2023 goes forward “it’s important to take the time to seek out people that we can fall back on when we need it most when we find ourselves in unfamiliar environments next year.” 

Nat followed Madeline, beginning with the observation that 3rd Grade, for him, felt tragically shorter than 2nd Grade. As he progressed through the School, the years became ever fleeting. “As I grew older, a single year became a smaller fraction of my life,” he noted. The older you get, and as you grow, he realized, the size of the world becomes less astonishing and your place in the world feels smaller, more brief. 

His contemplation of time was encouraged by his teachers and refined by his education. Ultimately, though, with enough perspective, he realized that his time at Collegiate will be marked with relative transience in comparison to the entire scope of his life.  

“We feel like our entire existence is tied to school, because it takes up so large a fraction in the small part of our lives we’ve lived,” he told the audience. But as the Class of 2023 graduates, Nat hopes he and his peers will expand their time at Collegiate into the greater fractions of their lives. “Given how fortunate we are, we’re obligated to recognize how much more we have left to live and to use the knowledge and skills that Collegiate has given us in the next 84 percent of our lives to make a positive difference.”

Before awarding diplomas to the graduates, Head of the Upper Patrick Loach paused and looked out at the gathering before him. Loach, whose son is a member of the Class of 2023, spoke with cheerful enthusiasm about the excellence the students have exhibited during their time on North Mooreland Road. The Class of 2023, he noted, is the largest graduating class in Collegiate’s history, and that within this group of 142 Seniors, each has a unique mind ready to serve and impact the greater world. 

“They’re really smart, they’re incredibly creative and they’re exceptionally athletic,” he said of the Seniors. “But what makes them so special is that they care about each other and they care about community and they care about Collegiate.” 

 

The Class of 2023 Graduation Honors Recipients were: