Graduation Reflections

 

ASHER AVISAR
CLASS OF 2026 SALUTATORIAN

Greetings friends, families, and the Campbell Hall Class of 2026! I have the privilege to speak today with the goal of sharing some of my wise wisdom with you. I, in 18 years of learned insight, am fully qualified to give this address. Qualified by my favorite hobbies of competitive napping and doom scrolling. Today, I am going to teach you the most important skill of your adult lives: How to get the second best grades in high school.

Study started on the playground where my friend Noah and I compete to see who can hang from the monkey bars longest. There, I learned to let go just soon enough to always get second place. While crucial for my training, perhaps more important is the line of impatient 6 year olds whining at the two high school seniors for hogging the play structure.

Last summer, I was a sleepaway camp counselor, a noble and time-honored profession for only the most—sorry, second most academically achieving of high schoolers. As many of the parents in the room might attest, I learned more in one summer caring for first graders than in my four years of high school. Important Life Lessons like, the gaga ball must bounce THREE times before you let go of the wall, “Popsicles!” is the best thing to hear after a long day in the sun, and perhaps my favorite, if you cry loud enough, someone else will fix your problems. 

The patience to deal with a group of a dozen, 6 year old boys, all day, everyday, all summer, will grant you the patience to accomplish anything. I’m serious. Take my camper Jonah for example, an energetic boy with an insatiable sweet-tooth whose favorite pastimes include soccer and mess-making. I remember explaining to him:

“No, you cannot have six popsicles for dinner.” “But why?” asked Jonah. 

“Everyone wash your hands before eating.” “But why?” he said.

“No, the puddle you fell in does not count as your shower for the day” “But why?”

I remember being like Jonah. Asking “But why” over and over and over again. But I have changed a lot in the last 12 years. Taller, Much Lower voice, more impulse control, and my driver’s license no longer says Legoland at the bottom.

Other things have not changed: I still get homesick. I still get tummy aches. And at times, I too still find integral calculus tedious and frustrating. 

There is one thing I will never let go of: my propensity to ask “why?” As a counselor, Jonah looks to me for answers. As future college students and graduates, the world asks us for solutions. The older we get, the more we are expected to know rather than to question.

Earlier, I promised you the formula for my academic achievement, it is simple… I asked a lot of questions. But when you get really old, like 25, no one cares who got first, second, third, or last, because the most interesting people to be around are the ones who keep asking “but why” Parents, Four years from now when your child invites you to fly half way across the country to attend another 2 hour ceremony just so you can watch them walk across a stage and receive a $400,000 piece of paper from a man dressed in a wizard costume, I expect you to ask them “But why?”

Ask them why, because in a world where profit and efficiency reign supreme, where we are too busy to question, we lose the curiosity we are born with, we stop caring for others, and we become machines. Be the interesting one… Be the interested one… Be the one who is not afraid to ask… “But Why?”

Congratulations to the class of 2026!


BY AUDREY CHEN
CLASS OF 2026 STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT

 

In Ecclesiastes 3:1, Solomon writes, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” His words reflect upon the natural rhythms God establishes in our lives. Every high, every low, every change, and every moment contributes to a plan that is greater than us and our own understanding. Seasons are metaphorical periods of life that come and go, and this season we have shared at Campbell Hall is coming to a close. It is with tremendous honor that I extend a warm welcome to our families, friends, teachers, administrators, alumni, and honored guests to celebrate this transition into a new season of life. 

As I reflect on this chapter we are about to leave behind, I am overwhelmed with gratitude. To the Class of 2026, thank you for continuously entrusting me with the responsibility of representing you these past four years. Standing here today as your Student Body President is something I could never have imagined. Growing up, I was incredibly shy. Nearly every teacher noted that I struggled to speak up in class. For a long time, I believed that the leader was the loudest person in the room. But through all of you, I have come to a new understanding of leadership. It is about listening and understanding others, which builds connections and space for every voice to be heard. It has been the greatest privilege to serve you, learn from you, and grow alongside you. 

I will treasure our memories together the most. From waking up at the crack of dawn with my roommate Charlotte Gorin to embark on every annual Mexico House Building Trip, to listening to David Park’s unending tangents about his profound love for abstract probability theory every F Block free, to running Haiti Club meetings with my Co-President Luna Jacobellis every Monday lunch, and to getting “Will you tell the bus driver to wait” texts from Becket Morritt every morning at 7:49 am, even though I am not even at the stop yet. 

As I looked back on these memories, I noticed my repeated use of the term “every”. Every day, every week, every month. What a privilege it has been to spend every moment of these instrumental years with the same class of students. Though it may seem monotonous, it is the people we spend every day with who ultimately shape us the most. In ways both profound and imperceptible, the person to your right and the person to your left have left an imprint upon who you are today. 

Many of those "everyday" moments unfolded around a bench in front of the freshman lockers, where much of our grade would gather. Though an incredibly ordinary bench, it was where we spent countless mornings, the 10 minutes we got in between classes, and where we shared lunches together. There, jokes were exchanged, conversations were had, and friendships were formed. Looking back, it wasn’t the physical bench that mattered; it was the people who gathered around it. And perhaps your bench wasn’t actually a bench at all. Maybe it was the tables outside the Student Store, a corner of History Row, or a spot in the library. Whatever form it took, we all had some variation of a bench because we all had each other. And as we move into this new season of life, we will undoubtedly find new benches: in college dorms, workplaces, and communities we have yet to discover. But no matter how far we go or how much we change, the bench that is the Campbell Hall family will remain. 

 

Running our class Instagram account, @CH2026Flicks, has also given me a front-row seat to our growth over the years. What began as me convincing classmates to pose for photos evolved into groups of friends eagerly organizing them on their own. As I looked through the page, I realized those group photos had transformed into family photos, and they were no longer of freshmen but of young adults who had developed more into who they are. 

As I was speaking with Reverend Bull and Chaplain Courtney at Baccalaureate, we discussed the significance of Thursday, May 28th. It was not only the last official day of school, but also the official ending of our high school season. It was the day our “every’s” turned into “last’s.” Our yearbook notes went from “have a great summer” or “HAGS” to lengthy messages reflecting upon our memories together and the futures that await us. Our daily Snapchat streaks became “one year ago today” memories. Our routine Student Store runs became occasional café meetups on Ventura. Our last first-day-of-school sign turned into our last last-day-of-school sign. Brief nods in the hallway became intentional embraces filled with awareness that we do not know when we will see one another next. Slowly, our daily interactions became reunions, and our moments became memories. 

Ecclesiastes perfectly captures the rhythms of life and God’s work through every season. In the midst of uncertainty, remaining rooted in Christ reminds us that our lives are timed with intention and that each season prepares us for a greater purpose than we can yet see. 

And if these past four years have shown us anything, it is that life is short. Too short to place our life worth on our titles, resumes, and accolades, since long after they change, it is our character that remains. 1 Samuel 16:7 says, "The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." In the end, people may forget the awards we earned or the positions we held, but they will remember how we treated others. They will remember our kindness, our integrity, and the ways we made them feel seen, which are the values Campbell Hall has instilled in us, because our internal character is the root of who we are and what we produce to the world. So although the season of “everys” we shared together is coming to a close, its impact on us will not. 

And before we leave this season behind, I want to take a moment to thank the people who made it so meaningful. Thank you Roy Kim, for making every Multivariable Calculus class a little more memorable whenever I look over and see you doing push-ups in between the desks. Thank you Henry Berkson, for keeping me updated on every single issue of the parking situation as though I had the authority to fix it. Thank you Sam Rather, for reminding us that networking is a full-time commitment when you use the Senior Patio as an opportunity to gain LinkedIn followers. Thank you to the wider Campbell Hall community that is made up of students, faculty, and staff—you shaped our education, but also the people we have become. Lastly, I am not who I am today without my family. I am forever grateful for and indebted to your unwavering love and sacrifice. Xièxiè nǐmen gěi wǒ suo you de ài, péibàn, hé fùchū. Wǒ gǎnjī bu jìn. 

 

As we step into the next chapter, may we remember that while every season has an ending, the people, lessons, and character it shapes within us endure. Senior year pushed me to reflect deeply and opened my eyes to the bigger questions of life. I came to realize that worldly success, like grades, money, and prestige, does not offer true, internal fulfillment, but rather it is living for something greater than ourselves, living for God rather than the world. I implore you all to ask yourselves the same questions of who you live life for and the purpose for which you are living. Not just what you will do, but who you will be. And our journey at Campbell Hall is just the beginning of the people we are becoming. For everything there is a season, and what a gift this one has been. Thank you.