Class of 2020!

I didn’t have the opportunity to see you this week as you pick up diploma folders, don and doff cap and gowns, line up your decorated cars, strike a fabulous pose, and dance through your awsome Class of 2020 signs on the Commons.

Sadly, a significant back injury is slowing me down.  That reality doesn’t make me any less greatlful for having had the opportunity to have met you this year. You have made my first year at ARHS a delight. I have truly had fun working with you.

If you get stuck along you know you can email your school counselors, Ms, Garrity, Ms. Tracy and/or me. if you end up in a pickle find us. We care for you and, in these extraordinary circumstances in this era of COVID 19 the entire ARHS school community is rooting for you. Do not ever hesitate to come back and ask for help.

Here’s a poem my advisor stuck in my sweaty palm nearly thrity eight years ago at my own high school graduation somewhere off in Connecticut. It’s in my office. Just doesn’t get old…

Arguably, it was a guy named Max Ehrmann wrote it. But that is actually up for debate…

No matter what, if you hold on to a line or two for the rest of your life, you’ll do okay.

Be Well.

With  Great Care,

Your Friendly Neighborhood College & Career Advisor – Ms. Cuffee-Gray 

DESIDERATA

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.

And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.