Agoura High Graduation Strikes Optimistic Note
AGOURA HILLS, CA — “When I think of all the things that we never got to do, I’m reminded of how lucky I am for all the things we did,” Agoura High School graduating senior Jude Prost said in a pre-recorded speech for his class’s virtual graduation that aired Thursday.
If this were any other year in history, Prost would have delivered a different line to a room full of his family, friends, peers, and educators. But because Prost graduated in a class that AHS Principal Dr. Stephanie McClay called “unique since birth,” Prost had to deliver his speech, titled “The Realizations of Waiting,” to a silent room a week anyone would hear him.
In an emotional ceremony, AHS students, faculty, board members – not to mention Jamie Foxx, L.A. Rams Coach Sean McVay, and actor Rainn Wilson – joined Prost in finding the silver linings to an unprecedented year devoid of all the usual milestones. In front of a rear projection screen in the school’s performing arts studio that showed the school’s football field, speakers focused on how adversity can result in growth, kindness, courage, and a re-examining of priorities.
“Our perseverance and positivity in the face of honestly crazy circumstances will continue to serve us, wherever the journey may lead may that be college, a job, or gap year,” said student speaker Tallula Henderson. “This class knows the value of community as we rally together in spirit to save those who cannot be apart, such as our dedicated essential workers. I never experienced such gratitude and joy to be cheered on to grab a lawn sign, which is now proudly displayed in my succulent plant – I don’t have a front yard.”
“To say that the circumstances surrounding the end of your high school career is unique is an understatement, but in retrospect, you’ve been a unique class since birth,” McClay told the graduating class. “You were born in the wake of 9/11, and you are graduating in the midst of an international pandemic. That’s a lot! We’ve all shared this experience and it would be easy, if not human, to focus on what we have all lost, but that would be a disservice to all of you, and how hard you’ve worked to receive the diplomas you’ve earned today.”
McClay then highlighted the class of 2020’s “traditional” pre-COVID high experience, from dances to pep rallies to football games to TikTok challenges. She finished her address by being one of many to implore the students – whom she called the “first global generation” – to continue being “thoughtful, articulate, and principled advocates for change.”
Las Virgenes Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Daniel Stepenosky had a similar message, telling the graduating class that, “The world needs your participation, the world needs your engagement, so as you leave Agoura, go out into that world, speak up, be heard, we need you.”
Three high-profile celebrities joined the well-wishers with pre-recorded videos. Rams Coach Sean McVay challenged the graduates not to let difficult circumstances get in the way of achieving their dreams, reminding them that “the mentally tough people are the ones who are gonna succeed.”
Jamie Foxx and Rainn Wilson – best known for playing “Office” oddball Dwight Schrute — also asked the graduates to make the world a better place. “All us old people, we need to get out of the way and let y’all handle y’all business,” said Jamie Foxx. “Do your thing, congratulations, 20-20 vision.”
“I implore you to use your amazing educations that you’ve just received to try and make the world a better place, to give back to others, and most importantly, stay connected to these, your friends from high school, because they’ll be with you for the rest of your lives,” said Wilson.
Before his classmates took the stage individually, to pre-recorded applause, Prost told them, “We don’t need to walk, because we’ve already started to run.”
This article originally appeared on the Agoura Hills Patch
