Superintendent of Schools
By DR. PATRICK C. DALY
Superintendent of Schools
Thank you, Mr. Loprete.
Good evening students and families of the Class of 2023. I am honored to be here with you this evening, celebrating your success as we come to the end of this incredible journey after this wonderful week of events and celebrations.
This year I’ve been fortunate to have been able to attend and watch so many games and performances, to watch you win a Superbowl at Gillette Stadium, win medals for your performances, win Cape Ann League and State Championships, and to win Best Musical earlier this week for Pippin! It’s been an incredible journey and we are all so proud to be here with you tonight to celebrate.
As always, I would like to thank the great many people who have worked so hard to make this ceremony possible. To begin with, I thank the parents, guardians, and caregivers who have raised such amazing and talented individuals. We truly have such authentic and creative students receiving their diplomas this evening, but above all else, they are kind and caring human beings who will make their impact on our world.
To Mr. Loprete and Ms. Alonzo, and our senior advisors, who have invested so many hours into the planning of our senior events and our graduation ceremony, I give many thanks. I know that they’ve been out nearly every night this spring at the proms, ceremonies, concerts, and playoff games and they are present because they truly care about each student at North Reading High School.
To our teachers, counselors, and staff, who have shared their passion for learning with our students over the years; I give my sincere gratitude. To our administrative team, many of whom work behind the scenes, thank you for your many hours of planning and support.
To the custodians, food service, paraprofessionals, bus drivers, administrative assistants, coaches, and others who have played a role in guiding our graduates to where they are today, I give my thanks.
To Mr. Buckley and the members of our School Committee, thank you for the many hours you volunteer for our students to guide the policy and financial decisions of our district.
One of the highlights of the student speeches every year for me is hearing the shout outs they give to the teachers past and present and staff who have made a difference in their lives. This year we have some incredible educators and staff who are retiring across the district, and I wanted to take a moment to especially thank and recognize the person who, for many, is one of the first people they meet when they join our district. She is kind and welcoming and projects the best of what North Reading Public Schools has to offer. For many years she has led all of our new teachers on a bus tour of North Reading and shared all of the ins and outs of our community with new staff. And, perhaps most importantly, she proofreads and edits all of my speeches. I would like to thank my Executive Assistant, Anne Lundell, for her 25 years of service to the District under five superintendents. She will certainly be missed.
This year, many speechwriters across the country may have given some fleeting thought to using artificial intelligence or ChatGPT to help write their graduation speeches. If you haven’t played with it, this AI tool can instantly recreate a message or a poem within seconds by culling the Internet and the vast data that it has learned, not to copy– but to create– original works.
There has been a great debate about whether this tool will cause the end of creativity. I sat on a webinar with authors from around the country where the publisher assured us that this would not mean they are out of a job. I’ve heard actors and musicians claim that no computer will ever write anything so beautiful or with so much soul that art created by humans could ever be replaced.
But in reality, and from what I’ve seen and heard, the poetry or short stories, novels, screenplays, movies and more that will be created– for most of us– we will never know the difference. Students and the workforce everywhere will be impacted by this new tool, and I think we should both embrace it and also be very cautious and aware of what AI is capable of doing and always use it as a tool and not a replacement for any experience.
Graduates, as easy as it may be to say “type me a 7-page paper with MLA citations on the themes of The Great Gatsby,” don’t do it.
Sure, there are definitely ethical questions to consider. But the more I think about it the more I’m pivoting to realize that this is actually a call to action for us to all deeply consider what it truly means to be authentic.
I’ve come to realize that it’s not about whether AI will be another content provider of art that will be indistinguishable from what is created by humans. It’s about each one of us choosing to never deny ourselves the opportunity to create.
As many of you know I’m also a Star Trek fan and I’ve often dreamed about how convenient it would be to have a replicator where I could walk up and say “Computer, make me a chicken parm sub” (maybe I should ask for a salad) and then it would just magically appear before me. But one of my favorite moments from an episode is when a newlywed couple is sitting down and getting to know each other over a special breakfast and Kieko expresses to Miles with great enthusiasm, “Your mother cooked with real eggs!!” We can all be amazed with the tools and what technology can do, but we should never cheat ourselves out of those authentic opportunities.
My advice to the graduating class, go to those big concerts at Gillette Stadium, but don’t miss out on the invitations to the small coffee houses where someone just gathered enough courage to take the stage after perfecting a ballad in his dorm room. One of my favorite musical moments of all time was sitting around with ten of my freshman roommates while one of them strummed an acoustic song by Alice in Chains. It’s authentic moments like these that are unforgettable, and you can find them anywhere.
In my speech last year, I shared about the thrill of bringing my 79-year-old father to see Paul McCartney at Fenway Park. For those of you who don’t know, just around the time my dad turned 80 this past March, my parents went grocery shopping in their local Shaw’s Supermarket in Melrose, and long story short, I ended up receiving a video of my dad being serenaded with an impromptu a cappella rendition of happy birthday by the North Reading High School’s own NOTEorious. This was truly an unforgettable and authentic experience for him that stood out, and will never be forgotten. I implore you to stop and recognize those moments and make the most of them.
Handwrite a note to someone. It will be appreciated more than you know.
Spend quality time with your parents and grandparents, your brothers and sisters. You’re going to make new friends but no one will ever replace the family that surrounds you today.
Set aside your devices and look at one another, and not through the lens of a camera.
Run the marathon– but go for walks by yourself in the morning before anyone else is up.
Cheer on the college or professional team at the local sports arena– but also join the co-ed intramural team, or play kickball or Frisbee golf outside with your friends.
Use study guides but never pass up the opportunity to read it for yourself.
Never rob yourself of the experience of writing.
Whether it’s music or movies or streaming TV shows, I believe that we will never run out of content. There will always be more to consume, more to enjoy. Because of AI there may be a change to the business model, but in the long run that’s not really what is actually important. You never want to miss out on the authentic experience of being a creator.
This summer I’ll be heading to various venues around New England and one band I’m very excited to see will be the Tedeschi Trucks Band, a husband and wife team with connections to the Allman Brothers and that rock and blues sound. In a podcast I recently heard Susan Tedeschi describe the bittersweet feelings she had as her son graduated:
Oh they’re gonna leave you one morning/
Oh and it will come without a warning/
No matter how hard you try/
All you can do is sigh/
As the beat of time marches on…
As I listened to her sing “la di da” and describe the experience of watching her little boy sleeping the night before he was getting ready to move on to college, I recognized that the feeling that she had in that moment of inspiration, that is what AI will never be able to replicate.
Earlier this week as I was having a little trouble ending this speech I wanted to circle back to Tedeschi Trucks, but it didn’t fit perfectly, and so I even asked ChatGPT to provide me with a few lines. But nothing I read really rang true.
And then on Tuesday I was fortunate to attend my youngest son’s second grade moving on ceremony and heard all of the 8-year-olds singing along to his teacher, Mr. Turner’s, original song. I’m sure you can all picture those moments from our graduates’ days at the Hood, Little, or Batchelder, and the lyrics seemed to mean something so different for the families than they did for the children singing along:
Where does all the time go/
right out of the window/
you can’t stop a clock/
tick tock tick tock tick tock
Graduations are truly bittersweet moments. We are so proud of you, and of the memories that have been created while watching you grow. And now it is time to move on. You’re ready. But it’s hard to let you go.
To the Class of 2023 — be well, and God bless you.
May you find joy in being your authentic self; and may you always seek out every opportunity to cook with real eggs.
Rain showers fail to dampen the resilient spirit of the NRHS Class of 2023