During the January 2026 Cum Laude Society induction ceremony, Lori LeBas ’77 was invited back to campus to give the keynote address. Below are her remarks in full. Read more about the ceremony here, and watch a video of her remarks here.
Thank you for your kind introduction, Mr. Hill. It is a pleasure and honor for me to be back on campus for this special ceremony. Congratulations to the Cum Laude Society inductees. Today we celebrate your academic achievement and integrity, intellectual curiosity and leadership. Remarkably, I still have my Cum Laude pin from decades ago and am wearing it proudly today.
I want to tell you a bit about me and how much my experiences at Williston shaped the person I am. I also want to share my life rules that clearly started coalescing during my time here. They are simple: be kind, value and respect people and their contributions (thank you goes a long way), listen, tell the truth, communicate all the stuff, be clear on expectations. These rules provide the framework within which I lead, learn and explore. So, on to my story . . .
I am a believer that people show up in your life for a reason and last summer Ally Murphy from Williston’s development office invited me to meet her. Of course, I said yes. I love getting to know new people. If you don’t yet know Ally, seek her out. She is delightful with so much passion and enthusiasm for Williston and her role. During our breakfast Ally asked me to share my thoughts about my time at Williston. That conversation led to the invitation to speak today.
I really, really wanted to be a student here. I grew up in Easthampton and loved the campus and knew I would have myriad opportunities to learn and grow. But, as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for.
Hurray, I was accepted. I started as a sophomore day student. Almost immediately I was overwhelmed. While I was a very good student at my local high school, at Williston, I was behind in math and French. And the choices facing me were daunting: so many English, foreign language, math, science and history options, religion, music, theater, dance. I wanted to study everything. Being a day student, I felt isolated and didn’t realize most people were also feeling overwhelmed. Does this ring a bell for any of you?
What I didn’t expect and so gratefully accepted was the welcome and support I got from the Williston community, especially the faculty. Coach Francis was my math tutor. He and I met daily at the gym so I could learn advanced algebra and then advanced geometry. He was kind, patient and understanding. I was unsure of myself, and he assured me I would master the material. And I did. First with his guidance and then with his encouragement. I started to believe in me and embraced the challenge. My confidence grew. And then he did something I now understand was an integral part of Williston education. He told me to build on what I’d learned. Achieving mastery and gaining confidence, that was the start. It was my responsibility to take on bigger stuff, to explore and share that learning with the community. I saw my accountability in the learning process, really a partnership.
I love solving puzzles, figuring out how things work and then making things different and better. I am a fixer by nature. During our daily sessions Coach Francis asked me lots of questions about how I solve math problems. It was important that he and I understood my process to get to the answer, maybe even more than the answer. I don’t know how he did it but my approach to learning was shared with all my teachers. This is another wonderfully unique thing about Williston. I never once doubted that each teacher I had was invested in my success and he or she was guiding me to do my best and then that much more—to see and achieve my full potential. Understanding how you learn is as important as what you learn. Also understanding when and why you struggle, and how you deal with that struggle, is valuable. After reading the latest issue of The Bulletin I know Mr. Hill and I share spatial relational deficits. Please don’t ask me to create origami figures. Instead, I will get my 3D thinking and seeing son to do it.
This insight and knowledge helped me find my place in the Williston community and later led me to companies and projects where I excelled. And helped me build high performing teams, where each member brought a skill that others might be lacking.
Ready, set, go. I was determined to do as much as I could in my 3 years at Williston. Decades later here are a few things that stand out for me. I learned to skin and dissect a cat from Doc Gow. Really handy stuff. I loved his biology classes so much I was pre-med when I entered Mount Holyoke College, until I was outdone by organic chemistry. I was active in the dance club. I loved choreographing with my friends and then performing a few times a year. Yup, I wanted to be a dance major too. I wasn’t the most talented dancer, but I was a great dance concert producer. When pre-med was out I decided to be an arts administrator, which I was at The Connecticut Ballet and Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival. I loved to study languages and not only caught up in French but won a French book prize. My beloved French teacher at Williston was Yves Couderc. He was also my chemistry teacher. He and I became great pen pals, corresponding for many years in English, French and . . . German!! A language I always wanted to study that wasn’t offered at Williston. Mr. Couderc strongly encouraged me to learn this language so I started in German 101 at Mount Holyoke and 4-years later graduated with a degree in German Literature. And would you believe in my final interview for a role at ESPN the head of the department spoke to me in German!! I was a bit rusty but made it through. Beware of what you put on your resume. I auditioned for roles in theater. I performed in The Miracle Worker as a blind girl, in MacBeth as a witch and danced in The Devil and Daniel Webster. I studied old English reading Beowulf. I explored the tribulations of Job in Religion class. I even took advanced calculus. And I gave back to the community. I tutored foreign students in English and remember hours of diagramming sentences. The kindness showed to me by Coach Francis I was able to offer to my classmates far away from home in Iran.
I explored learning. And kept exploring I found companies to work for that encouraged and rewarded curious learners, out of the box thinkers and leaders. I instilled curiosity in my wonderful son. He explored and traveled as a world-class cyclist and then his dreams collapsed. I drew on my support from my early scared days at Williston to help him rebuild his confidence and enthusiasm for living and learning. Those were dark days. Life isn’t always fabulous. But his cycling got us traveling. Something we’ve never stopped doing. Italy, France, Iceland, Germany, Sweden, Austria, England, Switzerland, Denmark. And now he is thriving and lives in Sweden with our 4.5-year-old granddaughter.
Why do I tell you all this? Because you are all explorers. Such is the community of which you are a part. Embrace that. And you are all leaders, challenged to do your best and guide others to do the same. “Be Yourself Here” isn’t just a phrase. The self-confidence and courage I gained at Williston are cornerstones of who I am. The belief that I can do anything I put my mind to is a gift that keeps on giving. How else could I decide to run the New York City Marathon when I hadn’t run in 5 years and then never more than 3 miles. Because Williston taught me to explore, push limits, make a plan and have absolute confidence in my ability to get stuff done. And I know how to ask questions, seek out guidance and help when needed. I am not afraid to be honest and direct. I know the importance of being kind, valuing others, treating everyone with respect and celebrating all the successes in everyday life. Every day you can perfect how to lead, influence and bring your special magic to the world.
Be proud of who you are and take comfort in knowing this community has done an amazing job shaping you. And will always be there for you. Remember Doc Gow and the cat? A few months ago, I made a donation to Williston in his honor. Completely out of the blue I received the most wonderful letter from him. A man I haven’t spoken to in over 50 years. Reading his letter brought me back to his classroom and the joy I felt watching him revel in teaching us. We are now happily corresponding, as if it was just yesterday, I was skinning that cat.
So back to those life rules: be kind, value and respect people and their contributions, listen, tell the truth, communicate all the stuff, be clear on expectations. You already are doing these things. Don’t stop.
In gratitude. Thank you.