Sixth Form Commencement Address by Julia Heffernan '07
I attended my first graduation at Millbrook School in 2000 when my oldest sister graduated. I liked it. I was here again in 2003 for my next sister’s graduation, and I liked that one, too. I’ve been here every year since with the same result. Now we are having our own special day, and I like it a lot.
I’m a day student. Every morning when I would drive down school road a bit late for assembly, I got the feeling that I was driving into a different world. I was leaving reality as I slowed to make the turn by the marsh, creeping into a parallel universe with its own laws, culture, values, and a zoo. It is a land where hooded sweatshirts are forbidden and pizza is sold from the trunk of a bright red hummer. A small community centered around 45-minute classes, all school emails, and MOD skits; a bizarre place to say in the least, but a home away from home to 255 teenagers and some pretty eccentric adults. Can you imagine if everyone here thought like Mr. Feitelson?
I have been at Millbrook for the past four years. In other words, that means I have spent 104 Saturdays in class, learning, and 734 other days thinking that there was something profoundly wrong with that. During all this time here I have come to realize that there have been several changes within the school and more significantly within our class.
Those of you that were here freshman year will remember that we could walk around in collarless shirts and flip-flops in the middle of December and not worry about being sent back to our rooms. However, these past two winters the teachers seemed to have taken a more active interest in the well being of our toes demanding we put on more “weather appropriate foot-wear.” Some of you may remember the whimsical swoosh-M of Millbrook that has now been replaced with the more stoic and assertive block letter M. A bold decision. Also, back in the day, you could get a deliciously greasy bagel, egg and cheese from the snack bar for only one dollar. Now you must pay the outrageous sum of one dollar and twenty-five cents. Inflation, apparently, hit us hard at Millbrook in the fall of 2005.
Even with all of these changes, Millbrook has maintained its warm, friendly atmosphere so conducive to the changes within our class. Most people fear change - don’t ever want it to happen to them. When you have this kind of attitude you probably won’t ever change, but then you are stuck, which to me is far scarier and much worse. Because, honestly, who wants to be stuck in high school forever? After all, aren’t we all just aspiring urban sophisticates temporarily marooned in an isolated corner of the Hudson Valley?
We have all already gone through some pretty significant changes in these so-called formative years of our lives that we may or may not have realized. We were all very different people when we first arrived as freshman, sophomores, juniors or seniors. I, for one, am completely different. My freshman year I wore the same sweatshirt everyday to classes; it was blue, old, and sort of gross. Now, however, I only wear it every other day and even wash it occasionally.
When we arrived at Millbrook we were all hopelessly confused. Now as we leave we are still confused but at a much higher level. Our thinking is boxless; our ambitions have burst the envelopes. We just look at things differently. For instance, the Trevor Zoo is the only accredited zoo that has its own prep school! Mr. Meigs recently received a call from the head of the Bronx Zoo who said that they were considering starting their own prep school and asked, what should they do first: build the school or hire a headmaster? Mr. Meigs replied unequivocally: hire a headmaster. No self respecting zoo director would beg for all the money required to build a school!
My dad has told me since I was little that the worst thing I could possibly do in life is get stuck in my own inertia. If you know him at all you know he is really hung up on that pearl of wisdom. Now to a seven or eight-year-old, this really means nothing and is just the ramblings of a thoughtful father, but recently I have been thinking a lot about this bit of advice. Frankly, I think he’s got it pretty much right. I plan on majoring in physics and, thanks to Mr. Waters, can define inertia from memory: Every body has the tendency to remain in a state of constant rest or in uniform motion straight ahead, except insofar as it is compelled to change its state by forces impressed.
The class of 2007 is not mired in the dreaded “state of being at rest”; instead we are moving ahead, prepared to react to the forces ahead. We are about to face some enormous challenges and changes in our lives.
Nothing is more terrifying than leaving where you feel safe and comfortable for something completely and utterly new. It gives me a stomach-ache just thinking about it. But I know I’m ready; I know we are ready. In the blink of an eye we will join the group of Millbrook graduates standing at the back of this tent watching ever more classes moving forward prepared for the forces of the future. Good luck and congratulations to the Class of 2007. Thank you.
