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With his characteristic dry wit, senior speaker Will Abbot '09 delivered the following remarks at commencement.

When I sat down this morning to write my speech with my “Seniops” shirt on for inspiration, I went through a lot of ideas of how to talk about all the amazing things that McDonogh offers. Ultimately, though, I decided to keep it simple and just talk about all the great people that are responsible for making this a great school, specifically the teachers and the Class of ’09. So I’m going to share with you all three events that demonstrate the kind of people that make McDonogh so special.

I began by reflecting on the amazing array of opportunities that McDonogh has offered us throughout our time here. There are amazing classes, in which we have learned a great deal about the world in various subjects, but there are also an extraordinary number of extra-curricular activities that have been just as vital to our education.

One experience that sticks out for me is the three-week Spain trip that I went on the summer after my sophomore year. I kind-of expected it to be basically an extended field trip, with a lot of sightseeing and group activities. But the chaperones on the trip gave us an amount of freedom that was incredible, and that freedom allowed me to get an idea of what it would be like to actually live on my own with kids my age in Spain, and I thereby gained so much more out of the experience.

The incident that was most extraordinary is when Jared Helms and I, low on money from spending hundreds of euros on ice cream, decided we didn’t want to attend the 60-euro day trip to Morocco with the group. I figured that because all the chaperones were going on the trip, we would be forced to go. But Sra. Tasher allowed us to spend the entire day by ourselves in Spain without a McDonogh adult even on the same continent. That is an incredible amount of trust when you think about it, but to us as McDonogh students it is commonplace because of the great relationships forged between teachers and students.

I’m sure just about every one of us can name at least one teacher with whom we have a close relationship, one that transcends the classroom and gives us a person who we can go to for advice or just someone who wants to hear about how our day is going. That’s why the teachers here at McDonogh are amazing; they care about their students more than just their subjects, and so I would just like to say thank you to the teachers, on behalf of the Class of 2009, for all you have given us and all you have taught us. We will miss you, and I assure you that we will not forget you.

Of course I can’t forget the most important people in our lives, our parents. Parents, thank you for sending us to this wonderful school and for always being there to help us work our way through the first seventeen or eighteen years of our lives, even when we turn in your English papers late. Oh wait, that’s just me.

Now, I would like to turn my attention to my fellow seniors. It has long been my unbiased opinion that the Class of 2009 is by far the best class in the school, and more than likely the best ever. As evidence of this claim, I would like to examine the benchmark by which the relative merit of every class is measured, this of course being - the Powderpuff football game. After thrashing the Class of 2008 when we were juniors, crushing them so convincingly that some never recovered from the humiliation and shame, our girls put their dominant, undefeated record on the line against the juniors this year.

Now because we didn’t want to demoralize the Class of 2010 like we did the Class of ‘08, we allowed the juniors to take an early lead, building up their confidence because, as super-nice people, we wanted them to feel good about themselves. And so it happened that late in the game, down two touchdowns, our girls faced adversity, but I knew that nothing would keep them from winning the game.

And then came the first of two miraculous plays. The juniors, having just scored, kicked the ball off. Ali Brennan, our star player, fielded the ball and began looking for an opening in the defense. She couldn’t find one, however, as no less than three girls converged on her. As they closed in, she leaped in the air, and with two stiff arms (while still holding onto the ball!) she blasted through the tackle like a superhero escaping an explosion, and then sprinted the rest of the way, going untouched for the touchdown.

After a couple more touchdowns gave us the lead, the juniors made one last valiant effort at winning the game. They drove the length of the field for the touchdown, and were only a two-point conversion away from pulling off the upset. As a girl got open in the corner of the end zone, the junior QB let go of the ball, and it looked like the pass would surely be completed. But Emily Trosch came out of nowhere to intercept the ball and then ran down the sidelines like a gazelle on the Serengeti, taking it 100 yards the other way to seal the victory for the seniors.

It was the single greatest play I have ever witnessed at a sporting event, and the memory of it will live with me forever. That game epitomized the resiliency, determination, and talent that are characteristic of this wonderful class.

Finally, I would like to talk about an event that was a turning point in my life and that exemplifies the character of the Class of 2009. It was second grade, and I was playing Buckminster, an alien disguised as a cowboy, in the second grade play. Philip Smith was my alien buddy, Fuller, and Alivia Pineau was Starletta Silvane, the principal human in the play. Now at the time, the Spice Girls were all the rage. So when our teacher Mrs. Lewis, who wrote the play, asked for contemporary music that the three of us could dance to, Emily Hopkins suggested the Spice Girls.

I remember being less than happy with Emily for that suggestion, because, as a shy second grader whose idea of fun was to sit quietly while no one noticed me, the absolute last thing I wanted to do was dance on stage to the Spice Girls in front of the whole school, when they would surely all laugh at me. Now in second grade I was just getting past the stage in my life when I lowered my head, charged, and head-butted anybody who laughed at me, so the prospect of having the whole Lower School do so was none too pleasing.

But Philip and Alivia’s enthusiasm was infectious, and I soon overcame my reservations. When the day came I danced to the Spice Girls like I had never danced before, and as I expected the whole school laughed, but rather than fling myself headfirst into the crowd, head-butting my way up to the exit, I laughed along with them. And so it was that the enthusiasm of my friends was responsible for ending that unfortunate habit of mine.

All kidding aside, the Class of 2009 really is a remarkable group of people. Since the second grade play I have found countless more instances of enthusiasm and encouragement and friendship from my classmates, and I credit much of my maturation over the years to the great group of young adults sitting to my right.

What I think is special about our grade is that, while everyone has their group of close friends, they are not exclusive groups. I feel like I can hang out with any bunch of students in our grade and feel welcomed and included, and that is a special thing indeed. Seniors, we have grown up together, learning from each other and our teachers and our school along the way, and now it is time to say goodbye. It’s a bittersweet farewell, but thanks to Facebook we can creepily stalk each other forever.

So now all that’s left to say is congratulations to the McDonogh Class of 2009 and good luck to the college Class of 2013! Thank you.