Good morning everyone. I would just like to start out by congratulating my classmates on this amazing achievement, and by thanking the administrators, teachers and staff who have made this all possible. It is truly an honor to be standing here today, speaking in front of you all.

I have a little anecdote that I want to share with you. In my sophomore year, I was in class with Mr. Codella, when on some answer key he had put a little shadow under the box on the answer key. I don’t know why, it was actually pretty silly, but I started doing the same thing.

The next year, I saw that Mr. Lindley liked to doodle on his answer key, and I ended up copying that too. When I started physics my senior year, Mr. Schembari noticed these two little details, and asked me why I did them. I didn’t really know why I did it, but I explained that I took after a few of my
teachers. He responded with the question, “what are you going to take from me?” I thought a lot about this question, and it made me think about what attributes or traits that I have gotten from other teachers.

It could be the rigorous work ethic from Mrs. Battema, or the bubbling attitude that Mr. Schleifer brought with him to every class. I thought about how amazing my teachers have been, and I would be lucky to take just a couple of qualities with me. Here at Pelham we are fortunate to have an amazing staff of teachers who care about their students. Not only staff, there are a lot of my own classmates that inspire me as well.

In this class, we have incredibly talented students, artists, athletes and performers. I have been fortunate enough to serve as the class vice president and president all four years of school. Through this time, we have had our ups and downs, and then a few more downs. But I think that this year this class has truly become part of Pelham. We’ve had WESEF winners, state champion hockey teams, incredible performances, forensic speech championships, lacrosse section championships, all state and American players. The list goes on and on. This class has accomplished so much in the school, and I encourage everyone to take with them what they have learned in this school.

There’s a saying that goes, “you can’t take it with you.” This is referring to taking money into the afterlife, urging people to have fun and live in the present. I’m going to twist that saying for the sake of the speech. I’m going to say, you CAN take it with you. If its something as simple as putting a
shadow under the box on your answer key, or even something as big as the memories you made with your friends. I urge every single one of you to bring these memories, skills, and emotions with you to wherever you go, and never forget Pelham Memorial High School.

Jack Anderson is the president of the class of 2022.