Rainn Wilson gave the most amazing speech at our local high graduation. A short excerpt
“Most of us have come from money, have some money. Most of us are white-skinned, come from families where there’s been a tremendous amount of success. Most of us are going to get an amazing secondary education. And for most of us the doors to the business world, or the art world, or political world or science world will be wide open for us…
We come from abundance and we can use this abundance to help the poor to help the subjugated, to make the world a better place, we have an opportunity to create jobs, to create nonprofits, to help fund arts organization to help science make tremendous strives forward, and to use our education for the greater good rather than merely seeking personal comfort and personal status…”
Wilson used Dwight K. Schrute’s quote.
“If an idiot would do a thing, do not do that thing,” he said. “Trevians, do not be idiots.”
Hadn’t heard of him. Looked him up on Wikipedia and saw a couple of movies he was in 10 or so years ago. I’m not good at modern culture references. I’ll take it that this was impressive or something?
@knightcub I guess you didn’t watch the office, but he was an actor on it. But I’m just here to say, wow, my kids’ high school speeches are done by the val and class president, I think. Is having commencement speeches by famous people a thing at a lot of high schools?
What a wonderful idea that those that have(or soon will) have such an abundance can voluntarily help others with less.
Others may disagree but I think it’s a nice idea.
Well he’s a New Trier alumnus. Many famous ones over the years. Anne Margaret. Rock Hudson. Charlton Heston. Scott Turow Rahm Emanuel. Liz Phair. Bobbi Brown.
“New Trier has double the money to spend on students than the rest of the state. Teachers are also paid far more than the rest of the state.”
Yes. Illinois finances by local real estate taxes and the average home price in Winnetka where New Trier main campus sits is over one million dollars ( other feeder suburbs have similiar home values).
Well done! Since we know that he was addressing a specific audience, it was clear to me that his remarks were obviously meant to describe that audience’s demographic, even without the exact figures given here.
That being said, many of us in the rest of the country, and even many of us who don’t fit completely that demographic, can take something from it about what’s important.
It’s common at schools that have a number of famous alums or connections to celebrity. I was sorry our son didn’t graduate a year earlier so we could have heard the fun speech by Seth Meyers.
I think New Trier is one of the few public highschool’s that requires those who don’t want to wear dresses/dressy pantsuit (white) to wear a tux!
These used to be called Male and Female requirements but now they just do it by type of dress:
Must meet either “Dress/Formal Dressy Pantsuit” guidelines or Tuxedo guidelines.
Dresses must be mid-calf or longer in length
Dresses must be white or off-white with all-white details (no sequins or colored accessories)
The bodice (chest and stomach) and back (up to where the bra strap would cross the back) must be covered. No cut-outs in these areas
Shoes can be white, off-white, or nude in color. Shoes must be dressy, either flats or heels (no flip flops).
A formal dressy all-white pantsuit or jumpsuit may be worn as long as it meets the same guidelines above
Tuxedo Guidelines
White tuxedo coat with black trousers, white shirt, black bow tie, black socks and black shoes
All tuxedo items may be rented at local formal wear stores.