Boys, by the time you’re reading this, the year will have almost closed for the Class of 2026. It’s been a great ride. I’ve made memories at this place that I will never forget. High school felt long while I was in it, but now that it’s about to end, it’s felt shorter than I could’ve ever imagined. I truly love all of you boys. Now that the final moments of high school are upon me, I’ve been thinking a lot about my regrets and things I wish I had done differently over the years.
As an underclassman, I remember getting into water polo and hating it. I wasn’t very good at the sport, and I didn’t want to go in the water every day. But looking back, I don’t really think it was the sport that made things so hard. Aside from a few guys, I didn’t really know anyone. The hardest part was that I wasn’t connected with my teammates.
And honestly, that’s a lot like life.
If you’re not connected to the people around you, everything becomes harder than it has to be. The bad stuff sticks out a lot more, and you start to focus harder on what you wish you could avoid. It’s a lot more difficult to “get into the water.”
Try to be present and connect with the people around you, rather than standing around like you have somewhere better to be, or being too scared to put yourself out there.
But when you’re bought into the people around you, and you work to build relationships, all the things that “suck” start looking a lot different.
To the guys who have more time here, my biggest piece of advice is to not just show up to school every day, but to connect. And to the guys that are about to leave, I’d do the same thing wherever you go. In every situation, try to be present and connect with the people around you, rather than standing around like you have somewhere better to be, or being too scared to put yourself out there.
If Third Form me had done that, getting in the water probably wouldn’t have been that bad.
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