Lakeside School

The following is an excerpt of a speech by Matt Keller ’26, one of two students chosen by their classmates to speak at Commencement 2026. Find additional speeches by Sonia Patten ’26, Student Government President Gresham Crone ’26, Upper School Assistant Director Whitney Suttell, and Interim Head of School/Upper School Director Ryan Boccuzzi, on our blogs and reflections webpage.     

Class of 2026: It is my utmost honor to be sharing this moment with you, the closing ceremony to these past four incredibly formative years of our lives. I cannot overstate how much of a privilege it has been to see each of you continue to evolve year after year into the thoughtful, driven individuals sitting before me here today. Everything that we have become, we can partially attribute to each other, and thus we are privileged with a unique form of connection that cannot be earned in any other way.

In the weeks leading up to this speech, I contemplated what aspects of commencement I found to be the most powerful. Though I came up with countless examples of what could be defined as the culprit for making this gathering so special, I quickly focused my attention to one crucial detail: This is the moment we split off. We’re all about to embark on our own journeys, to different corners of the earth, with our own goals in mind. That is such an exciting reality, and I naively couldn’t wait for our graduation to arrive  — until the night after our senior dinner.

Once I made it home, I hugged my mother and father goodnight, and rushed to the peaceful quiet of my room. I sat at my desk and frantically flipped through my yearbook, wallowing in the sentimentality of each note. I read the letter I wrote to myself at the senior retreat, then re-read it, then read it again, then proceeded to read my freshman letter twice.

As I flipped through the messages of my GradGram booklet, I felt Lakeside slipping through my fingers with each page I turned. The past eight years flooded my mind — all the laughs, all the cries, every ring from the Bliss belltower, every failure, every success.

When I hit that final maroon page of my booklet, I felt the impossible: The entire weight of the world was creating a dull emptiness in my chest. It was really over.

Eventually, as my feelings subsided, what I came to realize is that it doesn't have to be. While we will never be students here again, we will always be a living extension of this institution. In the next five minutes, I want us to consider two ways in which we can continue to live with Lakeside, while still being fully invested in the next major stages of our lives.

Today, I will be talking to you about two things — one that is personal, and one that relates to your role in the world. Today, I will be talking to you about Memory and Excellence.

One of the most frustrating aspects of memory is that you rarely get to choose what you remember. While you can try to hold onto a snapshot of a great moment, memory is ultimately still part of that dwindling list of things we humans have not yet fully learned to control. Your brain chooses what it remembers vividly — full of sounds, smells, and colors — and what it simply doesn’t.

One of my deepest memories from my time here at Lakeside comes from my freshman year. It was finals week and sunny, and I was walking through an empty Red Square with a great friend of mine at my side. We were making our way to the downstairs of Allen-Gates, preparing mentally to take our biology final. 

You might be expecting more, but that’s it. That’s one of my most vivid memories from high school. It wasn’t my first final, or even the hardest test in biology that year, but for some weird reason, that memory sticks out as exceptionally detailed, even though it was less significant than so many other events that took place during my first year at the Upper School. 

There’s no telling why my brain chose to store that moment so carefully — but the truth is that it doesn’t matter. When you’re moving through life, you don’t know what’s going to stay with you, and what you’ll only get to enjoy in the present. However, concerning those moments that do stick around, you are blessed with a decision. You can either choose to move past them, and risk letting them go forever, or you can choose to revisit them for as long as you are physically capable.

When it comes to the memories you’ve gathered at this school, I encourage you to make an intentional effort to hold onto them. In doing so, you are demonstrating such an easy, yet effective way of showing reverence for all of the incredible aspects of this community that combined to create your unique Lakeside experience. Consider, for example, my simple memory from Red Square. Immortalized in that brief snapshot are: 

1. The charm of a sunny day at Lakeside. 
2. The relationship I had with my great friend. 
3. The elegant architecture of our campus. 
4. The well-designed exam of my talented Biology teacher, Eshwar. 

Quietly in the background, even your simplest memories hold a special power: they can evoke gratitude without the need for deliberate reflection. As you prepare to move on, I ask that you keep Lakeside alive in your memory, silently showing gratitude for as much of this school as you can remember.

I’ve had a lot of time to amass memories here at Lakeside, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned from my near-decade as a student, it’s that this school rarely reminds its students of its own prestige. To be fully transparent, this is not an approach I particularly find to be an issue, but I do believe that there are times when it’s important to objectively consider the position our community has in the world. 

Lakeside is a prestigious institution that has a tremendously strong reputation for excellence. So many of our alums have gone on to achieve incredible things — and though that may seem like a daunting expectation — we all have the ability to do exactly the same. Each one of you was chosen to join this community because you have the capability for excellence. As a graduate, you’ll now have something new: a responsibility to exercise it.

My father has always told me that it takes a lifetime to construct a reputation, but only minutes to destroy it. Although the reputation of an institution is much less volatile than that of an individual, my father’s advice still partially applies to our collective reality. Lakeside’s prestige is rightfully earned through the character of its students and graduates, but by that same measure, it can also be eroded. Reputation is derived from perception, and perception is always subject to change. 

As new alums, you cannot control how the younger generations will carry themselves, but you can control how you will uniquely contribute to our community’s reputation.

You, Class of 2026, will forever be responsible for shaping the world’s perception of Lakeside. Each achievement you’ll make, lesson you’ll learn, and interaction you’ll have will continuously represent this institution — no matter where you’ll find yourself in the future.

You partially accepted your responsibility when you enrolled at Lakeside, and you will accept it one final, binding time when you secure your diploma and walk across this stage behind me. Some of you already have.

Stay true to yourself, and only pursue what truly brings you fulfillment, but whatever path you choose to tread, whatever shoes you choose to fill, whatever it is that you choose to do in this life — do it with excellence. Do it for your teachers, do it for your fellow alums, do it for your friends, do it for Lakeside.

Class of 2026 — congratulations once again.

Thank you for growing up with me, thank you for everything.