graduation

The Lessons We Carry With Us

Posted on by Wendy Kennar
Ryan, age 5, Pre-school Graduation

I graduated high school in June 1994. And on that June day, I sat on stage for the duration of the ceremony as one of the speakers representing our graduating class. 

My speech was titled, “The Lessons We Carry With Us.”

I don’t remember everything I spoke about, and I haven’t been able to find a copy of my speech. But I think I probably spoke about traits and skills we practiced in high school. Traits and skills that would serve us well throughout our lives; traits such as patience, perseverance, and resilience. 

Today, June 10th, 2026, our son graduates from high school.

It’s a day of reflection and for feeling all the feelings. A chance to look back and acknowledge our son’s evolution during his high school years. He started high school as a teenager. He’s finishing high school as an adult.

And today, amidst the celebration and the smiles and the tears, I’m thinking about the lessons our son has learned throughout his four years of high school.

These are the lessons I hope our son always carries with him:

1. Trust yourself. Teachers encouraged you to take additional Advanced Placement courses, but you knew what you needed. You knew what you could handle. You knew the type of high school experience you wanted. (Two AP classes were enough for you.) Continue to pay attention to that inner voice that is so strong.

2. Stay open. We’ve seen you say yes to new experiences, new foods, new clubs, new ways of doing things. Maintain that curious spirit. Continue to be willing to venture out of your comfort zone.

3. Don’t wait for others. Some of your most monumental high school experiences, you did without your closest friends at your side. You went ahead and signed up for the field trips and the spring break trip because you really wanted to go on them. And you weren’t going to sit them out just because your best friends didn’t want to go.

4. Passion matters. Think about the classes you enjoyed the most. The classes you truly cared about and worked the hardest. Those were the classes you felt passionately about. Sometimes you have to go through the motions. But whenever possible, follow your passion.

5. Celebrate your own sense of style. It has been a joy to sit back and see you develop your own sense of style. A baseball cap. A scarf. Bracelets. A necklace. Whatever you wore, you felt confident in your own skin. Confidence, and the conviction not to want to look like everyone else, never goes out of style. 

Ryan, not quite a year old, and me

Congratulations, Ryan!! We are so very proud of you!!!

Oh, He’s Going Places!

Posted on by Wendy Kennar

This is a big week for our family.

My son’s middle school culmination is tomorrow. 

Which means he’ll soon be a freshman in high school. 

When I was pregnant, and right after Ryan was born, everyone told me his childhood would pass by quickly. “They grow too fast,” my mom often said.

My mom, as she tends to be, was right.

High school will be a new experience. And what is new can also be intimidating and scary. Yet I have no doubt that my son is ready. He has a good head on his shoulders and a kind heart. Plus, he and his classmates have done something never before done — they spent their middle school years in the middle of a global pandemic. (Ryan was sent home in March of 2020, as a sixth grader. He returned to campus in August 2021, as an eighth grader.)

Yet, in case he, and other graduating students, need some encouragement, I offer these famous words from Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss.

“You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes. 
You can steer yourself 
any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.”

“You’ll look up and down streets. Look ‘em over with care. 
About some you will say, ‘I don’t choose to go there.’ 
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, 
you’re too smart to go down any not-so-good street.”

“Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footy as you.
And when things start to happen,
don’t worry. Don’t stew.
Just go right along.
You’ll start happening too.”

“You’ll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You’ll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life’s 
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.”

“And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)
KID, YOU’LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!”