My End of Year Speech notes

The Builder Poem

I watched them tearing a building down,
a gang of men in a busy town.
With a heave Ho and a lusty yell,
they swung a beam and a side-wall fell.

I asked the foreman are these men skilled
as the men you'd hire if you had to build?
He gave a laugh and said "No indeed,
just common labor is all I need.

I can easily wreck in a day or two,
what builders have taken years to do."
So I thought to myself as I went my way,
which of these roles have I tried to play?

Am I a builder who builds with care,
measuring life by rule and square?
Or am I a wrecker that walks the town
content with the labor of tearing down?

Rick Hoyt Story

I would like to tell you about a builder. His name is Dick Hoyt. When Dick was 23 years old he had a son named Rick. Rick was born with his umbilical cord wrapped several times around his neck and suffered severe brain damage.

Despite being encouraged to put their son in an institution Dick and his wife took their boy home. Rick was unable to speak or control his limbs.

When Rick was 11 his dad took him to Tufts University and they designed a computer to help Rick talk to his family. The first words that he “typed” onto the screen by moving his pupils was “Go Bruins.” This confirmed to Dick that his son was a lot more alive then most professionals had given him credit.

When a local lacrosse player was paralyzed Rick told his dad that he wanted to be in the 5-K fun run for the lacrosse player. Dick said yes even though he wasn’t in very good shape. At the end of the race Rick typed out, ``Dad,'' he typed, ``when we were running, It felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!''

Despite the fact that Dick was sore for two weeks from the 5-K, Dick decided to try and give Rick the feeling of not being disabled as often as he could. Since then the two of them have competed in 85 marathons (including 24 Boston Marathons), and multiple Iron Man Triathlons, which means that for each triathlon Dick swims 2.4 miles while pulling Rick behind him in an inflatable raft, then he bikes 112 miles with Rick in a special seat on the handle bars of his bike and then he pushes Rick 26.2 miles in a modified wheel chair.

Dick is an amazing builder that has allowed his severely disabled son to experience some real joy. We have all been blessed to have some great builders here at FfJHS. These builders include:

-The Administrators
-The Teachers, and
-The Support Staff

These all are great people who have accepted jobs where they would have the opportunity to teach and build people every day. We thank them for their great service.

These Builders have helped us to have a great time here and to grow. From our first days as Sevies trying to figure out how to open our lockers and how to find our classes – we have come a long way!

(7th grade stuff . . . . )
- I remember being so excited to leave the little kids at elementary school and come here to be a big kid. Once we got here we were reminded continually that we were not big kids we were just lowly “Sevies.”
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- Do you remember our first dance as Sevies? – what an absolutely miserable experience. . . . It is a wonder than any of us ever went to another one. . .
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- Remember the excitement of that first JHS crush, and then almost immediately that first JHS break up?? And then we were on to 8th grade.

(8th grade stuff . . . )
- We started to develop better friendships. Oh, the excitement of no longer being a Sevie . . . We started getting involved in and going to more extracurricular activities.
- From volleyball and girl’s b-ball to wrestling and track to band concerts and science Olympiad and NAL and NJHS to Orchestra to the play.
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- 8th grade was definitely better than 7th, but the best was yet to come.

(9th grade stuff . . . )
- As 9th graders we have continued to build some great memories and have accomplished some impressive things along the way:

Sports
- The GBB team scored in every game they played.
- And, the volleyball team won at least two games this year.
- BBB were one game short of a school record for wins in a season and went to semi finals
- WR 3rd at district – there were 5 wrestlers that placed.
- Track broke 3 school records.


Sci. Olympiad went to Nationals for the 12th year in a row.


Musically
- The Band had 11 soloists who performed at district and 10 receive superior ratings.


NAL
-They only lost twice! Good Job NAL!


Drama put on another great musical this year of Beauty and the Beast.

Choir did a great job this year.
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The “Behind-the-Scenes” Heroes at Fairfield

-However, more important than the accomplishments that bring the recognition of the world we have some great students here who have built people . . .

-If you have ever done something nice to someone, you are a builder.
-Congratulated someone for something they were excited about.
- Worked hard to bring up a grade.
- Invited someone to sit by you in the lunchroom.
- Or, even just smiled and said hi to someone in the hall you are a BUILDER.


Challenge

Graduation from FfJHS signals the start of the rest of our lives. From here we decide if we want to get good grades. Like my mom and grandma say ALL OF THE TIME, “Decide what you want to be, pay the price, then be what you want to be.”

We get to choose to build a life of meaning or mediocrity. We get to choose to build people up carefully, or to tear them down carelessly. From what I have seen being around all of you, we have a lot of builders in our class.

I am grateful for the years that we have had together at FfJHS. Our theme this year has been “Falcons Stop at Nothing.” It is my hope that the things that we engage ourselves in will be meaningful, because with all of the talent you each possess, I expect a lot of great things out of each of you, builers, in the future.
Thank you.