Westminster School Celebrates the Graduating Class of 2022

Westminster School celebrated the graduation of 123 students during commencement exercises May 28 on campus.

Head of School Elaine White welcomed guests and reminded everyone that gratitude is the unspoken third word in the school’s motto, Grit & Grace. She asked the audience to pause and share their gratitude for those who have made the day possible.

In his Salutatory Address, student body president Cooper Kistler recapped the Class of 2022’s journey, beginning with their first year, when he said, “We all went from having braces when we arrived, to meeting people from all over the world and expanding our social circle.”

He described how by sophomore year, just as members of the class were beginning to develop their own sense of independence, it was curtailed with the arrival of the pandemic. “Between quarantine, every time we returned to campus and social distancing all the time, our junior year was far from normal,” he said. “A sense of normalcy returned in senior year, and over four years the “class created a legacy that matters through relationships and individual memories.”

Kistler concluded his address with the phrase “dare to be great,” a call to action for students to strive to be their best selves. He urged his classmates to carry the motto with them as they depart Westminster and embark on their next journey.

With humor and wit, senior Sung Min Cho delivered the Outstanding Scholar Address, poking fun at his own sloppy handwriting and poor note-taking, which he said led to some of his best scholarly exploration.

“Excellent handwriting and poor note-taking are essentially feats of inefficiency,” said Cho. “A popular idea is that if you improve either, you become a better student and you’re able to do more in less time.”

In his view, the world is always asking everyone to optimize. But speeding along faster and faster doesn’t always lead to the best results.

“My very best thoughts were born out of deliberate inefficiency; my best growth came when I was browsing leisurely and taking too much time,” he said. “Do our ideas improve just because we write faster? Do we discover the greatest solutions to our greatest problems racing against the clock?”

The address by keynote speaker and Westminster parent Martha Debayle, culminated a year of celebrating the 50th anniversary of coeducation at Westminster. Debayle is one of the most influential voices in Mexico, an entrepreneur, a broadcast media mogul and personal lifestyle brand. “Apparently, I am a super brand,” she joked. “I am not sure what that means, I think it’s like Oprah, except Latin, and I only wish I could be giving you all a free car!” The president and founder of The Media Marketing Knowledge Group, which holds four brands, Debayle has received multiple awards for her work promoting women’s empowerment.

In her address, she told her story of struggling to become successful in broadcasting, and she urged students to start making their own mark in the world. “This is it; you’re in control,” she said. “You’re in charge of your life.”

Regardless of the challenges they will face in the world, she told students they have a precious opportunity: a chance to write their own magnificent story. “And there is no greater gift in life than time and a blank page,” she said. “Your story is not even going to be typewritten; it will be scrawled out in your own, uneven, messy handwriting that is probably only legible to you.”

In that spirit, she gave each student a parting gift, a pencil with the inscribed words, “You are the author of your own story.”

Following the ceremony, the graduates participated in the Westminster tradition of passing their diplomas on the senior lawn. They formed a circle and passed the random diplomas they received during the commencement ceremony until they received their own diploma. They then stepped out of the circle, signifying their graduation.