To the Class of 2025 by Tom Currie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
As convocation time draws to a close for the faculty of many North American "educatutes" (defined as institutional education) I find myself drawn to the many published and non-published insights and inspirational homilies. I consider what, if anything, could be said to the class of 2025 who, under the current model, will be set to enter ECS programs this coming September.
I submit the following for mash-up and distribution. Having written it, I am left with but one question: How do we ensure that this happens? Or rather; who has the road-map?
To the Class of 2025,It was by careful and intentional design that you, the class of 2025, have been gathered together.
In the early 2010’s a group of educators from around the world gathered in Vancouver, British Columbia to talk about you-- or rather to design a pathway for you to follow on your way to the present moment. Know that we met then with the sole intention of ensuring your success; a measure of your resourcefulness, creativity, integrity, and diligence. Know that we met out of love for you whom we had never met.
No doubt we have been short-sighted. No doubt our preparation has been inadequate or incomplete. At times, Logan, you may have found our model wanting, while you, Emma, have quietly thrived. Where Abi has struggled, Jackson has found great value. Kaitlyn may have found herself in tears while Emily has been laughing, and we could not have predicted the struggles you have had Caden.
But all the while you have been loved; unanimously and uniquely.
If 2025 were represented by a high mountain-pass then consider what we have done over the past 20 years as trail-breaking.
Early on we had to build the community at base-camp who would provide the support, the experience, and the wisdom necessary to go forward safely. They provided the topographic map and helped to plan a route, but no map can ever provide the perfect path; that must be broken-in by the hands and feet of those who will walk it. So we sent out our emissaries to break-trail. With now-antiquated technology at our disposal we sought to clear a precise path through the thick forest to the vista upon which you now stand. At the time you had only just learned to walk.
Remember how tired we used to get? Lucas and Ryan would race ahead and we’d have to send someone to find them. Bella and Sophie would be so engrossed in their conversations that they would stumble over the tree roots. Addie kept us laughing-- impersonating the birds. Then there was the uncanny ability of Mia and Ava to see the things so many of us would walk past.
If it wasn't for Lucas and Ryan we would never have seen ‘The Falls’. Bella and Sophie led so many of us to a better understanding of each other during the ‘Fireside Chats’. Addie made the sodden-slogs fun, and Mia and Ava kept us awestruck by the wonder of creation.
If it hadn't have been for the heart, resolve, and downright stubbornness of Caleb, Jackson, and Noah would we have been able to find Hailey?
There is no question that at times we took a wrong turn. What we knew at the time was that the risk of going forward was far less than the risk of not going anywhere at all.
Though at times we struggled to find each other, and sometimes we had to wait for supplies (often famished, hey Brayden) think of what we learned together.
As Chloe once wrote in an open letter to her MLA;
“As a fifteen year-old student, it is with great regard and due respect I write this letter as my plea, on behalf of my learning-network. Please consider our findings, which we have provided, before you vote on the conditions to amend Bill A44. I hope that you will find our publication helpful in what must be a very difficult decision.”
By the end of each year our old trail will have begun to grow-over. Little trace of our steps will be left for others to follow, except that documentation you posses of your individual journey. Others will follow you-- have followed you and, like you will break off in new directions. The most important thing is that you now stand in the saddle of this mountain pass looking out over the range in front of you, and you know full-well that those that stand around you and beside you can be relied upon to travel with you wherever you may go. That includes me.
When Jacob came back from his Toast-masters workshop he told me his biggest epiphany was, ‘Never leave an audience without a gift.” And so I offer you the original Outline that we created as a small piece of nostalgia from this long journey. May it simply serve as a reminder that from the very beginning it was in His name we worked so you might see the truth: You are the fulfillment of a promise made long ago, and the utmost authority, the Father of the universe loves you and values you as His own.
Now please join with me to celebrate a performance of “One”, an original composition sung live by Olivia, accompanied by Conner, Matthew, Jayden, and Lily who have joined us virtually from their respective music internships around the world.
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