Peter Butera: 'The title of Class President could more accurately be Class Party Planner', Class President speech - 2017

18 June 2017, Wyoming Area School District, Pennsylvania, USA

When Valedictorians 'go rogue'. Class President Peter Butera had some criticism for the way his school is governed. It didn't please the school authorities and he was shut down.

“Good evening, everyone. The past four years here at Wyoming Area have been very interesting to say the least. To give you an idea of what it was like, I’m going to take this time to tell you all a bit about what my Wyoming Area experience was like and the people who were a part of it.

I would like to start off by thanking my mom, my dad, and my baba, who have raised me since the day I was born and have helped me become the person I am today. Every one of us graduating have those special people in our lives that care for us every day, and love us unconditionally. And to all of you here today, we cannot thank you enough for everything you’ve done for us.

I would now like to recognize a few teachers who are extremely committed to their jobs as educators, and have worked to make me and many others, better students every day: Mr. Hizynski, Mr. Pizano, and Mr. Williams. In addition to these three, there are a number of other very good teachers at our school as well. It is dedicated teachers like these that truly help to develop students and prepare them to further their educations.

Not only does Wyoming Area have some great teachers, but a couple great administrators as well. Mr. Quaglia had been our principal for 3.5 years, and was as great a leader as they come, always extremely caring and reasonable. Over the summer, our school hired a new principal, Mr. Pacchioni, and despite the hesitancy that some students may have had about getting a new principal our senior year, he quickly put that to rest by coming in and always looking out for the students here since day 1.

Throughout my time at Wyoming Area, I have pursued every leadership opportunity available to me. In addition to being a member of Student Council since I was a freshman, my classmates have also elected me Class President the past 4 years, which has been my greatest honor, and I would like to thank you all for that one final time, it really means a lot. However, at our school, the title of Class President could more accurately be Class Party Planner, and Student Council’s main obligation is to paint signs every week. Despite some of the outstanding people in this school, a lack of real student government and the authoritative attitude that a few teachers, administrators, and board members have, prevents students from truly developing as leaders.

Hopefully in the future, this will change. Hopefully for the sake of future students, more people of power within this school, who do not do so already, will begin to prioritize education itself as well as the empowering of students. Because at the end of the day, it is not what we have done as Wyoming Area students or athletes that will define our lives, but what we will go on to do as Wyoming Area Alumni. And I hope that every one of my fellow classmates today, as well as myself, will go on to do great things in this world, and find true happiness and success. Thank you all for coming out to this great celebration today.

The full text is also on Peter's facebook page.

Related content: Sarah Haynes, Ravenswood school captain, 'Ravenswood's not perfect", 2015

"I don’t know how to run a school. but it seems to me that today's schools are being run more and more like businesses where everything becomes financially motivated. Where more value is placed on those who provide good publicity or financial benefits."

Full transcript and video

Trevor Henley: 'Live and love life to the full, you don’t know how long or how short it might be', Year 12 Valedictory Dinner, Camberwell Grammar - 2015

21 October, 2015, Members Dining Room, MCG, Melbourne, Australia

Headmaster, Chairman and Members of Council, Special Guests, my Wife Kay, Members of Staff, Parents and Year Twelve Leavers.

Thank you for the invitation to speak tonight and to propose the toast to the Class of 2015.

In 1995, the first of the two year build of the PAC and Music School, I was asked to propose the same toast as the then Headmaster Colin Black wished to break the tradition of someone retiring to speak. So here we are 20 years later!

In actual fact I sang most of my speech that night, to a little “ditty” from the operetta “The Mikado”, something I will not attempt this evening. The then VCE co-ordinator, Mr. Geoff Shaw, asked me to delay moving to the lecturn so some introductory music could be played….so I duly waited and yes! The strippers music was played!

Anniversaries, Milestones, Graduations, Leaver’s or Valedictory Dinners and the like.

Are they that important?

Why do we celebrate them?

Yes they are important and we celebrate them as a mark of how far we have come on the journey of life.

Your birthday for instance, I think most of us would be pretty upset if our day of arrival into this world was not remembered. The day, as little boys, you moved from the Junior School or your Primary School into the Middle or Secondary School.

Your first pair of long trousers, your first school white shirt, the day you turned 18, obtained your license, your first “legal” drink in a pub.

Today we celebrate that you have completed your secondary school. This is a milestone in your life and you are about to take that somewhat forbidding leap away from the sheltered walls of Mont Albert Rd into the unknown. For some of you it will be total relief, “at last” you say, “ I am out”! and we, your teachers, completely understand your sentiments.

For others of you this will be a time of contemplation, reflection, exploration, to take those first unsure steps, gently feeling your way. For everyone of you it is the next phase of your lives, for you to make of it what you will.

As we celebrate this milestone with you today we also take time to look back, reflecting on what we have done and how far we have travelled from whence we came. It doesn’t matter if we are the youngest or the oldest here tonight, we all need to do this and be thankful for where we are at this time before we move on into the future.

The Class of 2015 has travelled quite a distance. Some have stayed close to home, never changing schools, others may have had one change of school, or a number of schools. Some will have travelled thousands of miles to change schools.

Having arrived at CGS how far have you travelled during your time here?

Perhaps these “vignettes” may bring back some memories.

At the house aths, a “hurdler”; having knocked over every single hurdle; gave up on the last one…. he simply walked around it.

One of the house captains was caught on a lunch date, during school hours, with CGGS girls.

Another senior office holding boy attempted to jump a wire fence whilst carrying a radio back pack…a broken leg was the result. Someone else knows the figures .345 quite well!

One of you mistook the cafeteria doors as opened and discovered them closed…. shattering them.

 “Nibbles” I hear has no hand to eye co-ordination, knows all the symbols in Naruto and was put on the “time out bench” by Mrs Beck.

One of you decided that it was more fun spending the evening playing “warcraft” than being at the formal.

Another of you “messed up” one of your peers new $200 shoes!

A certain English teacher ensures that every boy in his English class has “another name” besides the one on the school roll.

Soapsuds, Milk Bar, A—Hem, Hawkeye.

A certain musician, whilst struggling to be at school on time, finds it difficult to kick a ball straight, photographs all his food,  conducts date interviews for “the school formal” and owns a onsie!

The Clifford Head of House has outdone me in the colourful suit stakes.

One of you set off a Junior School fire extinguisher “on purpose”. Another ate bush berries on year 8 camp where the reaction was a swollen face to the point that he couldn’t talk.

There is always “one show pony” and from his early drama days in Junior School, nothing has changed…. at all!!

And one of the top sportsman here has always been too “cool” for school and preferred to be mates with the male teachers.

There will be many of you who will go onto  careers of great variety, and changes of career. Perhaps you will make a name for yourself in the nation or in the world. But not at a Frap Party on tour, then be despatched home!

Others of you will quietly go about your careers and life contributing in your own way to the communities in which you live. But hopefully not with a street name of “snake”.

How far will you travel?

What milestones will you reach?

In Sept 1971, I returned to CGS to teach the flute and in 1974 I was appointed Ass D of Music. The then Headmaster David Dyer and the Director of Music, John Mallinson were prepared to take a risk with me. And it was a risk.

A more inexperienced 23yr old, very young, a bit green, “wet behind the years” you could not imagine. Perhaps a little bit like you, about to embark on the next stage of your life without the security of school.

However I grew into the role, learnt on the job, watched and observed others…..discovered how to operate and perhaps more importantly how not to operate.  

I have been engrossed and fulfilled in my work here at CGS doing what I do best, nurturing, encouraging, persuading, cajoling, moving both furniture and boys around the stage and the school, letting people know exactly what I think! and having the occasional “hissy fit.”

Making sure I never wear the same clothing ensemble in any one week and to prevent members of the choir giving me a hard time, ensuring that my socks match my trousers!

But more importantly making music with the boys of this school.

I share this with you tonight because with determination, direction, listening, watching and learning, caring for others and to some extent the right timing, you can make your way and be a success at what ever you do. Try not to  allow failure to get in the way or prevent you from finding another way around the problem. If failure visits you make it a learning tool.

Some might say I haven’t travelled very far at all.

I feel I have travelled a very long way.

To quote Tony Little in his book ‘An Intelligent Guide to Education’, “Teaching is a noble profession. Teachers devote their energy and skill to helping the young develop into purposeful adults who, in their turn, may lead and change society for the better”.

Where else is there the opportunity to play a major part in helping to shape and lay the foundation for young people’s futures.

Joel Egerton, actor and film director, said in an interview, “School is something you will always remember. It is unclouded. Later events in life tend to become clouded in our memories, school doesn’t”.

I wonder what you leave behind?

What have you achieved?

One career at one school, a very special school, where it has embraced me and I have embracedit.

A place where I have been accepted for all that I am, and all that I do both musically, and in other areas.

It has been an honour to be a member of staff of this wonderful school.

Will you be able to look back in forty or fifty years and have the same feeling about your careers?

To have achieved more than I could ever have hoped or dreamed.  Many people aspire to this, but few attain it. I feel so fortunate to be one of those people who have had that experience.

Will you have this same feeling at the end of your careers? I hope so.

Remember the old saying “ that in giving you receive.”

I have received far more than I could ever have asked or hoped, from my colleagues, from parents and friends and especially from you young men.

Hopefully, we your teachers and your parents have given you the right set up for the future. You in return have given us joy, fun, times of frustration and worry, laughter and happiness in working and living with us.

If you receive, during your working life, what I have experienced and received during mine, then you will be very lucky men indeed.

If I was to leave you, the Class of 2015, with a message tonight, it would be that you have a happy and fulfilling life and career.

Live and love life to the full, you don’t know how long or how short it might be.

Stay safe, but be prepared to take a risk, you never know where it might lead.

Be kind, considerate and generous to your fellow human beings.

Remember that in giving you receive…

“Spectemur Agendo”…..By Your Deeds You will be Known.

“I slept and dreamt that

Life was joy.

I awoke and found that

Life was duty

I Performed, and behold

Duty was Joy

The past is History

The future a Mystery

And the Present

Is a Gift of God”                

(by: Rabindrath Taqore)

Ladies and Gentlemen, while the boys remain seated, would you please rise and join me in a toast to the Class of 2015.

21 October 2015, Members Dining Room, MCG, Melbourne, Australia

Tony Wilson: 'Kiliing me softly with Contracts', Melbourne University Law School, 1995

November, 1995, Malvern Town Hall, Melbourne, Australia

Judge Curtain, Professor Crommelin, faculty staff, guests, students, ex-students, people who have attended lectures for five years without actually enrolling,

I remember when I was a student - young, idealistic, and ready to change the world. Unfortunately like a good many others in our faculty, I was also somewhat keen on sleeping. which meant changing the world had to be slotted somewhere into the early afternoon. Results were not initially forthcoming. Still. a group of us stuck at it for about two hours a day over five years, generally doing our most productive work in the upstairs coffee lounge. If we had to name our greatest success it would probably be achieving lasting peace in Northern Ireland - basically the culmination of a plan forcing Catholics and Protestants to negotiate, under threat of being set upon by Students for Christ.

For most of us, this is the last function we will attend in the law school as law students. A lucky few might have a supp or two to look forward to, but in general terms this is the last hurrah. The first function we attended as *law students was the First Year dinner - or First Year smorgasbord - as it is generally termed by the later year students who constitute the vast majority of those who attend. The Dean of the Law School, Professor Crommelin was doing his diplomatic duties on this particular evening and was sitting at my end of the table. I decided to get acquainted.

"Hello, I'm Tony Wilson."

"Michael Crommelin, pleased to meet you" came the reply.

I was happy with how the conversation was going. After all, if I'd learned nothing else from the Meatballs trilogy it was that I wanted to be on this bloke's good side when the inevitable misguided toga parties and itching powder raids took place. Then I decided to introduce my new friend to Kimberly Kane.

"Professor Crommelin have you met Kim? Kim this is the Dean"

Kim, whom I would later discover has an ability to raise the gaffe to the highest form of art, quickly began carrying the conversation. Yes she was excited about doing law. Yes she was enjoying her wonton soup. Everything was going smoothly and it seemed only a matter of time before Kim secured herself the editorship of the Law Review. Unfortunately, when it came Kim's turn to embark upon some introductions of her own, things went horribly, horribly wrong.

"Shelley have you met Dean? Dean this is Shelley".

Still, she wasn't the only one struggling to come to terms with the new language of university life. My own personal low-light came in the second or third month of semester when I finally plucked up the courage to ask my torts teacher why so many judges have first names that begin with "J". I'd simply assumed that all of Australia's Johns, Jeremys and Jemimas had opted for a career on the bench.

The early nineties came and went with barely a sigh. By second year most of us had bulked up enough to walk upright through the wind tunnels near the law library, which made getting to and from the Student Union quicker and easier. I toyed for a while with becoming a radical, inspired by the deeds and misdeeds of the Austudy 5, but eventually decided against it because of the great primary coloured hairspray shortage of 1992.

Surely the standout memory of second year must relate to Contracts law. Not to the subject matter itself of course, which eloped with my knowledge of Con & Admin to the far recesses of The Clyde about half an hour after the exam. but rather to the complete Fred Ellinghaus Contracts experience. The bad news is that this particular subject, and its eccentric bare-footed prophet had such a profound impact upon me that I decided to write a song about it. The even worse news is that I'm now about to sing it. For humanitarian reasons Sebastian Hughes, who for a period sported the greatest blonde afro of the post-Garfunkel era, will provide the accompaniment. The song is called "Killing Me Softly With Contracts".

We ventured to the lecture

And some were heard to muse

That person teaching Contracts

S’not wearing any shoes

He may have been a genius,

But boy was his class tedious

 

Running my hair through my fingers

Leaving some drool on the page

Killing me softly with Contracts

Killing me softly with Contracts

Ripping our hears out, with his gags

Killing me softly with Contracts

 

The casebook was quite yellow

The casebook was quite dear

The casebook had been written

In the latter Whitlam years

But still I went and bought it

Right from the one who taught it

 

CHORUS

 

I tried to dig implied terms

I really tried like hell

I even tried to love Dean J’s test for estoppel

What tragic inspiration

Made the bastards teach frustration

 

CHORUS

By 1993 the Law Library expanded to have two photocopiers in working order, causing the photocopier to law student ratio to plunge to 1 for every 500 students. Unfortunately these halcyon days of university administration couldn't last, and today students look back on the two working photocopier era as being part of a golden past. This was also the year many of us embarked upon Property Law. If Fred Ellinghaus had been killing us softly with Contracts, it's fair to say that Murray Raff was positively disembowelling us with Property. But whatever his faults were. you always had to have a soft spot for Murray for the simple reason that he was willing to share his slides of Europe with us to help explain the Torrens system. His basic reasoning seemed to be as follows - the Torrens system originated in Germany; the Torrens system has something to do with this course; I'm trying to teach this course, so here's a picture of me putting away a Wiener schnitzel on the streets of Berlin. It was inspirational stuff.

I always know when it's exam time because I start brushing my teeth five or six times a day. Can't be too clean. I say to myself. Wouldn't want my Equity notes to think I’ve got bad breath. Another fairly sure sign is the Motor Market. In swot vac I read it because strictly speaking it's part of the newspaper which strictly speaking is part of the greater educational order of things. And after all, isn't that what swot vac is all about? - Education.

It is amazing to think that those of us who are finishing will probably never go back inside the Exhibition Buildings again. Mind you, it is not inconceivable that the Exhibition Buildings will become a sort of 'Vietnam" for this generation of law student. I know that there aren't too many nights when I m not back in there ...dreaming ... dreaming of the crush for an exam number. Dreaming of fully loaded, fully tabbed sets of notes and of the silent smiling, geriatric invigilators stalking the aisles: dreaming of unstable desks and pens and booklets
and misplaced student cards; dreaming of the faces on the ones being left behind doing three hour examinations - some of them just nineteen, twenty years of age; dreaming of the horror … the horror of....(pause)

Look there'll be home and caravan shows at the Exhibition Buildings. Everyone will tell me that they're very informative and that it's safe to go, but I'll never go back.      [Head in hands] Never ... go ...back....

But of all the exam nightmares to haunt us in the years to come, I daresay there will be none more vivid than the PA announcement nightmare. The Exhibition Buildings PA system. when it is working, basically exists to scare the living daylights out of students who may finally have settled down enough to begin to construct an answer. A typical one might go something like this:

"Students sitting for 730 301 Advanced Administrative Law ... There is an error on page three of the exam booklet - question two, paragraph three ... Would students please amend the sentence beginning "Phil gave the cherry picker to Abbey" to read 'Phil gave the cherry picker to Ainslie ... Thank you."

On the first day of first year law. Robert Evans said to his TPL class, "the study of law will alter your mind. None or you will ever be the same". He then read us some Elizabethan poetry, gave us a wide-eyed smile and struck a pose which would later be made famous by Krusty the Clown. Five years down the track and one can't help but think that Robert was right. Two days ago, a group of us were having a conversation as to who was the best House of Lords judge. The debate basically ran along two lines. One group thought Lord Morris of Borthy Gest should be number one, for the simple reason that he is from Borthy Gest. Another group were equally strident in singing the praises of Lord Wilberforce. who revolutionised not just tort law but life as we know it with his deceptively simple "but for" test.

An ugly verbal fracas eventuated with the Borthy Gestians refusing to give an inch until they were eventually persuaded to the Wilberforce line by the sheer strength and versatility of the "but for" test. After all, but for the fact Lord Morris was from Borthy Gest, he would not even have been considered in the first place.

The people who participated in this conversation probably should be named, for they surely they deserve to face some degree of social ostracism. But instead it will merely be offered as a catastrophic example of a mind-altering legal education spinning wildly out of control.

It's hard not to feel completely, ecstatic about the occasion of our finishing our degrees. Maybe it’s relief. maybe it's satisfaction, maybe it's just that five years is a hell of a long time and most of us are ready to do something else. Nevertheless, as time goes on and alarm clocks begin to play an increasing role in our daily lives, this attitude will no doubt change. I certainly plan to dedicate much of my later life to telling and re-telling long-winded meandering anecdotes about my university days as "the best days of my life". It will be my prerogative as an old person, and I encourage you all to do the same.

As the organ transplant salesperson said in Monty Python's 'The Meaning of Life "remember that you're standing on a planet that's revolving, revolving at 900 miles an hour", As we step tentatively into our post-university lives, one could be mistaken for thinking that the Earth has even shifted up a gear.  If anyone needs further convincing on this point, consider this recent experience in a McDonalds drive ­thru:

"Hello sir, can I take your order?"

"Could I please have a McFeast and a large fries"

Two seconds later her headphones crackled with disturbing news regarding my order "Um, excuse me sir, there's going to be a thirty second wait on that McFeast. Will that be okay."

I didn't know what to say, but I did know that I had to say it quickly. After all, too long a delay and time would be up, and none of us would ever know if I was okay about the thirty second wait. After weighing the pros and cons, I squeaked out a yes, with barely five seconds to spare.’

Thank you to Julie, Shail, Anna and all the organisers for all the effort which has gone into making this evening a success. Thank you also for the invitation to do this speech - if you could call this hotchpotch of thoughts and memories a speech. Perhaps if U2's Bono were here tonight he might have assessed it as follows: "It's not so much a speech as a collection of bullshit'".

Long after most of us have forgotten that a charitable trust can be administered cy pres, we will remember our times at university for what they really were - a time for learning, living, falling in love, falling out of love, talking. laughing, sleeping, recovering and creative footnoting. To the academic staff who face an uphill battle each year to make the curriculum fresh and invigorating, we thank you. To the administrative staff who recently triumphed in having the paper dispensers in the Law Library toilets lowered to eye level, we thank you. And to the friends who have provided me with what undoubtedly have been the best years of my life, I thank you. In the words of that most politically incorrect advertisement for Roses chocolates - to everyone "thank you very much, thank you very, very, very much."