Celebrating the Class of 2024: Your Actions Are Contagious

Perfect weather, a well-orchestrated weekend of activities, and a commencement ceremony that was a splendid mix of happy, emotional, funny, and serious surrounded the Class of 2024 as we celebrated their class alongside family, friends, alumni, and guests. 

 

Stewarding a community like Proctor is never the task of an individual, but rather the responsibility of all those whose lives intersect the school. This weekend’s celebration of the Class of 2024 at Proctor’s 176th Commencement exercises was a reminder of how the collective work of everyone in the Proctor community, past and present, shapes Proctor into the perfectly imperfect school it is today. 

Weekends like this accelerate once they begin. We know the schedule ahead of time. We know it will be busy as we dance from one event to another. But without fail the final 72 hours of the school year transpire in a blur. Beginning with the senior class trip on Thursday afternoon, the Class of 2024 spent their final hours at Proctor together laughing, reminiscing, and soaking up their final sunsets. Bittersweet walks around campus, late night talks with roommates, and, of course, final runs across the street to JJ’s for a sandwich are squeezed in between Friday’s Senior Breakfast served by the Admin team, graduation rehearsal and Senior Dinner and Awards Night. 

Once the wheels were set in motion on this year’s commencement, however, the celebration that unfolded was an absolutely perfect weekend made possible not only by blue skies and temperatures in the 80s, but by tireless work behind the scenes by our Advancement Team (organizing, registering, and setting up/tearing down), a perfectly manicured and clean campus (our Facilities and Housekeeping Teams), delicious food (Dining Services Team), and production of events (by Productions, Inc. and our Communications Team). After introductions by Head of School Brian Thomas, Board Chair Travis Warren ‘91, and Assistant Head of School Alisa Barnard, we transitioned into three student speeches. 

Salutatorian Brice Bendixsen ‘24 kicked off three student speeches by beautifully weaving Proctor’s motto “Live to Learn. Learn to Live.” into his own Proctor experience, reminiscing that each and every time he sought to learn something new, a faculty member eagerly jumped into action to support him. 

Senior Speaker Will Lunder ‘24 brought his unparalleled energy and sense of humor to the stage as Senior Speaker. Voted on by his classmates to deliver the address, Will poked fun at our shortcomings as an administration, the memorable challenges that the Class of 2024 had to navigate, highlighted by endless quarantines and Phase 1 lockdowns during their COVID-19 freshman year. He fittingly ended his speech with an encouragement to all of us to: “Live. Laugh. Lunder!”

Valedictorian Carly Solomon ‘24 reflected on her four years at Proctor, her academic drive, and the tenuous balance of pursuing both connection with others and meeting academic achievement pressures she placed upon herself, a balance she eventually found, but in retrospect wished she could have altered earlier in her time at Proctor. 

Following student speeches, Commencement speaker Dr. Stephen Alli ‘09 shared a powerful address to the more than one thousand in attendance. Currently the Director of Professional Development for the University of Florida Athletics, Dr. Alli ‘09 shared lessons from his time as an athlete and professional mental health expert. Speaking directly to the graduates (a refreshing approach for a commencement speaker), he implored the class to keep three actions front of mind as they stepped into the real world: seize your opportunities, find your balance, and know that your actions are contagious. 

Awards and the distribution of diplomas closed out the ceremony, including a traditional Lakota feather tying ceremony for graduating senior Yamni White Hat ‘24 by his father, JR White Hat ‘00 and John Around Him. 

As campus quickly quieted down, we reflected on the past four years that the Class of 2024 was a part of our lives. High school is hard work. Not just the academic courses and challenges faced on the athletic fields or stage or studio, but the life part. The concept of growing up, of emerging from a global pandemic and a disrupted world into the vastness that lies before this year’s graduates can feel overwhelming, but as Dr. Alli ‘09 challenged us, we have a say in how things unfold. When so much of the world feels as though it is spinning out of control, we have the opportunity to grab the wheel, and to steer ourselves and our communities toward a better future. That is our challenge and our opportunity. Let us move ourselves and this remarkable school we love toward something even better. 

Check out more photos from Commencement 2024 Here!