SOME WORDS FROM YOUR FACILITATOR...


Text of Mr. Catasus' graduation address, June 2011

I have often been accused of delivering long speeches. It's not true, and I can actually prove it. Just look it up on the Arts and Humanities web site. But this year is different. This is my last graduation. I may have a bit more to say than usual.

At graduation I always discuss my students and their futures. I don't talk about myself. I will break with that tradition today as well. Again, this is my last shot. So today it will all be about me.

I was born on a hot sunny day in December on the largest Island in the Carribean. Alright, maybe I'm going back too far. Let me skip a few years...

I never thought I'd ever become a teacher. Sure, I did some teaching in college. But as a career, I never thought it would happen. I was pushed into this profession by my wife. I owe her everything for that. She opened my eyes and my heart.

I never thought I'd become a leader. I had been in some leadership roles at various times in the past, but I never saw it as my future. When I was in the Army, I was a first cook, leader of my shift. Then in my teaching job at college, I became the director of the program. It was an honor and I enjoyed the position but I didn't see it as my future.

As an employee of the New York Times I eventually became the assistant supervisor of my department, but again, I didn't see it as my future.

I worked at numerous schools before settling in at McKinley Junior High School, where I spent about 15 years teaching many subjects. I taught, at various times, Spanish, Italian, and Spanish bilingual. On occasion, I even taught my subject, art.

I loved McKinley. I made many good friends there, but, just as important, even more so, I met a handful of students who taught me about children and their needs. I stopped listening to teachers who saw the teacher-student relationship as adversarial. I discovered that children learn when they feel that the adults around them love them. Some of these children have become my friends, have become teachers and have become parents in the years since I first met them as my students. I am forever grateful to them for what they taught me about teaching, learning and about myself.


After all those years at McKinley, IS 187 was born. As much as I loved McKinley, I was overwhelmed with excitement at the prospect of being present at the birth of a new school. So, I joined the staff of what would soon become The Christa McAuliffe School in its second year of existence. I had thoughts about working as a team with my colleagues and developing ideas about education and putting these ideas into practice.

I had no idea what was in store for me. All these dreams and more became reality. A meeting was held where the idea of what we now call academies was presented to us. I went home that night and typed up a proposal. In the months that followed, that proposal was developed into a full-fledged plan for what was to be The Academy for the Arts and Humanities. My plan was voted on and chosen to be one of the three plans that became our three academies and soon afterwards I applied for and was given the job of leader of the Academy for the Arts and Humanities. My career had reached a point I had never dared to even dream about.

So now I was the Teacher Facilitator of an academy, a job with no clear-cut description. I worked hard every day to define my new job and to carry out the duties that I and the other two facilitators had created and continued to recreate every day. Those were some special days. They were tough, but I wouldn't trade one minute of them for anything. This was, and is to this day, my dream job, and yet a job I never dreamed of or thought possible.


And here I stand now before you, on this bitter-sweet day for all of us. For the first time ever, I am forever a part of the graduating class that I am here to see off to ever greater things. Class of 2011, we are graduating together! What a wonderful class I am part of. As I said, I had a group of students early in my career who taght me how important love is in my profession. I hope I have passed some of this along to all my students, but really, it was hardly necessary. My precious Arts and Humanities class of 2011, and in fact, just about every Arts and Humanities graduating class, I believe, that it is you who taught me about love more than I taught you. To the last day of my career and beyond, I am on this earth to learn about everything, including and most especially love. I hope you are too.



Leadership. Some years ago, at this very spot, I spoke some words about leadership to the assembled throng on the ocassion of another man's retirement. I would like to deliver those very words again:



Good leadership is an elusive quality; we may not always know when we have it but it is always abundantly clear when it is lacking. A good leader cannot build an organization by himself. A poor leader can destroy one. 

A good leader encourages us to find and develop strengths we may not have even known we had. He sees beyond the surface. He builds an atmosphere of trust and a sense of common endeavor. He shows us direction. He sets standards that are both fair and meaningful, insists we meet them and helps and supports us in our efforts. He recognizes excellence and hard work. He respects the individual and takes no one for granted. He tells us the truth, not what he thinks we should hear.

A good leader has many qualities beyond these as well, but one quality stands out above all others: A GOOD LEADER IS INSPIRED AND, IN TURN, INSPIRES THE MEN AND WOMEN HE LEADS.

THANK YOU MR. ADAMS FOR TEN YEARS OF INSPIRED LEADERSHIP.



I am not Mr. Adams and can never hope to be like him. I tell you this not because I believe it describes my accomplishments as a leader. I share this with you because it describes my aims as a leader. I will gladly accept that I have often failed in my efforts, but I will stand up and fight any accusation that I did not set these aims as my standard and that I gave anything less than my all in the attempt to accomplish these ends.


I know I told you that this was all going to be about me, but I lied!. That's right! Those of you who were telling yourselves, "No way. He is going to drop the teaching bomb on us. That big old ugly guy never saw a teaching moment he didn't like," you were right. There are lessons to be learned here and those of you who haven't seen those lessons yet will get to see them now.


The first lesson is DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE IMPORTANCE OF LOVE IN YOUR LIVES. IT IS THE BASIS OF EVERYTHING GOOD THAT HAPPENS TO US. None of us can ever love or be loved too much. Have a passion for something in your life and then share it.


Next lesson: DON'T THINK YOU ALWAYS KNOW WHERE EVERY ROAD LEADS. I had no thought of being a teacher, I had less of a thought that I would be teaching kids in the hormonally challenged middle school years, and I had no thought of entering into a leadership role. It all came to pass and I regret not one second of it, not even one second of the worst part of it. I have the best job I could ever hope to have and I have loved every second of it and I love every one of you. My life is rich thanks to you.



So keep your eyes, ears and minds open to that unexpected development that could give you a life better than any you could have imagined. By all means, make plans, but don't make yourselves miserable for life just because you made a plan and feel obligated to stick to it no matter how much you had grown to hate it. There is nothing in this world like getting up in the morning and wanting to go to work. Find something you love and do it the best way you can.


Do you get the idea that I love my job? So, you might ask, why am I leaving my children?


A fair question. Here's the short answer: Jim Brown. Are you paying attention Mr Nicoll? Here is that rare Catasus sports reference. "Who is Jim Brown?" you might ask. Jim Brown was the record setting star fullback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League. He redifined what a being an NFL fullback meant. He shocked the sports world by deciding to retire at the height of his career. It just wasn't done! Athletes kept playing until they became useless as players and then retired. Jim Brown said he didn't want to have that happen to him.

I also want to retire before I burn out, before I become useless, before I become a negative influence on my students. I want to make room for the next generation of teachers and leaders while I still have the ability to help them. I want the transition from one generation to the next to be smooth. Therefore, unless they lock me out of the building, I will be there to help for at least the next few years. If I wait until there is nothing left of me I won't be able to do that.

One thing I want everyone to know. I am not retiring because I am tired of the children. They are the thing that weigh against my decision to leave. I love them and will miss them terribly.

Christa McAuliffe, class of 2011, I salute you and send you off into the world with joy in my heart, pride in my soul and a stubborn little tear in my eye. Do yourselves proud!






Text of Mr. Catasus' graduation address, June 2010:


Every graduation is difficult. We become involved with each other and it is hard to step back and say, "Its over. Let"s move on." I take nothing away from previous graduating classes, whom I also loved, when I say that this year it is harder than ever for me. The accomplishments of this group of young men and women that has just finished its three years at the Academy for the Arts and Humanities are astonishing. Test scores are high, high school admissions are impressive, the data just keeps rolling in non-stop, so much of it that I cannot always make heads or tails of it.

But there is so much more at work here. These youngsters have a spirit that a number cannot be assigned to. There is a love that no amount of bubbling in answer documents can explain. There is a network of mutual love, support and assistance that covers the entire fifth floor. These angels have taken in the helpless, the out casts, the eccentric, and transformed them into brothers and sisters.

They are not tolerant. Tolerance implies the strong giving permission to the weak. These people don't just tolerate, they accept, respect and love their differences. There is differentiation we can use! They show an interest in each other's lives. Some children use facebook to insult those they consider outcasts. The facebook pages these folk make are dangerous to diabetics. Put up a picture on facebook and the comments start piling up: You look great! That was so much fun! You are so talented! So pretty! So smart!


Let me tell you some stories:

One of my students always had a gigantic smile on her face. I thought she was being sarcastic. It took me a year to realize that this was a most genuine, kind and sweet person and the smile was real.

Another story:

Some of our students are perhaps a bit more emotionally vulnerable. When one of them is having a bad day, students come into my office to let me know and to ask if they could help.

Here's another:

We had a student who didn't find a room to stay in on our overnight trip. When another child found this out, she went to her friends and then came to me to say, "Mr. Catasus, put her with us. We'll be happy to take her in."


I always use graduation as a final teaching opportunity. I know that so far, this sounds like nothing but endless praise, but I do have a point to make:

I am fully aware that you are all very capable, academically. You are skilled, knowledgeable, creative and able. You will learn more facts, develop your skills, use these in new and interesting ways, get high scores and get into terrific colleges and professional schools. This is all good, but it is nothing if you lose the spirit that you have demonstrated here.

The world needs the love, concern, compassion and willingness to act on those feelings that you have demonstrated for the last three years.

Class of 2010, I will never forget you. You will be in my heart forever. Thank you for putting up with me for three years.

As far as I'm concerned, I have an entire academy of success stories. I have 96 Academy scholars. But one just stood out a bit above the rest, and in this company, that is a real accomplishment. I am very proud to present to you the academy scholar for the Acaqdemy for the Arts and Humanities...



Text of Mr. Catasus' graduation address, June 2009:

Mr Berman, Mrs Lane Citlak, my fellow facilitators, students, teachers, parents and friends:
Every year at this time I am faced with the same task. I must look into the hearts and minds of my graduating seniors and think, What do I want to be the last thing I say to this group? Who are they and what do they need to know about themselves and the times they live in? This is my very last teaching moment. How do I spend it?

The key question is this: Who are they? Here is the answer: They are a warm and loving family.

OK, we've heard this kind of thing before. We are a family, we like to say. It sounds nice. It is a romantic notion we'd like to aspire to.

Well, for this bunch of young men and women it is much more than an aspiration. It is a plain and simple fact.

It is not the carrying out of some sort of academy policy. It is simply a wonderful group of people being themselves. They want nothing more than to help each other succeed. They welcome each other with open arms. There are no admission requirements to this family.

These folk are as different from each other as they could possibly be. There is no Arts and Humanities mold. Each one of these students brings his own history, his own personality his own weaknesses and his own strengths. The students of this academy don't care. They are all family and they are loved, respected and admired for whatever abilities they bring to the family and they are loved, and respected and helped through whatever difficulties they experience in their lives. I didn't teach them this. To the contrary, they have taught this to me.

My friends, there are some difficult times ahead. We have much to overcome. It is important that you not lose this essential part of your makeup, this love respect and empathy for your fellows, no matter how different we all are, no matter how troubled our collective future may be.

Yes, of course, please, study hard, work like everything depends upon it, challenge yourselves to the utmost, accomplish and succeed, but in the process, do not lose that ability to love, and stay a family. I love you all and I thank you for the opportunity you have given me to get to know you.






Text of Mr. Catasus' graduation address, June 2008:



Mr Berman, Mrs Lane Citlak, my fellow facilitators, students, parents and friends:

Every graduating class has its own particular character. It has a set of characteristics that define its essential nature. Sometimes it isn't easy to identify this nature, but this year the character of the Arts and Humanities graduating class is as clear as a glass of spring water.
We have many excellent students in this class, many good students and some that are working to become good students. We have some people who are talented in one or more fields of endeavor, some who are very talented and some who are enthusiastic and try hard to put what talent they have to good use.
We have students who are intelligent, very intelligent and some who are incredibly intelligent. But these are not the defining core characteristics of this group. Let me tell you what they are.

I have never met a nicer, sweeter, more compassionate, tolerant, loving and understanding group in my life. They are each others' support and strength.
They are a team and a family.

They swoop in like superheroes to help whoever is in need, most often before being asked. The good works these young men and women have done are unbounded and defy description.
They are a team and a family.

They never attack those who are weak and vulnerable. Instead they stand by them, build them up and help them build themselves up. They will not allow anyone to be victimized. They simply will not stand for it.
They are a team and a family.

They are competetive, but their notion of competetiveness is not about a desire to beat out everyone else. They consider themselves winners when their classmates rise to a higher level.
They are a team and a family.

I will never forget the Arts and Humanities class of 2008. I salute you. I give you all my love. I treasure the time I have spent with you, getting to know you, learning from you.



But you know me. Everything turns into a teaching moment. I can't help myself. So here it is - the lesson for today:

I urge you to grow stronger. Be smart. Be creative. Think. Work. Learn. Do all those things that will lead you to material success.
But do not lose that special core. Look not just to material success. Remember that spiritual success is deeper, longer lasting, more meaningful and more valuable. In short, do all those things I exhorted you to and more but in all that, don't forget to love.

Thank you Arts and Humanities class of 2008 for three exciting and wonderful years.





Text of Mr. Catasus' address at graduation, June, 2004



All good things must come to an end... or must they? It is true that you are no longer going to get up every morning and make your way to 1171 65th Street but it is also true that that if we, as teachers, and you, as students, have done our jobs reasonably well, then a piece of the Christa McAuliffe School will be in your hearts and minds wherever you go, whatever you do.

The question then is what exactly does this mean? What is it I want you to carry away with you when you leave us?

First, of course, I hope you to learned some facts. I know that sometimes the importance of the acquisition of facts is minimized among today's prevailing educational viewpoints. I accept that there is much more to a sound education. Nonetheless, I want my students to know who George Washington was, when he lived and what he did. When I ask someone to name three countries in Asia, I don't want to hear, Africa, New Jersey and Brazil.

But this is only part of what I hope for my students, Yes, I want my students to recall information, but I also want them to understand and apply information, I want them to create original ideas based on their received knowledge, and I want them to develop the ability to analyze and evaluate. These are the higher thinking skills which account for all true progress, and I dearly hope my students have begun to develop them.

But even this is not enough.

There is an anti-intellectual, anti-democratic sentiment sweeping the nation and the world at the moment.

We see it in the popular culture where learning is ridiculed and the scholar is called a nerd.

We see it in the corridors of our legislatures, and in our executive mansions in our cities, states and in Washington DC., where everyone seems to be the education candidate, that is until after election day at which point the hounds are loosed on public education.

We see it in our public forums where facts are distorted or ignored to fit a pre-determined and unquestioned political end.

We see it among cultists and fanatics who consider curiosity an evil and want to wipe out original thought.

We see it in a frightening world-wide rebirth of intolerance and injustice.


What I want you to take away from here is the desire to be good people working hard for what is right and true and good. I want you all to belong to a confraternity of minds that believe in thought. I want you to belong to a brother and sisterhood that values learning, that loves learning for its own sake as well as for the the power it gives us to make the world better. I want you to be people who are are curious, who question, who test, who feel, who observe, who listen. I want you to be people who draw conclusions only after measured consideration. I want you to be courageous in your convictions and I want all of you to support each other in all of these endeavors.

In his poem, The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats tells us:

The best lack all convictions, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

I want you to reverse that. You need to be among the best and you need to be full of passionate intensity.

This is what I hope you carry away from your experiences these three years. This is the piece of us that I hope will reside inside you forever.

My young men and women of Academy for the Arts and Humanities, you are ready for these challenges like none other in my experience. As much as I love you, and as much as I will miss you, I am glad to see to you go. I am anxious for you to go out into the world and spread the good have in your hearts and minds. This troubled world is starving for what you have to offer. World, I give you my children. Children, I give you the world. May your generation's stewardship be an improvement on ours.






Text of Mr. Catasus' address at graduation, June, 2003



I would like to offer you some words by the twentieth century American poet, Robert Frost:
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

With these words, the poet makes a commitment to the active life. He may be drawn to the quiet and beautiful woods. There is no one there to make any demands on him. He can take the easy course, the course of inactivity. He can wait for what comes to him, even to the end of life. He makes one last, strong argument for this option:
“The woods are lovely, dark and deep.”
That they may be but the final lines lead him back to what is, to him, inevitable:
“But I have promises to keep,
 And miles to go before I sleep,
 And miles to go before I sleep.”
Robert Frost makes a choice. He has made commitments and he intends do hold fast to them, come what may. You are faced with this same choice every day of your lives. We all are. We can be drawn to a passive existence. We can live day to day for the easy, pleasurable sensations. We can take the easy route. But there are other choices. We can choose to commit ourselves. We can become fully engaged in a network of strong, positive relationships. We can make promises to others and to ourselves and keep them. We can decide to not always accept the default settings. We can instead make conscious choices for good reasons.
 This is the choice I make. I hope this is the choice you will also make.
Many of you sitting here tonight know that you have not started on this particular path. You simply do whatever may seem like fun at the moment. You have chosen to make no commitments and to make no promises. To you I say it is not too late! This is the ideal time to change your lives. You will soon be in new places with few of the old faces that are so ready to prejudge you and bring you down a notch. Make the decision to take charge of your lives and engage fully in the world and make your place in it. Of course, there is a catch. This requires work. But the rewards are worth it.
 There are many others here who understand what I am saying and who have made a different, more positive choice. To you I say, keep up the good work and do not become complacent. A commitment is not one of those tabletop ovens Ron Popeil sells on the television. You can’t just “set it and forget it.” The choice to be responsible for yourself, the choice to commit yourself to a vision, the choice to make and keep promises, is a process, not an event. Life will always conspire to challenge your choices at every turn. A choice requires constant attention, reevaluation, restatement and renewal. Of course, there is a catch. This requires work. But the rewards are worth it.
“It is not our abilities that show who we truly are: It is our choices.”
These are the words of Dumbledor at the end of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The Harry Potter series may not be the first place I generally look when searching for appropriate quotations, but these words jumped up and made me take notice. I hope you take notice as well. When you make choices, I hope you make them with full awareness and understanding. You are the choices you make.



Text of Mr. Catasus' address at graduation, June, 2002

 
Invictus
William Earnest Henley
 
 OUT of the night that covers me,
   Black as the Pit from pole to pole,  
 I thank whatever gods may be  
   For my unconquerable soul.  
   
 In the fell clutch of circumstance         
   I have not winced nor cried aloud.  
 Under the bludgeonings of chance  
   My head is bloody, but unbowed.  
   
 Beyond this place of wrath and tears  
   Looms but the Horror of the shade,   
And yet the menace of the years  
   Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.  
   
 It matters not how strait the gate,  
   How charged with punishments the scroll,  
 I am the master of my fate:   
  I am the captain of my soul.

Mr Adams, Mrs. Lane-Citlak, my fellow facilitators, my colleagues students from the Christa McAuliffe School, Arts and Humanities students, parents, families and friends, I come here tonight with joy and sadness in my heart. I also come with a message.
For many very obvious reasons, and for some reasons that I don’t fully understand, this has been the most challenging year of my career.
Somehow, we all survived, against all odds.
Somehow we managed to pull off some triumphs, against all odds.
 Somehow we were able to do some very ordinary things, that for a few months we thought we would never be able to do again. But we did them again, against all odds.
 We thought we might never love again, but we do, against all odds
 This is the joy in my heart. We now have to say goodbye to those we have grown to love. This always brings sadness to my heart but this year the sadness is greater because our need for love was greater.
Sadder yet is the departure of some whose wounds are deeper, whose love is more cautious and harder to reach and who cannot seem to extend beyond the easy, the immediate, the common. It is for you that my message intended most urgently.

In the fell clutch of circumstance         
  I have not winced nor cried aloud.  
Under the bludgeonings of chance  
  My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Please, my young friends, do not fall into the trap of self pity. Whatever happened to you yesterday was yesterday.
Don’t ask “What do you expect me to do?”
 Don’t say “I am a victim.”
 Don’t insist “I can’t do what I am expected to do because..”
 Here you can fill in the blank. This year I have heard, “because he knocked my book to the floor
 “because I don’t have a pen
 “because she was talking about me...”
 You will never gain any advantage anywhere in life by deflecting responsibility for yourself to others.
And that, young men and women, is my message. Shift not the blame to anyone else
 Shift not the blame to anything else
Take full responsibility for your life.
It matters not how strait the gate,  
   How charged with punishments the scroll,  
 I am the master of my fate:   
   I am the captain of my soul.
 Whatever misfortune befalls you, it is the responsibility of no one but you to overcome it. Ask for help, of course. Give help, naturally. But take responsibility for yourself. You must be the master of your fate,
You must be the captain of your soul.
 Thank you for your kind attention.
I wish to all members of the Arts and Humanities student body and to the entire graduating class of 2002, all the joy that life can bring as well as the strength to deal with the pain that comes with it.
 The time has come for me to say goodbye to our little family, including our reluctant sons and daughters
 for whom we must always have an even greater love.



Text of Mr. Catasus' address at graduation, June, 2001



I shall be telling this with a sigh
 Somewhere ages and ages hence:
 Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
 Took the one less travelled by,
 And that has made all the difference.
You will be choosing from among many roads in the days, months and years to come. Some will be well worn. Others will be rough virgin territory. The choices will be yours, but my hope is that what you have learned in these last three years will give you the knowledge, wisdom and courage to make the choices that are right for you.
Whatever those choices may be, when you commit yourself to one road or the other,
I expect each of you to bring great strength of character to your voyage.
I expect each of you to bring a willingness to work hard.
I expect each of you to bring love- love of each other, love of self, love of learning, love of fairness, love of justice, love of beauty, love of nature.
 I expect each of you to bring great hope on your voyage.
 And I expect each of you to follow through on your chosen path to the very end.
Arts and Humanities, It has been a heck of a ride, hasn’t it? We have had so many times, both good and bad.
 Well, my friends, fasten your safety belts... There is lots more to come. This is only the beginning for you.
 My hope for you, for me, for all the world, is that years hence you will be able to look back and say, with Robert Frost...
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
 Took the one less travelled by,
 And that has made all the difference.
It is with great sadness that I say goodbye to you. That is the price we pay when we love.
But, my friends, it is a very small price when you consider the rewards love brings. You have each in your own way, enriched me. I hope that I and my colleagues in the academy have done the same for you. Thank you, Arts and Humanities, for letting me share the last three years with you. Thank you.