Dear EPHS Class of 2025,
Thank you for being part of the Estes community for the years you’ve lived here. Your enthusiasm, creativity, and energy for life have brightened Estes Park and lifted the spirits of our town. Your studies and your athleticism have inspired us. You may have won awards to help in your next ventures.
While each of you has followed a unique path, you’ve shared powerful experiences. Many friendship bonds you’ve created during your school years may last for the rest of your life.
There was a dramatic play years ago where a student struggled to envision his future, and his teacher told him that “the cream will rise.” This means that some of you will rise to be leaders of tomorrow.
On an individual basis, it means that, even in difficult situations or challenging environments, the best qualities of individuals will emerge and succeed if you nurture those qualities and give them a place to grow. It means perseverance and positivity can overcome adversity even when you feel lost or overwhelmed.
There are so many directions you may go from here. Whatever you do, you’ll create new connections. The EP school system has helped you develop the skills to take those next steps and thrive. Life is a journey, and learning is a lifelong process, and today is just a threshold of the next steps you will take.
In a 2006 reply to an English class at Xavier High School in New York City, author Kurt Vonnegut told the students to “practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.”
Life goes on within you and without you, and to reach your full potential, you would do well to recognize both and to understand how they’re all connected.
You may have already found the career you want to pursue. Or you may go with the flow, and your life’s work might find you, instead. Whatever it is, you must be responsible for your own path.
Congratulations on your graduation. It is truly a huge step in your life. Be accepting of others. Be open to alternate views. Be kind. Look for the light. It’s out there.
You are the next generation of the future. Be gentle stewards who keep our earth healthy.
You’re ready for this. Go forth and make the world a better place.