Good evening and welcome to the 2021 Hillbrook school graduation ceremony, the largest event we have held on campus since March 2020. I am thrilled that we were able to create this opportunity for families and graduates to be together in person to celebrate this significant milestone. I know how much it means to all of us to be together for this important transition from middle school to high school, especially the soon to be graduated members of the Class of 2021.
I want to extend a special welcome this evening to the guests on stage with me, including Chair of the Board of Trustees Chuck Hammers, Head of Middle School Amy Hand, 8th grade level coordinator and US history teacher Kevin Jacobson, and Camilla Williamson, graduate from the Class of 2017.
The Class of 2021 is our largest class ever, 56 students strong. Looking back at their Hillbrook history, twenty-three graduates are lifers, having joined in JK or K. One student joined in 1st, two in 2nd, seven in 3rd, seven in 4th, three in 5th, nine in 6th, two in 7th and two in 8th. Collectively, that adds up to 318 years of Hillbrook education. And, of course, that doesn’t take into account this past school year, which arguably should be calculated differently. We have all heard about dog years. How might we calculate a COVID year? Maybe we multiply it by two, seven or perhaps ten?
I initially had written a speech that detailed the impact of the pandemic on this class, and explored the many lessons we have learned from this challenging experience. After more thought however, I decided I just didn’t want to give that speech. So much of this past year has been defined, contained, and limited by COVID-19. I didn’t want their final event at Hillbrook to also be controlled by it. Furthermore, I have heard early versions of several of the upcoming speeches from our student speakers, and they have done an excellent job of capturing the experience of COVID-19 from the student perspective. Their words on the pandemic mean more than anything I can add at this point.
Instead, I wanted to reflect for a minute on another interesting tidbit tied to this class. All of the graduates were born in 2006 or 2007, with the youngest of them born during the summer of 2007. That makes them the first class we have had with students born after the release of the original iPhone, on June 29, 2007. To be exact, there were six graduates born after June 29. Obviously, even for the graduates born before June 2007, they have no memory of a time before this device. They are the true beginning of the iPhone generation.
Today, in 2021, it is almost impossible to imagine a world without smartphones and the many other related devices that have emerged – smart watches, smart speakers, smart cars, smart homes. We are immersed in a world of technology that impacts everything we do. While all of these changes are not necessarily tied to the iPhone, the emergence of the iPhone signalled an acceleration of these trends and created a world with a clear difference between before and after.
Before, I had a radio alarm clock and whenever I needed a flashlight, I had to look all over my house in a million different drawers. Now, I use my iPhone. Before, I used a DVR to record shows on my television so I could watch them later. Now, I stream Netflix – a service that also started in 2007 – or one of a dozen other services on my iPhone or computer or television. And I can watch virtually whatever I want, whenever I want. Before I printed out directions from MapQuest and held a sheet of paper in my car trying to figure out how to get to where I was trying to go. Now, I bluetooth my iPhone through Carplay and follow the magical blue line.
The iPhone has also transformed what it means to be a teenager. Before, if teenagers wanted to get together with friends, they had to make multiple phone calls, in some cases on a landline. Now, they just send a text to the group chat. Before, for all the gamers out there, they used a Playstation 3 or XBox 360 game system connected to their television and they were almost always playing by themselves, unless they had a friend or two sitting next to them. Now, they can use their phone or multiple other devices to participate in games with people from around the world. Before, if they wanted to create a video, they needed a video camera and the only way to play it back was by connecting it to their computer or television and going through a fairly long and often frustrating upload process. Now, they can use their phone and upload a video to multiple platforms – YouTube, TikTok, Instagram Stories – almost instantaneously.
Which brings me to one of the more mind-blowing concepts I recently learned about. I assume most if not all of the students here are familiar with Mr. Beast Burger. Until about three weeks ago, when my youngest daughter said she wanted to order dinner from there, I had never heard of it. I looked at her and asked, “What is it?” She didn’t know the details, but she did know that it was a burger place sponsored by one of the biggest YouTube stars in the world that could only be accessed through online ordering. “But where are they making the food?” I asked. She had no idea.
It turns out that Mr. Beast Burger is one of a series of restaurants created through a company called Virtual Dining Concepts. None of these restaurants have a storefront. Instead, they partner with existing restaurants to take advantage of the natural ebb and flow in a restaurant’s daily operations. Essentially, the existing restaurant become a Mr. Beast Burger restaurant in addition to whatever other restaurant they already are. For existing restaurants, it adds a new revenue stream. And for people like Mr. Beast, a YouTube star and self-described digital content creator, Virtual Dining Concepts allowed him and his team to create a restaurant chain out of nothing in virtually no time. To be specific, they went from not existing in August 2020 to simultaneously launching 300 locations in December, which now stands at more than 600 locations as of April 2021. And they did it without spending a dime on traditional advertising. Amidst a global pandemic.
So how does this connect to all of you? As I learn about things like Mr. Beast Burger and think about the extraordinary changes that have happened since all of you were born, I’m struck by the possibilities that are out there for the Class of 2021 and for your generation. Following a year in which you – and everyone else – has been constrained, restrained, and told no way too many times, I am inspired by the opportunities that await all of you as you head off into high school and beyond.
To be clear, I know that there are many significant challenges that we face as a country and a planet, from climate change to persistent and often unrecognized racism, from mental health problems to food insecurity. And yet I also know that your class is uniquely equipped to see these challenges as opportunities to be tackled in the years ahead. Watching your Social Impact & Leadership projects last week, I was heartened to see your ability to see the world as it is, imagine what it might be, and start to think about how you might partner with others to make the world a better place for all of us.
In the next hour you will receive your diploma and officially graduate from Hillbrook. We have helped you to build an impressive educational foundation and provided you with a set of core values – be kind, be curious, take risks, be your best – that will serve you well in high school and beyond. You have shown that you can tackle any challenge that comes your way, including a global pandemic. And, in the process, you have made it clear to me and everyone else here, that the future is very bright indeed.