[Grad 11] Full Text of Sean Freeman’s Student Commencement Address

About a year and eleven months ago, most of us in these black robes today were sitting in an auditorium just a few buildings over for our summer orientation. This was our first time together, just us, as a class. Soon, Tim walked up to the stage, and after passing through the normal welcome to your new school stuff, he proclaimed that he loved us. I knew things were different that day because I felt like the only one who was weirded out. That day certainly taught me something that stuck with me for the rest of my time at the Academy. We were in this together. We must help each other, comfort each other, encourage each other, and even love every member of our class. We are a family, although we are a family with an extremely long last name.

This theme stayed true throughout our time at the Academy. I bet that every member of the Class of 2011 knows the name of every other person in a black robe, and even has a memory with them, whether it is doing poorly on a CPS project, winning a competition, or just talking to them over hot chocolate. I’m a weather person, as I’m sure everyone here already knows, and unfortunately for you, I’ve found some way to connect this to the weather. Times in our life are like the weather, and we must stick close to each other similar to how we don’t leave Kentucky because it’s cold one day. Sometimes, it’s sunny and warm outside, and we can go outside and have fun with each other. Other times, it’s the snowpocalypse outside, and we can go outside, and even though it’s cold we can still have fun, throwing snowballs at people and making lemon sno-ade out of lemons that life gave us. And other times, it rains inside. Yes, from the ceiling.

It was the night before fall break started and I was admittedly playing a flash game as a “break” from studying physics. All of a sudden, Zach bursts through the suite and asks me if there is a way to turn the water off to the wing. I, confused, reply a hesitant “no… why?”, worried that someone’s toilet was overflowing or something. After he runs out of the suite, I knew something much, much worse had happened. I walk out into the wing and–in a stunning display of togetherness the Second Floor boys were moving out all of Christian and Brandon’s stuff from their room. It was not for a prank or because they just wanted their furniture moved, but because we stepped up and answered their call for help. A pipe had burst and water was pouring out of their celling. Fortunately, we were able to get all of their stuff out before too much water damage happened but it took a lot of effort.

This isn’t the only example of togetherness from the Academy. Often I will talk to WKU students and they will discover that I’m an academy student. One of the first questions I get after saying “Yes, our dorm is the nicest on campus” is “What’s up with Academy students always being in large groups?” The only way that I can respond to this is by saying that the Academy fosters inseparability, or put better, wolf pack behavior. When we came to the Academy, we were all lone wolves, in our own little one person wolf pack. But then, we started to make friends here, and our wolf packs, they grew by a few. And finally, I believe by today, that we are all members of the 60 person wolf pack that is the Gatton Academy Class of 2011. In a mere matter of minutes, we will get to throw up our caps in honor of our wolf pack. However, our journey as a wolf pack doesn’t end there. Next year, we’re not going to be Current academy students anymore, and they’re not making Gatton Academy Part 2. However, we’re still together.

We will always be members of the Gatton Academy Class of 2011.

If we continue to stay together, making each other greater than before, we can truly change the world and accomplish tasks that have since been impossible. I have no doubt that every single one of us will be instrumental in saving the world: Some of us will make weather models that will pinpoint exactly where and when a tornado will strike. Some of us will be engineering new structures that can hold up to tornadoes better, others will be programming new early warning systems, and others will be instrumental in finding new antibiotics and antivirals that can be cheaply and quickly distributed to any affected area. We can and will change the world, Gatton Academy Class of 2011. We are superheroes, tasked with changing the world for the better. And now, as we all head different directions in August, we must remember our calling, and we must stick together, even after we receive our diplomas and walk our separate paths.