Upper School faculty and the graduating Class of 2025 elected Lafayette College-bound senior Kees Keiper to deliver this year's Commencement speech. Read it below!

First, thank you to the Senior class and the staff for picking me, thanks to everyone in this room for not only being here, but shaping me.

Ok. I’ve never been able to make an omelet. Over this year's JST I took some time out of each day to attempt it, but it always came out scrambled. There’s something so difficult about making sure to stay patient as you slowly distribute the egg evenly, all the while being prepared to fold the dish at just the right time – hopefully not failing like me. If I had a pan I’d show you just how hard it is! It’s one of two things I could never accomplish in my long and arduous Roycemore career; with my other finally being set in stone towards the middle of this year's Senior Sunset event.

I still remember it pretty well, it was about 7:15 pm and our little group was split into two sides of the beach: one remained on solid ground – which personally was my preference – while the other decided to venture to the top of one of the two big white chairs. And, I’ll admit, despite the great divide I still was having fun, it just didn’t feel like a Senior Sunset at that point; it was more like a hangout between two teams that had worked together once or twice, but were too scared to become a singular collective; it was a group of peers, but it didn’t really feel like a class.

That was until someone – I think it was Ms. McGuire – decided to take a plunge into the scarily cold water. And at that moment, something ignited in each of the class of 2025’s genetic code. All at once, everyone began flocking near the water, either getting in, watching wearily from the sidelines, or snapping a quick picture of the clear and sunless sky.

At this moment, watching everyone return 60% of their body from where it came from, I recalled hearing from a few people that as you leave a place you’re supposed to attempt to justify it. To slowly become more mad at the idea of it until you can’t stand it anymore. I thought that this would happen with Roycemore eventually, that there’d be one day where I look at the school and all I feel is a primal urge to walk inside, set up tens of thousands of catapults, and have them throw rocks at all the windows. Or something along those lines. But, as I was launched out of the canon of inevitability, and the wall of graduating slowly began to look bigger the closer I got, there was never a moment where I truly wanted to look back at my classmates and just flip them all off. And even though I can’t speak for all my peers, I’d like to think they feel the same way.

So, as I watched the Seniors make quick quips about it “not being that cold” or egging on Marko to take a brisk dip into the water (which he did do), I finally realized, that no matter how hard I try, despite me becoming increasingly annoyed at the tiniest things – like emails being sent a day or two before an event or the awkward silence that occurs after Dr. Dudek reads the last announcement in our homeroom and begrudgingly asks: “any other announcements?” – despite it all, I cannot resent this school. With that – in the span of just a few seconds, another badge was added to my sash of Roycemore failures, and as I walk across that stage, with tears possibly in my eyes, know that no matter how hard Roycemore tries, Seniors can fail too.

All that being said, to the Juniors: get ready to fail just like us, and hey, maybe next year you can do a senior prank, we never really got around to it; To the sophomores: good luck, while I’m sure everything will be okay, your Junior year may feel like two; to the Freshmen, though we didn’t speak too much, you’re a great bunch of kids, and the lil Char franchise really is going somewhere.

Finally, to everyone in this room, I want you to remember this: As Lucy becomes an incredible mortician; Will codes to his heart's content; Oleksandr, Eleanore and Marko create some crazy physics designs; Henry finds himself on the receiving end of a client's issues, helping them with style and grace; Dave, Keira, Matthew, and Krishna find some incredible new way to help the human body; Hamza begins to protect and serve with elegance; Me, Cora, and Bee continue to write like this; Ayden and Mutinda make stocks rise to the tippy-top; Caroline makes cloning look easy; Isabella dazzles on stage; and Leah does everything and more; I need you all to understand that each of you have aided us in our learning journey. Whether you were teaching concepts, giving us someone to be close to, or just staying patient in a time of need, you’ve all helped rotate the pan and finally flipped us once all is said and done. What I’m trying to say is: you've accomplished something I could never have done in all my years of Roycemore: You’ve created some incredible omelets, and I think I speak for all of us when I say; “we can’t wait to be served.”