Good evening Dr. Milaschewski, Principal Callanan, members of the School Committee, faculty, staff, family, friends, and most importantly, my fellow graduates of the Class of 2025.
My name is Justin Raimo, and I have had the pleasure of serving as your Class President these past four years. Before I begin, I would like to thank our families, friends, and teachers for helping us reach this incredible milestone. We could not have done any of this without all of your support and guidance.
When I first started thinking about this speech, I browsed through numerous stories, trying to find one that best encapsulates our time at RMHS. I finally came across The Bundle of Sticks from Aesop’s Fables. It’s a story of a father who had several sons who were always arguing and fighting amongst themselves. No matter what the father said, they refused to listen to his advice and remained divided.
One day, he called his sons together and gave each of them a single stick, asking them to break it. Each son snapped his stick easily. Then, the father took a bundle of sticks, tied them together, and asked the sons to break the entire bundle at once. No matter how hard they tried, they could not break the bundle. The father said:
“See, my sons, if you stand alone, you can be broken easily. But if you stand united like these sticks tied together, no one can defeat you.”
Unity makes us stronger, and we become a force when we work together and stand as one. We can find this father’s message everywhere throughout our four years at RMHS. Our united school community is evident when we help each other with difficult homework, when we pick each other up during tough days, when teams work together on tracks, fields, pools, and courses across New England, and when our many performing arts groups collaborate to form masterpieces.
Without the collective efforts of everyone working together, we would not have achieved anything we are here celebrating today. This includes, but is not limited to, our field hockey, lacrosse, and cross country teams winning state championships, the RMHS Drama Club making state semi finals at METG Drama Fest two years in a row, our football team making the state semifinals this year, our baseball, softball, and lacrosse teams recently winning the Middlesex League championships, our boys track team winning the Division 3 State Relays a few weeks ago, the RMHS Choirs being awarded a silver medal at MICCA, our bands winning many gold medals at various competitions, our DECA chapter qualifying for state and international competitions for the first time in school history this past year, our award winning robotics team, and, most importantly, all of us graduating here today.
None of these accomplishments could have happened without collaboration and teamwork.
As an illustration, we are all unique pieces that, when put together, form the unbreakable puzzle of the Class of 2025. In the crowd today we have performers, artists, technicians, athletes, robot makers, intellectuals, musicians, and so many more.
Over the past few years, multiple teachers have told me that it isn’t until the end of senior year — when people start thinking about never seeing each other again — that a class truly comes together. Let me explain my personal “aha” moment that recently made me discover how true this is.
Although some of our questionable art had to be hosed off before school the next morning, I have never seen our class more unified than when we chalked the PAC parking lot just a few weeks ago. As I scribbled my colors onto the asphalt, I remember looking around and thinking how perfect that moment was. Everyone talking and laughing together, showing each other their parking spots, and sharing chalk trying to find the perfect colors. That was the moment I realized our puzzle was almost complete, and I started to see us as ONE, rather than our separate groups and identities. I finally saw the strong, unified class we had been working toward since elementary school.
On this graduation evening, as I look over the Class of 2025, I finally see our completed puzzle. This is a puzzle that is not getting broken up and put back into the box, but one that’s been ingrained in all of us as the unity and strength of the Class of 2025. Just like the father in The Bundle of Sticks taught us — together we are an unbreakable force.
While it is important to have our individual successes, we are all part of a larger puzzle that is bound by our classmates, family, and community. I will always think back on the puzzle we built together and draw upon these experiences as I move forward.
So, Class of 2025 — go out into the world and create new puzzles, but never forget the puzzle that we built here at RMHS. It has been an amazing four years here at RMHS and an honor to be your President.
I wish you all success and happiness in your futures.
