Gallery • 8 Photos

LIBRARY ARCHIVE Located at the Randolph campus library there is a past record of the senior speeches from the past years.

“And now… on to speeches.”

The familiar phrase cues a shift in lights, a moment of anticipation, and the arrival of the first peer introduction.

But what have speeches looked like in past decades?

With the near conclusion of this year’s senior speeches, SPA students-turned-teachers recount their experience giving senior speeches. Speeches are a way for the graduating class to leave a lasting memory on the rest of the school. The topic is up to the speaker, but the speech offers a closer glimpse into the senior’s life; some tell stories of their culture, sexism in sports, or how knitting changed their life, but each speech is specific to that individual. A student’s speech is a legendary event, their friends introduce them with fun anecdotes about their life or a silly performance, and the speaker invites their family to watch them speak. After students get into high school they are required to attend the speeches, so by the time a student is a senior they have listened to hundreds.

Senior Maya Coates-Cush gave her speech in November 2022. Her speech talked about the lack of accessibility in the math department from moving from fundamental to advanced classes.

Coates Cush said, “I was really interested in doing calculus but the school system was not built for me to from fundamentals to fundamental calculus.”

Transitioning from fundamentals there is not a calculus class in the math department the students can take. They can only move to other math classes like statistics. While preparing for her speech Coates Cush drew influence from her college essay, a common tactic seniors use for speeches, as filling out Common App requires similar introspective thinking. She felt pressured to tell a story that would make her vulnerable but ultimately decided to write about improvements the math department should make to help students.

A handful of teachers are SPA alumni and were also required to complete this rite of passage.
US science teacher Rachel Yost-Dubrow graduated in 2012. Her speech covered topics such as mental illness, her feelings regarding being genuine, and her passion for science.

“I was really afraid to share that much about myself, so I think I found a happy medium,” Yost-Dubrow said.

Her speech was littered with science jokes and puns that her present-self regrets writing. Yost Du-Brow feels that speeches have gotten more and more personal over the years.. and that’s not necessarily a good thing. She said, “I worry that students feel pressured to have a story that shares their struggles and I don’t know if that is required for having a good speech.”

Things were different in 2002, speeches felt more light-hearted when US Spanish teacher Peter Daniels gave his.

“It was nerve-wracking,” he said. “It’s hard to find a balance between talking about something personal and talking about something that you think your audience wants to hear.”

Every year brings an array of topics, peer expectations, and subtle shifts in guidelines.. Daniels said, “I think the speeches were treated as a checklist item.” Daniels concluded that in previous years the intros have changed from being an inside joke between friends to appealing to the general audience. Daniels wrote about music, and much of his speech incorporated lyrics from “Drift Away” by Allan Toussaint. Daniels said, “What was hard for me was I just couldn’t take a little chunk of it… I needed a different way of how I could say it.”

It was music analysis, “Having big feelings and important opinions were the currency of the day,” Daniels said.

Each senior speech conveys personal opinions on different topics and the process is created by and shaped by senior speech advisors.

In 2015, history teacher Aaron Shulow took over as head of senior speeches. Shulow’s first year was the year Huss was built and senior speeches moved into Huss seamlessly, “It wasn’t much of a transition for that class of seniors since they didn’t give speeches in the gym,” Shulow said. He remained the head coordinator until two years ago when Andrew Inchiosa took over and the next year when Marit Warren joined him.

When Inchiosa first took over he had to adjust from being an English teacher to working outside of a class setting and working with students on writing and public expression. He talked with Shulow when transitioning to the head coordinator, hoping to preserve the same basic structure of previous senior speeches but allow the format to adapt to the vision students had.

Inchiosia said, “There is like a different level of kind of complexity for the conversations that I’m having and like sensitivity, those parts feel new to me.”

Throughout the years there have been new administrators that have different expectations and visions for the speeches however the general form stayed the same. During the COVID-19 year, students had to sit in classes and listen to speeches, and during distance learning, the speeches were streamed online. Warren started coordinating speeches this year which has allowed her to get to know the senior students on a personal level. In the future, Warren and Inchiosia ponder the different kinds of structures they can create for the program. Such as allowing seniors who speak on the same day to get together and talk about their topics two, or three months beforehand.

The lights shine brightly and smattering applause sounds throughout the theater. The co-presidents of USC walk up onto the stage.

“And with that, you are dismissed.”