Valedictorian Displays Deep Sense of Gratitude
Valedictorian Christian Raslowsky ’16, who will continue his education at Santa Clara University this fall, delivered the farewell address at Xavier’s 174th Commencement. Raslowsky, a renowned student-athlete who earned the Bernard Moynahan Scholar-Athlete Award and The Rev. Vincent A. Taylor, S.J. Gold X Award, reflected on the value of a Xavier education.
Here is the text of Raslowsky’s speech:
Good evening Mr. Fernandez, Mr. Meditz, members of the board, Mr. LiVigni, Dad, members of the administration, faculty, staff, parents, family members, and classmates. A warm welcome to Mr. Joseph “Bud” O’Neill from the Class of 1941. It is an honor to have you here. Congratulations on your 75th anniversary.
I cannot express in words my gratitude to those who selected me to speak and to all those who made this night possible. It is an honor and a blessing to stand before you tonight as your valedictorian.
As I thought about our experiences as a class, I was overcome by a deep sense of gratitude. And so that is what I want to reflect on tonight.
I will first share reflections on four parts of my life at Xavier, make connections, and then close by drawing meaning from it all. And you know if it were my father, there would be way more than four parts and we would not be getting out of here anytime soon!
Part one is as vivid as it is simple: my time at lunch every day. We all had our place where we sat and enjoyed a break from the school day. We had the time to both joke and relax and I learned to relish these moments of togetherness. Whether it was Cristiano making fun of our fashion or Steph, Terrence, and Henry listening to my complaints about all the work we had, I deeply appreciated the regular, everyday moments of life at Xavier.
Second: I played basketball my four years at Xavier and my love for the sport grew every year. Every day after practice Coach McGrane would say, “You know, it’s not only about improving your own game. We come into the gym every day to get better as a team.” I learned early that the Xavier program was not about the flashy one on one game, but about the team defense, the team effort.
My experience on the cross-country team was one of close friendships. While many think of running as an individual sport, there are few places like cross country where the seven varsity guys do everything together. There is no offense and defense, no backs and linemen, no guards and forwards. It is 7 guys, hills and valleys, and miles upon miles of training. You either grow together or you kill one another. Like JC Rice and Lou Vazquez looked out for me when I was an underclassman, I tried to do the same for others. It was always about the team and the team’s success, not the individual. I will always be grateful for team.
Third: writing.
Writing has never come easily to me. If you could see the large stack of papers from the three different speeches that I wrote for tonight, you would understand. AP Language and Composition junior year with Ms. Gannon was quite the struggle. There were times I was convinced she hated me, and was out to get me. With “See me” on the top of each essay, low scores and endless grammar assignments, it was, in fact, a reasonable conclusion. But Ms. Gannon worked with me, and worked with me, and worked with me so that I could understand my errors and improve. When the 5 on my AP English exam was posted, it was clear that our work together well worth it. Ms. Gannon, I am ever so grateful for all that you did to dramatically improve my writing.
It can be easy to be grateful for the successes in life. It may be more important, however, to be grateful for the times of struggle.
The fourth gift is a special part of life at Xavier: the deep relationships with teachers. While there were times when we may have believed teachers did not like us and were out to get us, the dominant narrative is quite the opposite. True, deep, and important relationships were built with teachers. I can vividly remember the many talks with Ms. Robinson and later Ms. P about whatever was on my mind. They helped me learn a lot about my friends and myself. There were the times spent in Mr. Lavy’s room when I was, in theory, there to do NHS tutoring, but in reality I ended up picking Mr. Lavy’s brain more than others picked mine. I have had a constant experience of being cared for, valued, and loved by the faculty at Xavier. I will forever be grateful for that love and care.
As I was brainstorming a few nights ago, my dad asked me to define gratitude. And with no help from the Internet, much to my annoyance, I came up with the following. Gratitude is our ability to feel and show both thanks and appreciation for events and people in our lives which leads to the desire to return thanks and give back to the community in some way.
With 254 students in this class, 254 different stories can be told. Stories about the everyday, team, struggles and relationships. Whatever the stories are, we all grew, all learned, and all have things to be grateful for. It is both big accomplishments and small actions that shape this community. The smallest actions can often times mean the most, and evoke great gratitude.
But to keep these years as memories is not enough. Gratitude brings with it a desire to give thanks, a desire to return the gift. Four years of community, four years of struggle, four years of life, little things and big events invite us to give back.
As we departed Ms. Gonzalez’s class for the last time, we took our leave with a line from literature or poetry. My favorite lines of poetry come from the English poet John Donne. He writes:
“Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold into airy thinness beat.”
We must be on our way. We are leaving Xavier, but there is no breach. Our going forth is Xavier’s expansion. An expansion of her values, her joy, and her love. “Like gold into airy thinness beat.”
May God always bless our class and the Xavier community with grateful hearts.
Thank you.