Springside Graduate: "Our Show Has Only Just Begun"

A blue and green banner that read ‘2011’ hung behind the graduates at Wednesday’s commencement of the.

Nicole Volgraf, who gave the first Senior Comment for the Class of 2011, explained that the colors were chosen together, the students duscussed and length and agreed together to have a blue and green banner.

The harmony among the 52 students of the senior class of Springside was a common theme among the speakers at the commencement.

“As this class continues to reach forward to the great adventure that lies ahead, they never failed to reach behind for each other, so that the journey you have made as a class, you have made together,” said Priscilla Sands, Head of School, in her opening remarks.

Of the 52 graduates, 10 graduated cum laude. Sands also counted off the eight students who have been at Springside since pre-K, and 15 more who have been there since kindergarten.

Amanda Culp, who was one of the lifetime Springside students, as well as a cum laude graduate, gave the second senior comment. She spoke of the good memories and bad fortunes she and her classmates have had during their 14 years as Springside students.

“If you ask any one of the girls on this stage which is the best class to walk these halls, we would undoubtedly say, well, we are,” Culp said. “We’ve truly blossomed as individuals and as a class thanks to this community.”

And to show their gratitude to that community the seniors announced their class gift to Springside, a curtain for the stage of the newly renovated Upper School auditorium, for which parents and family of the senior class raised $51,000.

As the young women of Springside graduated, and faced new and different futures, so does Springside itself.

Sands commented on the future of the school in her remarks.

“As and Springside merge, we are preparing for something new and exponentially better. We encourage you to the same,” Sands told the graduates.

The students will face those futures with lessons from 14 years at Springside, from teachers and faculty, from their classmates, and from Volgrof, who outlined in her comments six life lessons that she took from songs throughout her lifetime. From “Baby Got Back” to Fergie’s rendition of “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” the songs, she said, cataloauge the lessons of her life.

“Time goes on. And with time, new songs will be released; new lessons will be learned,” said Volgrof.

She concluded her speech, “Don’t take your bow now, girls, our show has only just begun.”