Announcements 
June
3, 2005 2005
Graduation Extras
Remarks by
2005 Keynote Speaker Dennis Heaphy (continued)
Joe,
a worker, I understand that you are the first in your
family to graduate from high school. And you have also
worked while going to school! I also understand you
are the photo copying king. What an incredible accomplishment
for you and your family and a role model to his brothers.
It is also an honor for Charlestown to call you one
of its own. Charlestown can be a tough place making
this graduation that much more of an accomplishment
for you, your brothers and your mom Elizabeth.
Tyler, another worker, I understand that you have been a busy man going between
Cotting School and Merrimack Education Collaborative this winter and spring.
I'm sure the entire family has been busy with you. From what I have read on the
Internet, Merrimack Education Collaborative it is quite the program. I am sure
that Lowell General Hospital has been grateful for your contribution there. Whether
you decide to go on to college or into the workforce I know that your parents
and your brother will be proud of you. You have already accomplished a tremendous
amount.
Franny, I understand that you are an artist. I hope that that I get to see some
of your art work while I am here today. You have brought beauty this year to
the "senior art show" at Lincoln Sudbury H.S. I understand that you
will be entering into the Gateway program in Brookline. I check this one out
on the Internet as well. The artwork at Gateway is beautiful I think that if
I go back to the web page I will go broke. It looks like a wonderful program
and I'm sure that you will blossom as an artist. Mom, Dad, may be you become
rich in the art world. You have earned it. Right Franny?
Etienne, a musican with a passion for the viola, you have much to teach and much
more to learn at the Berkshire Academy. I checked the school out on the internet
and it looks fantastic. I am sure that if you loved your being here at the Cotting
School that you will also love Berkshire Academy. You, your mom, Uncle Bill,
Aunt Susan and Carol have a lot more music ahead of you. Take what they and Mrs.
Murphy has given you and continue to grow in your love for music. And Etienne,
I love Peruvian music. The music of the Andes is beautiful.
Do you know that you are beautifully and wonderfully made? Yes, you Etienne,
Franny, Joe and Tyler you are each beautifully and wonderfully made. Each of
you has already been a tremendous gift to your family, friends, classmates, co-workers,
fellow artists and musicians and now you will bring this gift to the larger world.
And I say this as much to your friends and your family who are here you are beautifully
and wonderfully made. Celebrate today. From personal experience I can tell you
that tomorrow will bring new challenges and new opportunities. And you will need
everything that you have learned here at Cotting to overcome them. The Americans
with Disabilities Act is under attack, services are being cut and there is still
rampant discrimination against people with disabilities. It will not be easy,
but as I said at the start, the world needs you and the gifts and beauty you
have to share—even when at times it may not seem this way to you or the people
and bureaucracies you will encounter.
One of my best friends in the world is my buddy Jim. Jim happens to have cerebral
palsey and is nonverbal—now just because Jim does not vocal his thoughts, he
communicates very clearly-he can curse with the best of them. Trust me. By society’s
standards neither Jim nor I necessarily considered beautiful and yet he is one
the most beautiful people I know. When I’m feeling down---I mean really down,
I don’t call my brothers. I call Jim. You see I know Jim understands. And I think
the same goes for Jim calling me. Our disabilities brought us together as friends,
but our beauty and the beauty of our families sustains us when circumstance or
the world tells us differently.
I was trying to think of a song that best expresses this idea and only thought
of songs that none of you would know. I’m an old man like Mr. Manzo. So I called
me niece to ask for suggestions she came up with “Beautiful” by Christina Aguilera.
Now Christina Aguilera is not my favorite, however these words do speak to me
and I hope they speak to you. Don’t worry I’m not going to sing! I would invite
all of you to close your eyes and open your hearts as I read from her song.
You are beautiful no matter what they say / Words won't bring you down
You are beautiful in every single way / Yes, words won't bring you down
Don't you bring you down today...
We are beautiful no matter what they say / Yes, words won't bring us down
We are beautiful no matter what they say / Yes, words can't bring us down
No matter what we do / No matter what they say
And everywhere we go / The sun won't always shine
But tomorrow will find a way / All the other times
As you open your eyes and leave Cotting tonight know that you are beautiful and
that nothing can take that away. Congratulations and God bless.
453
Concord Avenue, Lexington MA 02421 
Announcements
