‘Practice your humanity’: Edmonds-Woodway HS honors its 2023 graduates

It was a rainy beginning to the Class of 2023 commencement for Edmonds Woodway High School Friday, as the school honored its 335 graduates.

“This isn’t the end of your story,” Principal Alison Larsen told the graduates. “Instead, it’s the beginning of a new chapter. You can always turn back the pages and remember that you will always be a Warrior. And at the same time, all of us —  your families, friends, loved ones and your community — look forward to reading the next chapter you will write.”

She encouraged those present to “enjoy the moment” and then added: “The rain adds to your story.”

As in the school’s tradition, the EWHS commencement featured two student speakers — one selected by the students and the other chosen by the staff — as well as a faculty speaker selected by the graduates.

The student-chosen speaker, Grace Doquilo, said the graduates “aren’t just celebrating accomplishments but the potential that exists in each and every one of us.”

“We now know that change is inevitable, and it is through this change that we learn our true strengths,” Doquilo continued. “We faced hardships and turned them into stepping stones of progress, and because of that progress, we’ve come to realize that our journeys are just as important as the finish line.”

She then offered three ideas for the class to consider:

“Ignore your inner critic. Enough people tell us that we dream too big; at the end of the day, we only have ourselves. Be your biggest advocate and know that you’re enough.”

“Remain curious and open-minded. The world has so much to offer, and you won’t see it if you’ve already made your mind up.”

“Fall in love with every ‘now’ moment. Don’t waste your time worrying about the past or what the future holds. Appreciate what you have now, and admire the beauty of synchronicity.”

Staff speaker Catherine Sparks, who teaches English at the school, suggested that instead of focusing on “adulting” students should try “humaning.”

Tip number one for humaning, she said: “Practice your humanity until you run out of time in this life. Art is human. What other species tries to express what it feels, thinks in color and shape and light? Music and dance, poetry, so human. Math and science are so human. It’s our human way of describing what exists in the natural world and the physical world.”

Other things that are human, she said: sports, love of family and friends, and serving others.

As for tip number two, “humaning is not always fun,” Sparks said, adding that sorrow, grief, boredom and “making big mistakes and admitting you were wrong” are also human.

“Don’t push those feelings away with any of the 10,000 products that humans have invented to help you avoid feeling your feelings,” Sparks said. “Greed unfortunately is human and some humans will cash a big paycheck providing us with the tools to feel less human, to hijack our own humanity. And it’s a tragedy for our species.”

The staff-selected student speaker was Gabriella Berhan. Describing her involvement in leadership roles at EWHS, she asked the question, “What does it mean to be a leader?” She then described growing up as an Eritrean American and being subjected to racism and hurtful comments, with feelings of insecurity that only intensified during isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. She credits one of her teachers, Amy Emond, for encouraging her to get involved in school leadership roles, telling her that “a powerful voice needs to be heard and no one can ever take that away from me.”

“For my fellow graduates, I would say that being a leader means that we are meant to face difficult situations in every stage of life, making us stronger and resilient,” she said. “It means we shouldn’t beat ourselves up when we have obstacles to face, because the most important lessons that we can learn aren’t the lessons that come from the classrooom, but the lessons we learn from our life experiences.”

— By Teresa Wippel