Graduation 2010

Alumni Awards

Both the Distinguished Alumnus Award and the Alumni Service Award were established in 1986. In the years since, the Distinguished Alumnus Award for Outstanding Career Achievement has been presented to alumni in the fields of law, medicine, education, business, ministry and the arts recognizing them for their career achievements - excelling in their chosen fields and making a difference in the world around them. Stratford class of 1976 alumnus Mr. Robert Rabun Merck, Jr. was the 2009 recipient of this award. Robert R. Merck is the Senior Managing Director and Head of Real Estate and Agricultural Investments at MetLife, Inc. In this role, he is responsible for managing the company's commercial mortgage and equity real estate portfolio, as well as its agricultural investments portfolio, with a total value of $58 billion. In this capacity, Robert manages a staff of 250 investment professionals, both domestic and international.

The Alumni Service Award is a way to recognize service to Stratford Academy by its alumni. Volunteer service to the school has always been an important part of our growth and success here at Stratford, and our alumni have always been a critical source of this kind of volunteer service. The 2009 Alumni Service Award was presented to David Paul Kempa, also a Stratford class of 1976 graduate, in recognition of long hours of support to our Athletic Program. Kempa has been called the "#1 all time Booster of the Stratford Eaglette Basketball program", but his contribution goes farther. While he was a student at Stratford, David managed the football and basketball teams, served as statistician for the basketball teams, and was the official scorer at away basketball games. As an alumnus, David has been the official scorer at all home Stratford varsity basketball games for the last 25 years - he has scored over 1,500 games during that time. David can frequently be seen on the sidelines at many other Stratford sporting events, as well - I have seen him at football games, soccer games, and track meets. He has attended every Stratford State Championship victory since 1970 in football, basketball, and baseball. David holds a B.A. degree from Mercer University and a J.D. degree from the Mercer University School of Law. He has been in the field of real estate since 1986, a broker since 1993, and is a Life Member of the Circle of Excellence.

Salutatorian Graduation Speech

When I started this year back in August, I couldn’t believe I was a senior. I just couldn’t believe that eleven years had already passed by, when it seemed that only a few years before I had been four feet tall and admiring the cool 12-graders as they jingled their keys on the way to long lunch. But it seems that we, the Class of 2010, have finally made it. We’ve crossed the finish line—with a few stumbles and injuries along the way—but I think I can safely say that we’ve all made it in one piece. So, congratulations, fellow graduates, for making it this far. It wasn’t easy.

In the early 19th century, the philosopher Georg Hegel said that human history is always progressing, even when it seems that things are taking a turn for the worse. For instance, by the time the American Civil War ended in 1865, almost 620,000 men had lost their lives. The South was left desolate and in ruins, and the country was floundering in debt. Yet it was the Civil War that eventually led to the passing of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. Thousands of slaves were freed at last, given American citizenship, and ensured the right to vote that they deserved. And although it took many years for these measures truly to take effect, progress had undeniably been made, and our society today is better because of it.

Before this starts to sound like a history lecture, I’d like to relate Hegel’s philosophy to our lives as they stand right now. Throughout our years at Stratford, there have been many times when it seemed simply too hard to go on. Work would flood in from every teacher as if they were oblivious to the fact that, yes, we actually were taking classes other than theirs. We had multiple tests and quizzes in the span of two or three short days, yet we were still expected to do well on all of them. We had essays whose many pages and printed sources probably caused the destruction of whole rainforests at a time—I’m alluding to the Senior Humanities paper, by the way. And we had sleepless nights trying to finish flower projects, language posters, and persuasive speeches where our creativity was almost as important as the content we put into them.

But what made all of this so difficult was not just the quantity of our work, but the way we were pushed to look beyond the surface, to keep improving our skills, to take what we learned and apply it to different situations instead of simply regurgitating it on a test. For example, if we didn’t strive to advance as writers in English, the work that earned us an A at the beginning of the year earned no more than a B by the end. In math, our teachers didn’t let us stop at the basic concepts, where we were most comfortable; once we had learned those, we had to use them to solve more complex problems on our own. In science, we soon learned that we couldn’t just memorize the information five minutes before the test; we actually had to understand it to do well in the course. And in history, we had to go far beyond what is common knowledge and analyze what really happened in the past.

As we struggled to make it through all of these precarious situations, I doubt that we ever thought we were progressing at all. (Probably the only thought running through our heads was that the school was trying to kill us.) But now, in hindsight, we can see that because of the rigor of our education at Stratford, we have become smarter, better informed, more responsible, and much better-equipped to handle what life throws at us in the future. And for later in life, when it seems that a thundercloud is constantly hovering above our heads, we should take comfort in knowing that we will ultimately emerge as better people.

But on a different note, now that we’ve finally reached our graduation, what’s next? It looks like what we saw as a finish line for so long is only the start of another long and arduous marathon—what we call college and the “real world.” I know that most of us are excited to finally gain our independence and escape the constraints of high school, living at home, and being in the (very exciting) city of Macon. In college, no one wearing a bowtie will tell us to tuck our shirts in; our parents can’t make us come home before curfew; and most likely we’ll have a little more to do in our free time than eat ice cream or see a movie. Nevertheless, it will be very hard to forget all of the good times we’ve had in our years at Stratford Academy—the friendships we’ve built, the lessons we’ve learned, the amazing teachers who are passionate about what they teach, and the strong sense of community we felt every time we walked through the front doors. We are all truly fortunate to have attended an institution like Stratford, and now to be able to call ourselves graduates of such an academically and athletically excellent school.

Of course, we can never forget the people who helped us get to this point: Our parents, first of all, who are the reason we even went to this school; and our teachers, who are always working to help their students succeed (I lost count of how many afternoons I spent in Calculus tutorial this year). We should thank our friends, who were there through all the ups and downs of our journey—probably because they had to be—but who definitely kept things interesting. We should also thank our coaches, without whose training and constant support we would never have had so many victories—thanks for everything, Coaches Jaime and Randy. We should thank the administration: Dr. Veto, Mrs. Brogdon, and Mr. Weir...even though it’s their fault we didn’t have a senior prank this year. And finally, we should really thank the College Office; without them, half of us would probably still be lost in a pile of confusing college applications, me included.

But now we graduates have to pay a price for going to college, and I mean other than the actual money our parents have to spend. A pile of responsibilities will be dumped onto our shoulders starting this fall, responsibilities that we have simply taken for granted up until this point. Hopefully we will embrace these new responsibilities with open arms, and use them to prove that we can live as independent adults. But graduates… consider what the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre said about the cost of human freedom: You are accountable for your actions and for all of their outcomes, even when it seems easier to blame them on someone or something else. And if you find yourselves in circumstances you can’t control, it is still in your hands to determine how you view them: as a learning experience, or as another obstacle in your path.

So go out into the world and be inspired. Take every opportunity you can find. Use your passion and your talents creatively; don’t let them be wasted while you sit and wait for better things to come. And remember: Just like on the sports field, perseverance can make all the difference.

But before I start preaching to the choir here—that’s Mack’s job—I’ll end with one of my favorite poems by Shel Silverstein, which I think offers some very useful advice for any graduate. It’s called “Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda.”

“All The Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas

Layin' In The Sun,

Talkin' 'Bout The Things

They Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda Done...

But All Those Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas

All Ran Away And Hid

From One Little Did.”

Thank you, and congratulations once again to the Class of 2010.

2010 Valedictory Speech

It seems like just yesterday that my classmates and I were walking through the tiled hallways of the pre-school building, enjoying constant laughter, recess, snack time, and occasionally for some, time out. We were barely four feet tall but we were giants in our own world: a world of wondrous independence and freedom from any serious concerns. We had our mommy’s, our daddy’s, our brothers and sisters, our coloring books, and we had our friends. Our lives could be described in two words: simple and fulfilled. Now, my fellow graduates, I ask you: why did we grow up at all?

Today, twelve great years separate the diaper days of pre-school from this cap and gown day of graduation. We can look back and reflect fondly on our childhood memories, but we will never be able to re-live what has passed. So, we must look ahead. In the immediate future, in a few short months, our lives will change forever. We will go our separate ways, experiencing different adventures and walking various paths. We will live in foreign parts of the country, enjoy lasting friendships and fulfilling relationships, and be a part of the newest generation of learned collegiate scholars. Though separated by distance and experiences, there is one thing that is common to us all now and forever: the choices we make everyday will have consequences, for better or for worse. We must be held accountable for the way we choose to live. Existentialist philosophers tell us that we are defined by our actions and are therefore a product of our decisions. A bright and inspiring tenth grade history teacher at Stratford rephrased this idea to make it accessible to high school students. As Mrs. O’Brien, Mrs. Lanier, so eloquently instructed us, we cannot “control other people, places, or things- all we can really do is control our reactions to those people, those places, and those things.” The decisions we make and the actions we carry out will ultimately determine what kind of people we truly are. And as we continue to mature and grow both physically and mentally, we can no longer claim the simple ignorance of our childhood. We’ll make mistakes, but we must learn from them. Reflect and remember, but then re-focus. We cannot dwell on the past. We must learn to deal effectively and responsibly with the present. Because so much of who we are depends on the way we respond to things, oftentimes we can stress over the tiniest details that, in retrospect, mean absolutely nothing.

“Don’t sweat the small stuff,” my mom used to say. That line was used so frequently around my house when I was smaller that it might as well have been written on all the walls. When my dad came in from a bad day at work, “honey, don’t sweat the small stuff.” When I brought home a bad grade or had a long day at school, “don’t sweat the small stuff.” When a lamp broke or the dog tracked mud all over the kitchen floor, guess who had to clean it up? And as I was doing it, guess what I heard? “Sweetie, don’t sweat the small stuff.” It was an annoying little phrase- one that try as I might I could not escape. It was annoying to hear someone could belittle the circumstances that I felt were so important and so bothersome. Why was this “small stuff”? Why wasn’t it “big stuff”? And who got to pick what size my problems were anyway? But one day, I understood. On this day, my brother and I had seized the opportunity to enrage my mother. For reasons I have forgotten, probably something to do the television, we had pushed her “mommy button” way over the edge and off the cliff. It was then, seeing my own mother in a seething rage that I realized what must be said. Can you guess what that was? I said, “Mom, please don’t sweat the small stuff.” Needless to say that didn’t go over too well. But that is beside the point. Once I had seen from the outside someone consumed by the “small things”, I knew exactly what the phrase meant. “Not sweating the small stuff” means understanding that there really aren’t that many things that should get under your skin- especially the insignificant daily mishaps. Since that day, I have tried to view everything I can long term. The bad grade on a vocabulary test?? That won’t keep me out of college. The broken lamp?? It really was time to update anyway. The muddy kitchen floor with dog prints everywhere? Kinda funny actually. It’s all perspective. It’s how we view everything in our lives- the people, places, and things- that really gives us a sense of how to respond. Now that we know to moderate our judgment and actions based on the situation and events, it’s just a matter of finding out what is really important to each of us. And although it didn’t make sense at first, looking back, it was my Grandfather who first helped me understand exactly the right way to prioritize everything.

Late one Saturday afternoon many years ago, I found myself on the losing side of a mighty league baseball game. My team tried its best but I had been in this particular situation before, as we weren’t exactly the Yankees in terms of our offensive and defensive performance. But, being the competitor that I was at 12 years old, I was still extremely resentful that after our team’s next strike out (which was guaranteed because I had seen the kid bat before), the other team would be going out for pizza while my teammates and I would go home. And sure enough, as soon as the umpire called strike three, hot tears of defeat began streaming down my face and to the ground. I hated losing. I wanted to tell my parents how the other team cheated, how Billy hadn’t tried, and how it didn’t matter because I didn’t really want to win anyway. Being the good, mature parents that they are, my mom and dad took my excuses as facts and told me I “played well”, and that next time we would win for sure. Their reassurance comforted me, and I took the opportunity to dry my eyes just a little bit. But not long after that, my grandfather looked me in the eye and said something that has stuck with me to this very day. He said, “Mack, you win some, you lose some, and some get rained out.” I was shocked. How could he say something like that? How could he admit that there is such thing as losing or failure? Needless to say, I continued my pouting and didn’t change my outlook on anything. It took many, many years for me to understand that on that day, a hot and humid spring afternoon at the ballpark, my grandfather had given me some of the best advice I’ve ever received.

I share with you these slices of my own life because I want all of us to think about the knowledge gained from people who have shaped our own development. Sometimes the information passed on by others, whether intentional or not, can really make an impact if you let it. Again, don’t dwell on these things for too long, but never forget what you’ve learned. Take it and apply it. Now, I find that my original inquiry, the one I posed to you in the beginning, is irrelevant. “Why we grew up” doesn’t really matter. The better question would be “HOW did we grow up”? What did we choose to let influence us, how did we react when it happened, and what have we taken away from it? These are the questions worth asking and the answers to them are the ones that will help determine how we continue to grow.

In closing, having combined the wisdom shared by others, I want to summarize what I have learned with some of my own words: classmates, decide what is important in your life and act upon it purposefully and fearlessly. Act in accordance with what you believe. Always remember that you are the only one responsible for yourself. Take pride in the fact that your most important responsibility is to control yourself- nothing else. Understand that when things don’t go your way, wait; don’t panic, because things just might turn around. Don’t worry so much about the small defeats or annoyances. Don’t overreact when life throws a curveball. And don’t ever give up on something you know is worth finishing. Understand that there will always be success in our lives just as there will be failure. So relish your victories and learn from your failures but always, always cherish the opportunities presented. Each and every experience is a gift. Don’t take any of these moments right now or in your future for granted, because before you know it, they will become your past; they will become something you can learn from, glance at in a picture, or tell stories of, but you can never relive them, never experience those times that have passed. So I want to tell you, my fellow alumni- Carpe Diem Hodie. Seize the day TODAY and make with it what you want.

Well done guys. I want each an every one of you to know you have my best wishes, and I know that all of you will only continue to succeed in the days to come.

Congratulations…..Class of 2010.