It is often in the most unexpected moments, the ones in which we think we will gain the least, when we learn the most. While procrastinating for this speech, something I and every other one of my CASmates does for every writing assignment we’re assigned—well, except for Callie-- I asked random people what I should write about. I was told to “just talk about the moments that brought you guys close?” Unable to shake my writers block, I started to daydream about some of the times both good and bad that we endured together:
· In Spanish, Mr. Shiner’s class spending the first 30 mins of class each day keeping our English dream logs.
· Or our endless Chem labs in Mr. Boltz’ where in the first 15 mins of class Aaron would finish his lab and the next 45 would be the rest of the class passing Aaron’s lab booklet around copying it.
· Or in Mr. Smith’s class hearing stories that were unbelievable. No really, they weren’t believable. He lied to us every day. Whether it be about a relationship with two twins and their mother, or that he had actually checked our lab binders over the weekend, we figured him out pretty quickly and spent our class time building our bond.
These and many more early CAS experiences which were planned as academic learning turned out to be a whole different kind of learning—not the kind we had imagined, nor the kind our parents might have hoped we were having—but still the ones in which we often learned the most valuable lessons. They have brought us so close together. I hate to say it but Ms. Nesperos said it the best. One class period, when we were on her last nerve, she was trying to make a seating chart that led to a productive class period, she squeaked in her deep voice “CAS is so hard to control! I make seating chart after seating chart trying to find one where you guys are sitting next to kids that you won’t talk to. It’s impossible. You are all friends!!”
How did so many different kinds of people get to become “all friends”?
CAS throws you into uncharted waters, off the beaten path. CAS is the unbeaten path. When I chose CAS, all my friends’ parents would ask me, “Oh are you in AC too?” I would say, “No, actually, I’m in CAS.” They would then awkwardly say, “Oh…Oh that’s nice too!” or “That’s the video one, right?” But CAS challenges you in ways that you wouldn’t normally just fall into. CAS forces you to push yourself and push your class mates into places and situations that are not always relaxed or safe. Whether we are debriefing Jim Wise’s speech addressing white privilege or talking about P-Boss at the senior retreat, we were often made to feel uncomfortable and confused about the world. It is these pushes that begin to shape a community that is so tight knit, that brings so many different mindsets and opinions together in a space where they can interact and develop, creating bonds that are stronger than friends. This approach to school produced the confident, questioning, and thoughtful young adults we have become.
That being said there is no other place that feels more safe or comfortable than CAS. When it comes to a distressing situation or hard day, CAS is there with Vonnie’s smile lifting you up in the darkest of times, or Zaybo’s big embrace, or Grace’s outlook on life. All there, there to hold you up. It is both comfortable and uncomfortable. Safe and unsafe. THIS is what makes CAS, and its graduates, so special.
As I look up at you now, I see the absence of one face, who I sat next to at my first ever graduation from Oxford elementary, 7 years ago, and my last graduation from King Middle, 4 years ago, and in my US History class 1 year 3 months and 5 days ago. I feel deeply saddened by the loss of the presence that Kyle always brought with him wherever he went. Around Kyle, you felt loved, appreciated, and special, but also young, lead, and protected. I felt like whatever we were doing was important, exciting, and fun. I think Kyle has taught us all many things. And if he personally didn’t teach you something, the aftermath of the tragedy that took his life did. In remembering Kyle, we are taught the power of community, thus the power of CAS.
In your future endeavors make sure to find your CAS in the world. Continue to be pushed and push others past yours and their comfort zone, and be willing to take a risk and not always do the safe thing. At the same time, keep a community surrounding you in which you feel protected and at ease.
Kyle always ended his essays with a quote because he (and Edward Norton) said someone else has already said it best. So if you can’t top it, steal from them and go out strong. So I am stealing a line from Kyle.
And I believe in ‘one person can make a difference’ because if everybody believed they couldn’t, nothing would ever change.
Today, we are that one person Kyle wrote about. We, are the CAS Class of 2011.
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