To the Class of 2021 ...

An open letter to the Wellington High School Speech & Debate Class of 2021 and their parents/guardians:

To quote my CPF Jerry, "What a long, strange trip it's been!”

In debate terms, that journey definitely varied from student to student. Some tooled around Palm Beach County and competed at an array of high schools. Some traveled the nation, visiting college campuses. And this year, everyone traveled from the bedroom to the kitchen to the computer. (And for our novice debaters who became part of our family this year ... I'm sorry the experience wasn't quite what you were promised during the upsell you received from fellow students your junior year.)

Your freshman year, it was Stoneman Douglas. Your junior and senior years, it was COVID-19. Your sophomore year, it was ... oh, hell if I can remember. I'm old and my brain is fried. But I'm sure SOMETHING kinda big happened that year.

And yet ... you persevered. You pushed on. You made vats of lemonade out of the millions of lemons life proverbially handed you the past four years.

And we could not be more in awe of all you accomplished.

As your speech and debate coach, I've watched you grow and mature, to take the learning opportunities handed to you and run with them. I've witnessed you work with more experienced students to learn the fundamentals, then turn around and teach those same basics to newer members of the program. I've seen you use technology and make it work for you in a positive way, and I've seen you make self-representation an art form when pushing to new heights. I've watched and heard you use your voice and speak out for both yourself and others around you who have been harmed by the injustices of the world in which they live.

Albus Dumbledore once said, "Dark times lie ahead of us, and there will be a time when we must choose between what is easy ... and what is right." You have already used your voice to address the evils around us. As you embark on new adventures, I am more than positive you will continue to do so, and to make an amazing mark on everything you do and everywhere you go after Wellington. You've more than proven yourself to your family, friends, and educators. You are in a position of promise, with wide open vistas ahead of you and a wealth of experience to back you up along the way.

And remember, nothing is set; you have the ability and temperament to analyze situations and adapt accordingly. Need to switch majors? Take a gap semester or year? Transfer to a different school? Not a problem. Life is full of making adjustments, and you are more than capable of using the tools you've acquired to successfully navigate your future.

Kieran Abesamis, Devaaun Blackwood, Christopher Castro, Destiny Cortinas, Jacob Davis, Leslie Diaz, Emma Gherlan, Maddie Kaplan, Jakob Lefkowitz, Fairus Lopez, Noah Lopez, Liam MacMahon, Madison Mason, Matthew McGann, Daniel Melton, Gonzalo Pardo Zambrano, Nicholas Raney, and Jenalyn Spies ... thank you for everything. I'm glad I had the opportunity to meet with each of you individually the past week, to present to you the various accolades you have earned the past two years, as well as your college-colored Red Dawn Debaters polos, to talk with you and your family members, and to bring some semblance of "closure" to the most awkward and frustrating 15-month period of our lives (individually and collectively).

Class of 2021 - It has been an honor and a privilege to be part of your world.