Middlesex Middle School Principal Debi Boccanfuso recently gave this speech at the promotion ceremony for the “Class of 2016” leaving middle school for high school:
Caption on the Middlesex Middle School Web page: “Standing O for Dr. Bo”
Good morning everyone and welcome to the Promotion Ceremony for the 2016 Class of Middlesex Middle School.
Class of 2016: Whether you are going to Darien High School or a private school, from tomorrow on, you all will be known as the Graduating Class of 2020. That sounds so far away, but it will be here in a blink of an eye.
The theme of this year’s beautiful yearbook is “Celebrate Your Selfie.”
On the surface, at quick glance, that might seem a little conceited. Kind of self absorbed. However, when you open the book and truly look at it, it is a Celebration of everything around your “selfie.”
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— originally posted on the Darien Public Schools website
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Celebrating your selfie is in the context of celebrating your interests, your friends, your passions, your talents, your trips and journeys, and all the places you have been and who you have been there with.
Your selfie really is not about you, it is about the world in which you interact. And that world includes all of us!
Our yearbook staff has put our lives over the past three years into perspective. We all know that at times, and especially during these adolescent years, we can all be just a little ego-centric. We often put ourselves at the center of life’s situations.
In a picture of a selfie we put ourselves into the center of the picture; however, it is the background of the picture that puts context and meaning around the person and makes the picture that much more interesting.
It is the context of the selfie, whether it is taken at home or at school or at a dance or at a sporting event that gives the world a glimpse of your life, just a sliver of who you truly are.
So, as you take selfies of yourself, I encourage you to expand the context around you and, and by default, you are expanding the world in which you live.
The more places you put yourself, the more interesting you become.
The more people you surround yourself with, the more interesting you become.
The more interesting you become, the more connected you become to the people who are sometimes in your selfie with you and sometimes with those who may not be in with you, but reach out to you because of the context that you are in.
Beyond the surface level, the snapshot in time, known as the selfie, gives others the opportunity to understand who you are a little better, and what you do in your free time a little clearer, and definitely shows the world what you value.
While showing the context of who you are and what surrounds you, the selfie doesn’t necessarily show the world the core of who you are — that is what is inside of you. I call that your “inner selfie.”
Although we can’t physically “see” your inner selfie, we can see the results of that inner selfie by the actions you choose to take towards other.
Often our heads are down, checking a text, checking Facebook, checking the new selfie of a friend who just posted it, or something that is not physically near you in the moment, but I encourage you to look up and live in the context of your surroundings.
I encourage you to step out, beyond your selfie, so that you can reach out to help someone in need whenever the time arises. I want you to be inspired to be your best true selfie by the opportunities that you can take advantage of as you grow as an individual in a community that needs and accepts everyone.
At a deep level, I believe this is a class of students who are kind. When the chips are down, I have seen you support each other. When the going is great, you, as a class, celebrate each other. I want you to celebrate each other’s selfies!!
Everyone of you have the daily potential to lift each other up, and I encourage you to do so.
The next time you take a selfie, I want you to look past the person or people in the center of that picture and look around into that environment to see who can you be kind to and make a difference for in that environment.
So as you go on to become the Class of 2020 and Celebrate your selfie, remember to keep yourself in context, look for others to lift up ,and remember to always be kind to each other!
To all of you in the Class of 2016: I love you. I leave with you, and I wish you all the best that this life has to offer you!