MONROE - As the Monroe High School senior class of 2017 sat in the school gymnasium Sunday for the school's 144th commencement ceremony, awaiting their diplomas, they were instructed on how to proceed in life - not by one of their educators, but one of their fellow graduates.
Benjamin Dombkowski began remarks to his fellow 169 graduates by cracking jokes, first referencing confusion by reading off grocery items before switching to the reason everyone was truly there: a birthday celebration.
"JK, you guys," he said. In other words, "just kidding."
Dombkowski deviated from well-worn messages, himself stating that the use of "follow your dreams" and "reach for the stars" were not cliches he preferred to embrace.
"You don't need a socially-awkward 18-year-old to tell you those things," he said.
Fellow graduate and speaker Rachel Weeden congratulated her classmates and thanked staff members for their support in the face of hardship, and expressed her own support by quoting a former United States president.
"To quote my favorite president, Ronald Reagan, 'There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination and wonder,'" Weeden said to the crowd.
"We can be anything we want to be," Weeden added. "Hard work is what gets where we want to be. I'm so happy for you guys."
She expressed gratitude at sharing the feelings of nostalgia, which had grown in days leading up to their final appearance as MHS students. She encouraged her classmates to follow their curiosities and pursue their imaginative thoughts and inspirations of creativity.
Dombkowski also spoke to the togetherness of the senior class and human beings overall. Encouraging those present to disengage from the need to own the newest technology or obtain the nicest material items, he expressed dismay at society's "unrealistic expectations" of perfect bodies, which "distort today's youth" into thinking they need to change.
"Money does not make happiness, love does," Dombkowski said. "The future is an unknown abyss. We don't know what's ahead, but kindness is the answer."
Then the graduate told a story about Pete Best, the original drummer for The Beatles. Best was kicked out by his fellow bandmates just before the group became an international sensation. Best became depressed and suffered addiction.
But there was a silver lining in all of this that Best noted years later, Dombkowski said. Being thrown out by his bandmates led his life down a path where he met his wife Kathy, whom he married in 1963. Best had two daughters and went on to live a happy life as a musician.
"Some of the most beautiful things in life are the hardest," Dombkowski said, then quoting famous psychologist Sigmund Freud. "'One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.'"
Dombkowski told classmates and spectators to realize their importance in the world, whether or not they feel they've left an impression.
"If you don't feel like you matter, then matter to someone else," he said from the podium. "Be the reason another person gets out of bed in the morning."
As a send off, Dombkowski told the graduates to leave the humid gymnasium, take large amounts of photos, eat and celebrate and move on in one form or another. But he asked they consider the age of the universe, the finite human experience and realize that "in the end, what matters most is that we had the luck of existing at the same time as one another."
Benjamin Dombkowski began remarks to his fellow 169 graduates by cracking jokes, first referencing confusion by reading off grocery items before switching to the reason everyone was truly there: a birthday celebration.
"JK, you guys," he said. In other words, "just kidding."
Dombkowski deviated from well-worn messages, himself stating that the use of "follow your dreams" and "reach for the stars" were not cliches he preferred to embrace.
"You don't need a socially-awkward 18-year-old to tell you those things," he said.
Fellow graduate and speaker Rachel Weeden congratulated her classmates and thanked staff members for their support in the face of hardship, and expressed her own support by quoting a former United States president.
"To quote my favorite president, Ronald Reagan, 'There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination and wonder,'" Weeden said to the crowd.
"We can be anything we want to be," Weeden added. "Hard work is what gets where we want to be. I'm so happy for you guys."
She expressed gratitude at sharing the feelings of nostalgia, which had grown in days leading up to their final appearance as MHS students. She encouraged her classmates to follow their curiosities and pursue their imaginative thoughts and inspirations of creativity.
Dombkowski also spoke to the togetherness of the senior class and human beings overall. Encouraging those present to disengage from the need to own the newest technology or obtain the nicest material items, he expressed dismay at society's "unrealistic expectations" of perfect bodies, which "distort today's youth" into thinking they need to change.
"Money does not make happiness, love does," Dombkowski said. "The future is an unknown abyss. We don't know what's ahead, but kindness is the answer."
Then the graduate told a story about Pete Best, the original drummer for The Beatles. Best was kicked out by his fellow bandmates just before the group became an international sensation. Best became depressed and suffered addiction.
But there was a silver lining in all of this that Best noted years later, Dombkowski said. Being thrown out by his bandmates led his life down a path where he met his wife Kathy, whom he married in 1963. Best had two daughters and went on to live a happy life as a musician.
"Some of the most beautiful things in life are the hardest," Dombkowski said, then quoting famous psychologist Sigmund Freud. "'One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.'"
Dombkowski told classmates and spectators to realize their importance in the world, whether or not they feel they've left an impression.
"If you don't feel like you matter, then matter to someone else," he said from the podium. "Be the reason another person gets out of bed in the morning."
As a send off, Dombkowski told the graduates to leave the humid gymnasium, take large amounts of photos, eat and celebrate and move on in one form or another. But he asked they consider the age of the universe, the finite human experience and realize that "in the end, what matters most is that we had the luck of existing at the same time as one another."