Principal: 'Find your grit' graduates
Superintendent Orozco, members of the School Board, parents, grandparents, relatives, friends, WHS alumni, members of this great community and class of 2015, welcome to Whitefish High School’s 101st commencement ceremony.
From the first graduate in 1914 to this newest group of graduates sitting before us today, Whitefish High School alumni have enjoyed many accomplishments and great successes.
I know we have several alumni present today and we would like to celebrate the common thread associated with graduating from this fine school … to don the Green and Gold.
To our entire audience, if you graduated from Whitefish High School, welcome back, we’re glad you are here today. All Whitefish High School Alumni please stand and let us take a moment to recognize you.
What a beautiful day. Congratulations on your success. When I say congratulations on your success, I’m speaking to everybody. I’m speaking to the faculty of Whitefish High School and throughout the entire Whitefish School District for the great job you have done. I’m speaking to the Board of Trustees, our superintendent and my administrative colleagues.
Commitment to excellence is everywhere throughout this school district. Congratulations to the parents, families and friends that helped encourage these graduates to get where they are and certainly congratulations to these graduates that we are celebrating here today.
I’ve known this group of students and their parents a long time … they might even say “a really long time.”
I met most of you when you were just 10 years old as fourth graders at Muldown taking a tour of the middle school in anticipation of becoming the ever-coveted fifth-grader.
You were wide-eyed and filled with a vast array of emotions: You were anxious, nervous, curious and excited.
Flash forward eight years and now I look into your eyes and I see a nearly identical collection of emotions ... anxious, nervous, curious and excited.
It has been an absolute thrill of mine to watch you grow through your middle school and high school years. From selling those chocolate bunnies, to the infamous history trip, to high school life when you thought you left me behind until your sophomore year and then “he’s back.” So I thought I would share a few thoughts and ideas about something that I’ve observed as a key ingredient to success.
No, I’m not going to preach to you, I’m not going to lecture to you, you’ve had enough of that from me in the past. Today, I’m just sharing thoughts, ideas and excerpts that I’ve synthesized from the findings of Margaret Perlis (contributing writer for Forbes), Andrew Zolli (author and futurist), and Angela Duckworth (University of Pennsylvania professor and Harvard graduate).
Grab this word and hold onto it. It’s a simple word. Easy to say, easy to spell, yet not so easy to put into action. But if you do, you will unlock a part of you that will set you apart from others and place you well ahead on your journey to success. What I’m talking about is grit.
The essence of grit, you see, remains somewhat elusive. I’ve recognized grit as the raw courage, resilience and pursuit of excellence that keeps you going despite obstacles.
Courage
While courage is hard to measure, it is directly proportional to your level of grit. The more you are able to manage fear of failure, the more possible your success. The supremely gritty are not afraid to bomb, but rather embrace it as part of the process.
Courage is like a muscle; it has to be exercised daily. If you do, it will grow, if not, it will atrophy. Courage helps fuel grit. You must have guts to have grit.
Resilience
Of course on your long haul to greatness you’re going to stumble, and you will need to get back up on that proverbial horse. But what is it that gives you the strength to pull yourself up by the boot straps, wipe the dust off, and remount? According to Zolli, it’s resilience … “the ability to maintain your core purpose and integrity among unforeseen shocks and surprises.”
So a key component of grit is resilience, which is the mechanism that draws your head up, moves you forward, and helps you persevere despite whatever obstacles you face along the way. In other words, gritty people believe, “everything will be alright in the end, and if is not alright, it is not the end.”
Excellence
Gritty people don’t seek perfection, but instead strive for excellence. Perfection is an endgame, excellence is an attitude. Pursuit of excellence allows us to be vulnerable and to appreciate the value of failure on the ongoing quest for improvement.
Like excellence, grit is an attitude about seeking, striving, and never yielding. Some of the grittiest people have this relentless attitude towards excellence.
So friends, as we end this particular chapter of life together, I leave you with these few thoughts and ideas to further support your success in life. Reach into your inner core, grab a hold of your grit and unleash it, let it loose, use it to fuel you.
After all, this guy believes the difference between good and great … is True Grit!