Brooks Secondary School culinary arts teacher Michael Austin and culinary arts instructor’s assistant Lori Alexander spoke on behalf of the teachers at the school's graduation ceremony, held at Hap Parker Arena on Saturday, June 2.
We’d like to thank the graduating class of 2018 for choosing us to do the speech from the teachers this year.
We think they chose us because they started at the top of the alphabet, and the two Andersons said no. We were next on the list: Alexander and Austin. Balzer and Bakker, you’re lucky we said yes!
We have had the pleasure of getting to know many of you the past few years, some as students in the teaching kitchen and some in the cafeteria lineup…demanding French fries!
There is a famous Dr. Seuss quote we’d like to share that sums up what we deal with in our classes on a daily basis:
The places you go…
Nope, here’s a better one:
I do not like them Sam I am…
I do not like green eggs and ham
I will not eat them with some lox
I will not eat them with a fox
I will not eat them I’m not tooting
Don’t you know I can’t eat gluten?
For the students we have worked with in the teaching kitchen, we have enjoyed the laughs and chats we’ve had, and hope that you carry the skills we have taught you to your next adventure. In quoting Martin Luther King:
If you can’t fly, then run
If you can’t run, then walk
If you can’t walk then crawl
But whatever you do
You have to keep moving forward.
All you need to know you learned in kindergarten.
Wash your hands before you eat. Share. Laugh. Be kind to one another. Put things back where they belong and clean up your own mess. Flush.
On a closing note, be kind to one another. You never know who the doctor will be when you walk through the door at the emergency room, or, who is at the back of the restaurant cooking your food when you’re out for dinner.
Remember: communicate, be present. Share your thought in real conversations. Make connections with real people.
Please be safe, everyone.
