Alexis Koelliker's Address to the Class of 2022

The future to some is a scary thought, like you didn’t think you could make it this far. Even with bumps in the road, here we are. Speaking of bumps in the road… 2020. In 2020, inaugural poet Amanda Gorman recited her poem, The Hill We Climb. She stated;

And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us

but what stands before us.

We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,

we must first put our differences aside(…)

(…)while we have our eyes on the future,

history has its eyes on us.

While it’s easy to be caught up in the moment, or to simply be blind to the world around us- we mustn't be lost in the past, but WE must be present in the moment. And if it’s an unkind present, know that tomorrow has opportunity. You just have to wake up and get there. Don’t ignore the pain, use it. Grow from it. Think of yourself as a victor and not a victim. You may see the future as an individual, but we set the future as a generation. 

Marsha P. Johnson fought WITH and FOR her life as a black trans woman from 1945-1992 to make the first modern impact on her community. She encourages us to see that;

History isn’t something you look back at and say it was inevitable. . . It happens because people make decisions that are sometimes very impulsive and of the moment, but those moments are cumulative realities.

Marsha P. Johnson reminds us that we are all brothers, sisters, or siblings of the human race and to make sure this is true, we must force ourselves to be in that moment, even if that moment is scary.  What if it doesn’t work?  What if our generation doesn’t see success in the immediate effort?  I say, “Keep trying!”

Contemporary impressionist painter Erin Hanson tells us that 

“There is freedom waiting for you, on the breezes of the sky, and you ask, ‘What if I fall?’” Hanson then questions “Oh but my darling – what if you fly?” 

To view Alexis’ s speech at graduation, click here: ALEXIS