During Williston Northampton School’s 185th Commencement ceremony, Head of School Robert W. Hill III greeted attendees with a speech to the class of 2026, and then introduced keynote speaker Glenn Jones ’95. Below are his remarks in full. You can watch Hill’s speeches on our YouTube channel.
A warm welcome to parents, family, friends, faculty, students, Chair of the Board of Trustees, John Hazen White, and our honored speaker from the Class of 1995, Glenn Jones. And for you seniors, Williston Northampton School’s 185th Commencement is for you, it’s because of you–it’s your moment, and it’s your day. We are so privileged to all be here together, gathering in a spirit of celebration, optimism, and possibility.
I want to add a special welcome to those families who have traveled from far afield for this proud moment, families from China, Korea, Mexico-we are a global community at Williston. And of course welcome to those watching the livestream.
We have a commencement tradition where I ask that seniors stand and thank Williston’s faculty, your devoted teachers, advisers, mentors, coaches. Before you sit down, please now turn to face the audience, your family and friends, and thank them for all of the love and support they’ve given you along the way.
Class of 2026, I have to confess, I feel as if I have struggled more than I usually do to find the right remarks and tone to celebrate today. It doesn’t help that I just read this week about the former CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, being loudly booed by graduates at the U of Arizona last week for his remarks. Maybe it’s just the zeitgeist of the times, because there’s a lot of conflict in the world, or maybe it’s the roller coaster spring weather we’ve had; it was ninety-five degrees just a couple of days ago.
Reality has a way of intruding on our thoughts, and with global uncertainty, I could not give you a neat, tie-it-up-with-a-bow graduation speech without some verbal trickery. If you attend to the news, you know what I’m talking about. And if you read beyond the headlines, you might get even more concerned by how little attention some important global topics receive. But I’m not going to talk about geo-politics, even though I urge you all to pay attention to the world beyond your college or university bubble-I urge you to stay informed.
I am also not going to talk to you, the Class of 2026, about how you are the last to graduate from this particular space, since it will be a giant construction zone next year. Class of 1965’s Kevin Hoben’s Williston-history-making ten-million-dollar gift has assured the transformation of this space with a new academic center. I am not going to detail its amazing features, cool spaces to relax and study, or how it will forever alter Williston’s landscape, because you will be in college when it opens. (That’s ok, 2027 is right there with you—sorry.)
But when you return for your fifth reunion, 2026, we’ll be sure to have a special reception just for you in the large glass atrium that I hope becomes an academic beacon on campus.
I am also not going to talk about your many exploits this year: the playoff games in the fall, Williston Scholars showcases in the winter, or very impressive colleges you are attending. Your talents and accomplishments speak for themselves, and whether highlight reel-worthy or under the radar, the Class of 2026 has made us a more vibrant and respectful community this year.
So what do I want to talk about? My aha moment occurred earlier this spring leaving the dining commons with Mrs. Hill and seeing a group of boys on the patio. THE RETURN OF HACKY SACK. For those not familiar with this game, it favors foot-eye coordination and keeping a small bean bag ball from hitting the ground, usually played in a circle with friends. It’s everywhere now, as the New York Times reported in a recent story about how Gen Z has recaptured a game which became popular in the 1980s, back when U2 and the Talking Heads and new wave rock were a thing-it had a hippie-Grateful Dead-vibe, but like all good counter cultural movements, it went mainstream.
Today, thanks to TikTok, hacky sack has returned to unexpected popularity; paradoxically, promoted as a way to stay off TikTok. I was watching an MLB game the other night and the Toronto Blue Jays players were playing as part of their on-field warm up. It was even featured on Good Morning America with Michael Strahan, so you know it’s big.
I’m all for the return of hacky sack. In a year where we forced you to trade screen time for face time, you have resurrected a game that has done even more. You gather in groups, almost exclusively phone free except for the designated videographer, and have fun outside, in warm or cold weather, with people you know and people you don’t know. You joke, laugh, and without thinking about it are expanding relationships and building community.
Your retro game playing happens to be socially healthy, environmentally good, and fun. IT’S THE BROCCOLI OF LAWN GAMES. So keep playing hacky sack wherever you go, literally, or metaphorically.
This 80s game revival led me to the following insight that cuts against the grain, as wood workers say. If commencement addresses are supposed to be ones that tell you to “go for it,” “embrace the unknown,” “get on the rocket ship,” as the booed CEO I mentioned earlier told his college grad audience, I’m saying the opposite. My simple message is: Go-Retro, look backwards, find what’s best, and hold onto it. If you like knitting, keep knitting. If you enjoy baking, bake cookies, and better yet share them with friends. The pace of technological change has never been faster; it’s flooding the zone and making it hard for you or me or anyone to keep up. But there are things you’ve already experienced that are worth holding onto-playing hacky sack, handwriting thank you notes, reading, read widely and read critically. A shout out to those who have revived book clubs on campus this year-faculty and students-that’s another form of Retro-Capture.
In this looming age of Al where Claude or Gemini or Chat literally can do your thinking for you, I urge you to turn back the clock and to keep doing what your Williston teachers have demanded of you: writing originally, think logically, discern what’s true from what’s not, and argue your convictions with humility and balance. Don’t allow your brains to go mushy and don’t be fooled into thinking that Al can ever replace human interactions, human feelings, human spirit. The age-old philosophical question, “what does it mean to be human,” has never been more important.
I have been striving to practice what I preach and this year I completely dumped social media-zero posts or likes or retweets. Shout-out to me, I’ve also been phone free on the quad!
With my reclaimed time, I’ve rediscovered the pleasure of reading novels again. I love to read and generally favor history, politics, biographies, and geo-politics, and as a self-assessed slow reader, I need time to complete longer works. If my message today is to hold onto what’s best from the past even though the world is telling you to get on an Al-rocket ship, I urge you all to read widely and deeply. Read books by scholars in economics, or political science, or global affairs-after all, once you finish reading a novel or a work of nonfiction, you are demonstrating levels of concentration, focus, and brain-work that I believe will make you stand out from the crowd.
So I’ll leave you with a quote from the novelist John Iriving’s best known works, A Prayer for Owen Meaney.
IT DOESN’T MATTER WHERE YOU LEARNED IT- IT’S A GIFT. IF YOU CARE ABOUT SOMETHING, YOU HAVE TO PROTECT IT. IF YOU’RE LUCKY ENOUGH TO FIND A WAY OF LIFE YOU LOVE, YOU HAVE TO FIND THE COURAGE TO LIVE IT.
In just a few moments when you walk across this stage holding a Williston diploma, you will just be starting your adult journey to live lives of consequence, meaning, and deepening human experience-and as you do, I urge you to Go Retro, keep playing hacky sack, keep reading books, keep arguing ideas with friends, and no matter what, find the courage to hold onto your deepest human values. Thank you.
Introduction of today’s keynote speaker: Glenn Jones, Williston Class of 1995 to the Williston Class of 2026
Glen Jones and I have been playing cat and mouse for a number of years as I’ve been eager to have him return to speak at commencement and 2026, you got the golden ring. In the past, he’s had some very good excuses- as a prominent NBC Boston evening news anchor, Glen could have told me just about anything and I would have believed him, covering a major political event, court decision, whatever. But he had other excuses. One year it was having to return to his native Bermuda to serve as the Grand Marshall for their preeminent annual celebration, and another time it was to celebrate his anniversary. Wait a minute, it’s still your anniversary, Glenn, so thank you and especially to your wife, Camille for being here today.