Schools

Congrats to Tam High Graduates: 'Don't Eat Fruit, And Stay Classy'

The Class of 2013 received their diplomas and some good life advice during a packed graduation ceremony Thursday evening.

When Tam High class speaker Sander Lutz was about 6-years-old, his mother forced him to try a tomato on a salad.

“I’m proud to say I vomited,” Lutz said.

The senior revealed his vendetta against consuming whole fruit in a speech to his graduating class that demonstrated the importance of staying true to yourself.

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“These are the rules live by,” he said. As they go off to college and live their lives, there are always going to be people who are funnier, smarter or ridiculously good looking, he told them, and it’s going to be easy to get lost.

“It is your convictions and beliefs that will truly make you unique,” Lutz said. He also encouraged his classmates not to be bystanders as they move forward.

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“There is something more disgusting and dangerous than an unblended peach,” he said. “And perhaps more common. Apathy.”

Senior Class Advisor Dr. Claire Ernst also had some advice to the graduating seniors: Keep a list. Not a bucket list of things to do, but a record of what they experience– the concerts they attend, the books they read, the films they see, the people they meet and the places they go. 

“You may think you’ll remember,” Ernst said. “But you will not.”

She also wished them a lifetime of happiness – not made up of fleeting moments, but a life that is “busy, lively and unconcerned with self,” and “punctuated by moments of pause,” to notice instances like the fog over Mount Tam or the timbre of someone’s voice and be able to reflect on the bigger picture.

“It makes us feel so alive and so human,” Ernst said.

Student speaker Veronica Russell also reminded her classmates that they had already come a long way since the start of high school. She remembered being a freshman and feeling scared and alone, and commented on how close the Class of 2013 had become – and the individuality of them all.

With a class full of rappers and actors, painters and marine biologists, tap dancers, bakers and martial arts masters, Russell said she’s already looking forward to their 10-year reunion.

“I can’t wait,” she said, “to hear what incredible lives each of has set up to live.”


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