Graduation Speech Invocation
By Sarah Kieval, Class of 2011
June 19, 2011

Bruchim Habaim, Welcome to Gann Academy’s Class of 2011 Commencement ceremony.

One of the many pleasures of playing competitive sports for Gann is fielding questions about our school’s mascot. “Yes, we are the Red Heifers. And yes, it does refer to the Biblical sacrificial cow.” I have the satisfaction of assuring opponents that we resemble the Chicago Bulls more than we do the South Park Cows.

Prior to writing this speech, in addition to being told that South Park references were off limits, I was told that an invocation’s purpose is to welcome God’s presence into the ceremony. I can feel the naches in this room, I can feel the joy, the relief, and the sentimentality, but sometimes it is hard to notice God’s presence.

“Vayikatz Yaakov mishnato, vayomer, ‘achen yesh adonai, v’anochi lo yadati!’”

“Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is present in this place, and I did not know it!” Genesis 28 reminds us that God is always there if we are willing to search.

I believe that at Gann, more than anything else, our mission is the same as Jacob’s: to search for and to find God’s presence in every thing that we do. Our teachers, whether their focus is math or Tanakh, want us to discuss and find God in the class material. Even in the case of our school mascot, we mark ourselves apart because we find history, Judaism, and God relevant to athletics. Even without that big Heifer over there serving as a reminder; at Gann, I am still able to feel God while I’m dribbling down the court. Here at Gann, we make it a point to remind ourselves that there is no one set definition of God’s presence—each of us determines our own definition. And over our four years here, we have been constantly encouraged to search for the activities where it is easiest for each of us to find God. Some discover God’s presence in the black box theater, and others while discussing philosophy or playing the piano.

Our class as a whole, however, has been particularly in tune to finding God’s presence. We bring energy, vivacity, and enthusiasm to every thing that we try to accomplish. At our freshmen orientation, Rabbi Baker encouraged us to make things happen—to “fire it up.” Without hesitation, we have answered the call, winning three straight all-school color wars—go Green! We have organized stirring all-grade shabbatonim and made it our mission at the beginning of the school year to welcome this year’s freshmen class into Gann and to help them love what we love about this school.

For us as a class, Rabbi Baker’s call to “fire it up” meant taking on new challenges with a burning enthusiasm to improve and develop. And we have learned, that sometimes it is also necessary to “fire it down”—to pause, take a step back and take the time to search for God in our everyday lives. This graduation represents a meeting in the middle—“fire it up” because we are moving on to bigger, more difficult challenges; and “fire it down” because it is time to reflect on the tremendous opportunities and experiences that Gann has given us. Over the next two hours, please join us as we fire it up for the last time as a class. May we all be blessed to find God in our lives and in all our future endeavors.

Thank you.