Only You Can Ride Your Own Bike

"How's your grad speech going?"

I'm not sure what other people do when they are asked to write a speech, but I find it takes way more time than I have, way more coffee and wine than is healthy, and way more stress and anxiety than I ever expected (even though it was the same last year)!

As I procrastinated through this year's speech writing, I reflected on a couple of things.

1. However painful writing a grad speech might be, it's a hell of a lot easier than sitting for exams.
2. AI is still not able to write the damn thing for me!

I finally settled on a theme for this year's speech, my inspiration drawn from a quote from a classic Rumi quote that I stumbled across:

It's your road, and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you."

I thought it would be a great theme for a graduation speech, and here is what I did with it...

Closing Address to the Graduating Class of 2024

Good morning.? My name is Damian Bacchoo, I’m the high school principal for the class of 2024, and I am honoured to have the closing words today.

Now, before we go any further, graduates, you have an important task to perform because behind you are your parents and loved ones. Two or three or many more years ago, they chose to send you for a UWC education. We know that this was an extraordinary commitment for your families, and so this morning is not just about you. It is also about them, so I hope you will stand up, turn around, and give them a great round of applause. Please.

Now, when my mum asks me how my graduation speech was today,? I will be able to tell her I was interrupted by loud applause.? Thank you.

Class of 2024 - so that’s it – school’s out.? You have just entered the next stage of your lives.? No more IB. No more Managebac. No more deadlines...sorry...I meant to say extensions.? No more extensions.

But also,?

no more SEASAC or GCs,?

no more theatre productions, Culturama, Kahaani,?

no more links to your local service partners, classes with teachers who cared for and inspired you, made you laugh, lifted you when you were down, pushed you to give of your best – even when it would have been easy not to.??

No more assemblies?

No more Gemma videos

No more Gemma

No more working out “Which Gemma?”

No more Gerald and The Ducksters

No more Tea with Chris

No more dragon fights (did we really do that?)

You’ll never be in another Grand Walk

and

You’ll never be in the room with all these people.? So, I imagine the joy is a little bittersweet.? Especially as I can categorically, unequivocally, and absolutely say that you must be the best ever class of graduates we’ve ever had - isn’t that right, Victor?!

These moments of transition are rare, and we make a big deal of them because we want you to look forward with excitement. The best way of seeing where you are headed is to have a firm sense of where you have been. Every journey starts from where you are.? So, as well as looking forward, please also look back with justified pride and recognise what you have accomplished.? There will have been many ups and downs, but be proud of your successes, especially in those moments where things have been difficult.??

Difficult moments afford us the best opportunities to learn. When I was 5, my dad taught me to ride a bike by taking me to the edge of a hill and then throwing me down it.

We didn’t have one of those fancy little bikes without pedals to learn to balance. We had a rusty little bike. It had no lights, no gears, nor, as I was soon to find out, no brakes either.

With a cigarette in his mouth, there weren’t many words from Dad as he lifted me onto the bike seat, as I put my feet on the pedals, and then held on tight to those handlebars.? One moment, he was holding the bike; the next, I was shoved over the ledge down the hill.??

You know how this story goes:? The bike wobbled, toppled and then fell.? And I cried.??

Ignoring those cries, he strolled down the hill, lifted the bike, and carried it back to the top. He then just waited there, finishing his cigarette, until I eventually accepted that I was not going to be rescued.? At this point, I got myself up, brushed off the dust and grass, and limped back up the hill.

I said to him, “Dad, I can't do it. Can you do it for me?”

And he said, "No, son. Only you can ride your bike. Come on, you got this."

This time, he pushed me over the edge, but he also slowly jogged down the hill with me, holding me upright in my seat.? Then, as we went up and down that hill over the rest of the afternoon (I was not a quick learner), he would sometimes let go of the bike without me realising.? With more confidence and knowing my dad was at my side to steady me when I got wobbly, I was getting the hang of it.

For many of our graduates here, I imagine the last two years of High School have been very much like my bike experience. There will have been days when you must have wished someone would come and take all the difficulties away.

Sometimes, you needed a teacher to show you how to get on your bike, sometimes a friend to hold on to your handlebars when you were wobbly, and sometimes a parent to give you words of encouragement or pick you up when you were down. But now, you’ve done it.??

Parents, for you, this story is not just about how our children figure out that there is more in them than they know. It’s also a lesson in how we must learn to let them go.

Because, whilst we can walk with them…pick them up when they fall…tell them it’s all going to be OK…we can not ride that bike for them, any more than we can pass that Diploma for them (however hard we might have tried at times!).

If we truly love them, we must learn to let go of the bike, knowing that they will wobble, cry, and sometimes fall, so that they might later experience the joy and satisfaction of accomplishing it for themselves.?

So here we are, graduates—the training wheels are off, and now you are on your own.

Only you, and you alone, can ride your bike and live your own life.?

But what will you take with you on your way?

We talk about privilege a lot in a UWC education.? We know that the world is full of inequity and injustice and that some people have more power than others to take action. If you were not privileged before you came to UWC, you certainly are now.?

You now have the privilege of knowing what it might be like to lead a life of commitment, the privilege of experiencing what it is like to change the lives of others, to serve others, and to see how the power of education can be a force in the world. Indeed, while many graduates around the world right now are floundering for meaning and purpose, you have had the privilege of being part of a global movement that can change lives.? It’s changed your life, and it will change others too.

Right now, you might not see that privilege in the same way I do, in the way that your parents do as they let go of your handlebars. But if you are ever looking for your direction in life, a purpose, a cause, a way to be meaningful, you will not need to look far at all.? And that is the true privilege, the true gift of a UWC education.

Because you can not unsee the significant impact that even the smallest of your contributions might make.? You can not unsee the power of being in a community of such diversity, of different perspectives, the knowing that different people, with different perspectives, can both be right.? You can not unsee the challenge that the planet has to sustain itself…to be at peace…you can not unsee how much our planet needs you.

It’s over to you now. It’s your life, and yours alone.? Others may ride along with you for support, but only you, as a graduate of UWCSEA, can go out into the world with confidence that you can make a difference.??

Good luck, folks!? You got this!

Distinguished guests, please can I ask you to rise, and to put your hands together for the final time, for the class of 2024.

Further inspiration for this speech came from:

Gemma Markham's lesson in brevity, as she removed 900 words and taught me the meaning of LBT (low boredom threshold)!

Nick Alchin 's "Grad Speech Archives" - thank you, Nick, as always, for your generosity and leadership.

John Roberts, whose lovely invitation in this brilliant Commencement speech for his graduates to acknowledge their parents was something I could not "unsee".

My dad, who is no longer with us, but who taught me to ride that bike and so much more.

And my mum, who continues to teach and love unconditionally.