001uh when we've finished so please stay tuned after the ceremony for some time yes [Music] graduating class of 2021 welcome and congratulations we are so happy to be here with all of you tonight at the sears center how lucky we are for that and if you at all please rise and join us for the national anthem which was recorded by our stevenson high school honor band [Music] so [Music] [Applause] good afternoon my name is steve frost and i have the pleasure of representing the board of education to welcome you here today as we all know this past school year was unlike any recent memory the class of 2021 witnessed a political environment in which our leaders ascribe to alternative facts and realities our students wore the brunt of a global pandemic in which sciences politicized
002and we all witnessed economic devastation as breadwinners and our families lost jobs during the pandemic and how did the class of 2021 respond like truths even sin at stevenson we have developed a portrait of a graduate that helps us achieve our mission of success for every student this portrait includes three pillars or attributes that we seek to instill in each one of you the first is a commitment to self which includes developing a sense of resilience and self-awareness and demonstrating self-empowered and life-ready skills the second is a commitment to others which includes developing a sense of empathy for those around you engaging in civic duties and responsibilities and the third is a commitment to learning which includes striving for continuous improvement sustaining a growth mindset and developing problem solving skills i want to share how
003the class of 2021 has internalized and exhibited these attributes this past year consider some of the following individual examples one of you was named one of the top 300 scholars in the regeneron science talent search one of you is recognized by the community anti-drug coalitions of america as a youth advocate of the year one of you was selected as a 2021 distinguished young woman of illinois one of you won gold at the skillsusa illinois championships in emergency medical technician category one of you is designated in the top five women in illinois and receive recognition from the mathematical association of america and several of you won state championships at the future healthcare professionals championship what have you had a top 10 finish at the 2021 national leadership conference of business professionals of america members of the
004class of 2021 were also on successful teams the math team placed in the top six teams internationally at the mathworks math modeling challenge they won the national and state championships the history bowl team captured fifth of the national championship the science olympiad team finished 10th in the united states and one of you was a national champion in your competition the physics bowl team was a top scoring team in our fourth state midwest region and among the top 10 in the international physics bowl the patriots were the 2021 dance union national champions in the large jazz competition and also won the state competition the scholastic poll and the varsity aces team with their respective state championships on the highest honor awarded in the state two of you won the badminton double state championship and although athletics
005were significantly affected by kobe 26 of you signed commitments to participate in 12 collegiate sports many many examples of individual team accomplishments but these successes are not limited to a few members of your class out of the class of about 1100 more than 90 of you evidence and growth mindset by completing college-level courses while at stevenson [Music] and 153 of you completed articulated credit classes at the tech campus and of the students who took ap courses students with ieps took 72 classes you may not recognize it yourself but you all have internalized and desired attributes of the students who graduate and today because of what we've been through i want to focus for a moment on the second pillar or your commitment to others and how you adapt it because of covet you reorganize giveathon
006to facilitate direct family to family donations during the 2020 holiday season fmps created virtual lunchrooms to discuss non-traditional topics with freshmen to build relationships and develop culture while they were away from campus together with other stevenson students you created and led a math tutoring program to help younger students in our community nhs figured out how to remotely find and direct volunteers of blood donation sites theater students not only put on several full productions but in response to covet you arranged a ravinia style outdoor concert one of you with other students at stevenson collected over twenty eight hundred dollars of materials to donate to chicago public schools in need of supplies as a member of the stevenson girls cross-country team one of you won a race and immediately donated your 1 000 winnings to the stevenson
007high school athletic department and the stevenson girls cross country team you make us proud booker t washington an educator and a civil rights leader said that success is to be measured not so much by the position one has reached in life as much as by the obstacles which he has overcome you can all argue that you have succeeded like no other class before you but you've done more than compile a long list of accomplishments it's important for you to understand that the best way to lead productive healthy and fulfilling lives both in times of chaos and in times of calm is to remember what you've learned here at stevenson maintain your commitments to self to others and to lifelong learning as you did this past year you now have the tools to tackle any adversity
008and to succeed in any endeavor congratulations class of 2021. good evening fellow patriots it is i can't even describe how beautiful a sight it is to see this sea of green this evening i'm so excited to have spent the last month getting the opportunity to see you and celebrate with you at our spring morning sunrise at prom at our senior sunset last night it's been fantastic over the last few weeks to really get that opportunity to come together there is no better way to celebrate this class than to hear your uh colleagues voice so for now it's my pleasure to introduce the first of our student speakers who will be giving the scripture address which looks back at our four years together our first speaker lucas growing up i was always a very nostalgic kid
009i remember sitting in the corner of my room with tears streaming down my face i'd complain mom i don't want to grow up just seems too hard i want to stay this age forever being the loving mother that she is she'd look me in the eye and say lucas get off the floor you're graduating high school in two days as the scripture student commencement speaker it's my job to look back on the past four years in doing so it became clear that nothing about it was normal it wasn't normal to have the fire alarms go off every day for the first two weeks of freshman year it wasn't normal to protest school shootings during our sophomore year it wasn't normal to have our junior and senior year limited to social isolation normal is absolutely not
010the class of 2021. today marks a day of great accomplishment but it didn't come easy some of us struggled with academics some struggled with sports and some struggled with making friends in my own experience there were two subjects that were difficult for me geometry and something we call the friend zone now i know what you might be thinking but lucas how does such a handsome smart and humble young man like yourself struggle with geometry friends i've been asking myself that same question for four long years the past few months have were incredible to watch many of my classmates get accepted into the top universities and prestigious institutions all across the world if you're anything like me however there was that first college rejection and then the second rejection and then the third and then i
011thought maybe i should have applied to more safety schools dad it's like all of these colleges friend-zoned me in all seriousness many of us have faced tremendous hardship and disappointment take this year for example sure there were days when we didn't want to get up for class however i know that some of us didn't feel like it was worth it to wake up at all at times we felt alone unseen and unheard and through it all one of the greatest things we've learned is that it's okay not to be okay but it's not okay to let others remain in that state for a long time class if there's one lesson i can take away from this year it's to prioritize people above all else look our school is undoubtedly a school of achievers this school's
012competitiveness drives us to study for excellence to train to be the best and to practice until we reach perfection trust me i know what it feels like to work so hard and feel like you're doing everything right it still falls short but being the best student the best athlete or the best performer is meaningless if we can't help each other in times of need while we reflect on the past and look to the future my hope is that we can remain grounded in the present if high school was a regretful four years for you let's start fresh if high school was the best four years of your life and you're gonna be that uncle at the barbecue who's still living in his glory days i'm sorry but it's time to move on stevenson high school
013i leave you here today with a quote from master ugwe of kung fu panda yesterday is history tomorrow is a mystery but today is a gift that is why it's called the present so to the most attractive class in stevenson history thank you thank you for being a family knit together through both hardship and accomplishment i am honored to have shared such fond memories with you all class be smooth thank you lucas for that wonderful message one last round of applause please i truly appreciate uh lucas's message asking us to think back about our time uh at stevenson and i think at this moment it's important for us to just take a pause and remember those that we have lost during our high school experience so at this point if you could please join me
014in a moment of silence thank you next we are going to have our senior the senior members of our choir perform our alma mater and this is a hallowed tradition here and to help us out i'm going to need a favor from those of you in the audience if you are an alumni of stevenson high school please stand up big round of applause for all of our alumni look at that crowd they might argue about the best-looking class said stevenson history but great stay standing you're going to stay up for the alma mater please if you're standing please stay the folks in front of me on the floor the class of 2021 you will be alumni in about 35 minutes please stand up and now we have a recording of our senior choir members led
015by alice newton singing our alma mater [Music] we [Music] oh [Music] thank you very much thank you for standing alumni it's great to see you back everybody please have a seat and now it's time for us to look forward in our second student speech through our gubernator address today's speaker is aditi singh good afternoon everybody my name is aditi singh and i just like to start out by saying that it is an absolute honor to be graduating and speaking in front of the most phenomenal group of students i have ever met in my entire life so honestly let's just have a round of applause for that four years ago we cautiously walked through the doors of the sports center we tried to see a five to a four only table in the ilc we sometimes
016stomped on instead of avoiding the patriot or were often accused of causing traffic jams outside the qlc after 4 30. but now four years later i see a group of students who fight to seat five at a lunch table so no student feels left out stomp out of classrooms to raise their voices for safer school environments and roam corridors and green shirts to guide underclassmen to their third period classes and despite all of that we still sometimes think that success comes from knowing the 13th president or the derivative of 5x cubed but we forget that it's not millard fillmore or 15x squared that we're going to be taking away from these last four years it'll be frantically typing our catcher in the rye essay in the lower i'll see catching our breath on the seven
017thousands before climbing up the eighths or waiting for eddie on the morning announcements for me it'll be the times my friends gave me a jasmine's cookie after a bad english essay my mom gave me dinner before eating herself my dad went to open house after hours of meetings always with a smile on his face my sister barged into my room to take my mind off a long day of school or how my physics teacher stayed after school to get me ready for my test the next day but the problem is is that we forget those details because all that comes to mind is how these four years we had to do everything to be the best version of ourselves to have that near perfect gpa to take the hardest classes heck to get to nhs
018meetings on time and in the midst of all of that we forgot that growing up isn't hitting a certain set of marks living isn't being right about who you want to be friends with what major you want to choose how many pumps of espresso your macchiato needs instead growing up is about making mistakes maybe that mistake is you taking the wrong train maybe it's you choosing the wrong friend heck maybe it's you pursuing acting over quantum mechanics but it's never worrying about being right all the time because if there's one thing that you need to remember tonight for the rest of your life it's that your last bad decision doesn't have to define you even leaves fall so a tree can begin again let these four years be like those leaves remember it's okay to
019let go of what you need to so you can embrace what's coming and most importantly don't forget that those that love us never really leave us so take a moment to look at your best friends your parents your siblings aunts uncles teachers i know i sure am and move ahead knowing that these people will be standing right next to you when you're going to need them the most after today we're going to begin a new journey this new path is going to be unorthodox it's going to be abstract but it's going to be a path where we learn to bridge the gap being between being methodical and hasty with our choices choices that will never be ideal nor perfect but always genuine yours in imperfection for one last time aditi singh thank you so much
020and congratulations everybody so i may have the toughest job of this evening and that is following lucas in aditi could you give them one more round of applause please thank you so much good evening i would like to echo mr frost's comments and congratulate and welcome our students and families to the high school graduating the adelaide stevenson high school graduating class of 2021. let me begin with what you might describe as a penetrating glimpse into the obvious this has not been the school year or the graduation ceremony that any of us were hoping for or expecting when we imagined our senior year four years ago with that said mr frost did a wonderful job of summarizing the extraordinary accomplishments of the class of 2021. without a doubt what you have managed to accomplish during your
021four years at stevenson will leave an impressive legacy for future classes to strive for and live up to there's no doubt in my mind in the next few weeks months and even years the nation's graduating seniors of 2021 will be lauded for resilience and fortitude and grit during this pandemic that has swept the country and upended the school year and to be sure there is no doubt that you our senior class have shown these traits as well however for your teachers for us we are far more impressed and grateful that during these challenging times this senior class our senior class has also demonstrated and practiced the far more important life lessons of patience flexibility compassion and grace you learned and navigated the ins and outs of remote learning you became zoom masters you stayed focused
022with your teachers and your fellow students you lived out at least my student did a a lifelong dream of being able to wear sweats to school every day most impressively as a senior class you've shown us what compassion and grace looks like in the face of challenges and adversity we especially appreciate the compassion that you've shown one another that you've shown other stevenson families during this time it would have been very easy to focus only on yourself on your own immediate needs concerns and frustrations but that's not what you did what we've seen is how you've used your gifts and your talents to stay connected to stay engaged in daily acts of kindness to support one another and to reach out to family friends and loved ones while it may appear while it may not
023appear obvious to you now as your teachers what we can see so very clearly is that what makes this senior class so special is that during a time of great challenge and uncertainty you have found a way to tap into that deep reservoir of patience flexibility compassion and grace that will no doubt serve you well as you step out into the world as graduates of stevenson high school you have truly embodied our portrait of a graduate and we are all so very proud of you students while we're excited to congratulate you this afternoon on your individual and collective achievements before we do so it is important that we recognize that you haven't been on this journey alone you've had tremendous support and guidance along the way first and foremost you've had the unconditional love and
024support of your most influential teachers your parents and your grandparents and so with the parents and grandparents and family members of our graduates who are here tonight please stand students will you join us in applauding and congratulating your parents and your family members on everything they've done to help you on this journey thank you parents [Applause] as students of stevenson high school you have also benefited from a faculty and staff that represents the very best that american education has to offer given the circumstances many of our faculty and staff are viewing the ceremony from home however we do have many of our faculty and staff here this evening and with those folks please stand and allow us to recognize you for all of your efforts on behalf of our students faculty and staff please stand
025thank you [Applause] and to our family and friends joining us this afternoon we ask a favor in help in honoring each of our graduates please remember that each of our graduates have earned the privilege of walking across the stage this evening and receiving their diploma as they do so we respectfully ask to save your loudest applause until the end of the ceremony and by doing so we'll have and the opportunity for each graduate and family members to hear their names uh recognized and finally to the members of the board of education by the authority granted to me by you the district 125 board the state of illinois and the illinois state board of education i hereby attest that each of the students presented to you this evening has completed all of the graduation requirements of
026adelaide stevenson high school district 125 and the illinois state board of education and are therefore entitled to the diplomas presented this evening it is my true pleasure and privilege to present to you the adlai stevenson high school graduating class of 2021 christina alexikos trish arun amber atkinson dorian basisti hannah brand anastasia bruslovsky litzy cruz ruby demichael daniel dean saad durrani nina egland edmund elias eric flores vanessa flores emily friedman julia friedman max friedman dimitry godlevsky thomas gong justin gordon mitchell hazen sajun hong lucas huang taylor irvin michael kim davina koshal perry krueger george cucciazzi vladimir landa megan leisner sophie lichtenstein alex lee miranda lopez ethan myers samantha myers ryan miller michelle millman irvine diocca manoon monk buyer alexandra niemenrenko gabriella nick nikel nicole angos krishna patel parth patel peckler catherine pepke sarah pollard madison reagan
027regina rangers thomas sanders samantha scarborough raj shaw rebecca she alexandra sokolowski matthew spelatro ivan zwa tarana varshnay ruschill rochelle vora faith wang ellie warren lana zeller sir ought to say pokey ashley anderson sam bezeretzky kevin big larry hannah bowie simone calliste david tony castro john kaylee chattan leo chavez grayson cope molly diegelman brianna pidman gabrielle clarendo jack fulton alexandra gebe ortiz maxwell goldstein isaiah gonzalez august gudelia skate aaron hammon kathleen hanna basser harris [Music] emily hernandez sydney hintz karina jensen fina kadarovich brett kessel jana kauffin carly king alexandra coral alona cosmani orianna lago mackenzie laughlin sunin [Music] benjamin luo jared mock tinger kabuta makuma tommy pappas jared matinger makumba andrea mazer nicole mazur jacob morris kyle oh thomas pappas suhiti puranji anish prakar malkai park alexa reuben abby raksaki rachel sabransky roz raj shashar jared
028shore sarah sedleck madison shulman jack silic adonti singh alexandra torres andrew velos noah thompson jason tupulski brandon torres alexandra yulinovsky ricky wayne adam west kayla wilson stephanie wu yamato [Music] josephine arnold daniel borichin max rockfeld william bratton chris chong riot chowdhury kayla constabilio betsy daniel alejandro dominguez you see soren alem duratovic daniela lichtman rachel eng natalia engman damaris ennis lauren ernstein gregory engine liliana figueroa nicholas forster benson emily golffield gabriel golden jessica golvecht nishali gonzalez eric wang lily zhang grace kim david lee dakota leonard grant lee isa malik rachel max vanya morales ruiz mario musa melissa newson now hannah oshiro wesley park salee pentancar julia schneer eduardo segovia catherine schechter alexander spivak leon sabaki varsha vinod holly aiello joseph almi john ballon lindsey balon andrew carson jonathan chan brianna chung ainsley cutler tia farber ellie
029freeman emmy ginsberg julia goldstein max goldstein allen gutterson prashothan gowajangi dylan hoffner jeanette han nina hook claire who emily who colin jate sahil kamat casey kadzerski gabriela valabov young zachary cutnick monica ludovicius jason lee soo hyun lee blake lewis anthony lynn brianna liu hannah lou martinez lydia leake vincent marin meredith mcgirgan rachel mann samuel mesham isabella michael sneha mohan sakrutha mohan mason moody leia rozek rebecca muse june pake aditya perida benjamin present jason ramer kushi rao isidro rodriguez chloe schwab david smalensky joseph splansky jacob stoga nicholas udoni ella van gerven brandon wasserman daniel wu leah you lauren alcazar kate ahn rebecca arvold juni bay mark bingham bingaian caroline bashold kate bashold brianna buan heather campos daniel chambers taylor clayson elizabeth de leon torres jared elkins aiden ernstein hannah ernstein kevin fay william fishbein emily fujioka
030samuel goldberg krathik graham galrig sankar [Music] ryan grabiner victor grijanik xiaoro gupta lindsey gopman arthur hancock owen hancock jared heikman carson hilt errata hirobi thomas yeager jason jagailo michael jerkowitz olga klebanova ryan klein jacob kobler arleigh landau alina majeed navia mekha na rohan pamasani rohi pamasani carla phelps morgan schwartz adena shaikh amira shaikh laila sharma hannah stewart brandon stewart bryce stokes mikola siglia anak mega verma richard wade jr leila wong nicole ware ella whitney simon you serena jew sean joe brent felt said annay agawal william bosco simeroon utra [Music] natish buputi raju alexandra bigbulatova caitlyn brewkirk matthew rukirk jaclyn burr sasha shannonkowski darius clemens ava corso nora dieter carlos fernandez esteban galagos lol gibson trinity graham isabel hahem aidan hart caleb hemphill dylan heidenberg vucine judish warren tyler jensen willem joe matthew keselowski george camaresti
031prithee jack calebski daniel corzine hannah lee ryan lerman julian lopez angel lozono laquish medena stacy maymer robert martin iii caroline mazur schirracco stellana makova ashley mustika stanislav nowicki marie o'brien alexander oye jessica coolidge tori richardson jonathan rubin jacob saffron tristan scott alexa slavic winnie song audrey spiwak sophie spinner anthony spinner jr casey sullivan foster swanson daniel thomas thor thomas daniel turchen william of topku sebastian waldron jc walsh connor wang phyllis wang brittany webbington juwan wu charlene you alex joe peyton adkinson john arne kendrick boardman iii adeline brady sophia damolas joseph dronowski carson easel zachary george parker guercio phoebe guercio maxim holstein abigail kalu amy kaplan amanda kelly soham keskar stephen karuna alexander lapoint st george jeremiah lee andrew maher serena meda madeline mitchell and soul moon [Music] radin morati rebecca morris smrithi mukund philip nelson
032jessica nyborg catherine o'donnell zachary o daniel orgler michelle orapeza violet park aaron peck roof bruno pilvar david palikov connor powers priyanka persona sophia presser angelia poulos elon rain anna roginsky leah roginsky sharav rodiwar avigdor reutman cassandra salus abhinanda saravana kumar grace schubert daniel schwartz talia sagal daniel shafran [Music] ananya shahid daniel shapiro nihal sharma rakshit singh audrey smart isabel smart akriti srivastava benjamin stark aiden trong cameron ii ukash vardan anthony veena jacy walls deepti sai agapa nene michelle badalov micah barker eric bedoya villalobos caitlyn chan daniel tchatkowski chloe chick jack delott jaden fisher monique furman georgie gagwa hayden gantt sarah garrido perez ethan gah joseph harvey matthew harvey trent henderson cameron hirschout frida ibarra gonzalez katrin ishan color nicole kiefer joseph kim kira king dugiel lee catherine lindsau emily lou eric lou jessica maher joav
033malka [Music] christopher we conan pan luke panchezin katie park angel partoism jocelyn silk emily simon jordan strussener miles sulkin max sun govind swamy nathan akash tanjour jason terwilliger nithelen the rumor rugen natalia thorndyke daniel tolchinsky brianna wisniewski gordon shu heather acuna noah briere daniel brynn bhai nagari jade kardashian jaclyn chen justin chen cheyenne collier michael crawford luis gonzalez you mean kim amelia landau melissa liu andrew miller grant miller ellison oh nicoth rau emily rodriguez gabrielle ruiz sorry gabriel ruiz abby schunamen daniel sao lazarus smithell lexiona smithell jaden paisle schuyler paisle daniel trager stephen weiner rachel weisberg grace weezer farage shaw [Music] [Applause] all right before we get to uh we have a couple more things to take care of tonight i do have an announcement that i need to make uh due to the weather
034outside normally we would have you meet your families outside but tonight due to the weather graduates will be released from the arena concourse and we are going to go out those back two doors once you can of course hang around and say hello you can go out those back two doors once you get out there we'll help you find your way upon you're going to go to the concourse families stay in the concourse your students will come up there you will meet in the concourse and then you can exit the arena okay so now comes the best part of the night you're all wearing a tassel on your hat many of you have spent most of today trying to decide which side it should be on well right now it should be on the right
035and i want you to grab a hold of that tassel and move it to the left and with that motion you are officially [Applause] graduates congratulations class of 2021 [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] okay where you can didn't go you