ISW welcomed our own Dr. Dorothy Fontaine as our Commencement Speaker this year.
Dr. Dorothy has been teaching for over 30 years in a variety of settings—from the independent school world to colleges, from Princeton Review to private tutoring. She taught in the English department at Wakefield School, The Plains, where she was appointed Director of Faculty Development in 2005 and Head of the Middle School in 2006. She was named Outstanding Educator in 2005. She has conducted workshops and trainings on a variety of topics throughout the United States. Most recently, Dr. Dorothy has taught High School English at ISW since 2020. Dorothy holds a BA in Literature from the University of Houston Clear Lake, an MA and a PhD in English from Rice University, and an MEd in Instruction and Curriculum from George Mason University. Dorothy is renowned for never, ever turning down any professional development or workshop or training of any sort. This woman truly loves education. We have yet to discover a topic that does not interest her, including fish and banking—both topics of expertise.
ISW Graduation Speech 2022
I am not a role model.
I have attended 12 different colleges and universities as a student.
I have graduated from only 3 of them.
I used to own a pet shop.
I used to be a banker.
I used to breed African fish for sale.
I have been a secretary and an accounting clerk.
I have set foot in 18 different countries—so far.
I used to fill prescriptions for a living.
I have sold hockey equipment.
I studied martial arts in my 40s.
I have fished for piranha in the Amazon.
I have witnessed the mating dance of the Blue-footed Booby in the Gálápagos.
I am not an exemplar. I am not a role model.
I have a husband who played the trombone in high school, but took up the viola in his 50s.
I have a husband who is building his own 2-seat airplane.
I have a friend who reads scripture in the original ancient languages.
I have a friend who teaches stage fighting and movement for a living at a famous performance college in NY.
I have a friend who writes for medical journals.
I have a friend who heals people with her own and redirected energies.
I have a friend who, through two marriages, is a devoted mother to 12 (she gave birth to 9 of them herself).
I have a friend who tirelessly works nationally and travels internationally on behalf of children with cancer.
I have a friend who writes science fiction novels and teaches Latin.
I have friends who keep bees.
I have a friend who is mechanic who is, basically, an engine whisperer. A true automotive artist.
I have friends who train dogs.
I have a friend who acted on a dream and founded a school.
I have friends who are scientists working to save native ecosystems.
I have girlfriends who are airline captains.
I have a friend who unfailingly worked hard at a government job she hated for 35 years for the good of her family.
I have a brother-in-law who is an artist.
I have a sister who sews quilts for those whose hearts are hurting.
Not one of these people is a role model.
All of these people. Doing all of these things. And this is merely a sliver of who they are—little tiny nuggets of the hearts and souls and minds that make them up.
They are not role models; they are not exemplars for your life going forward.
Those of us who love you, who see the promise—and doubt—in you, who support your strengths and encourage you in your weaknesses all want you to live an authentic life. A life that is one that you build for yourself in honour of who you are and who you want to be. We see certain strengths in you and want to nurture those, but in our more honest moments we know that these strengths we perceive are only a fraction of who you are and the future you that you will inhabit. We will continue to give advice—we’re older; it’s our destiny—but we do understand that only you can discover what you truly are and what you truly need to accomplish.
These non-role models are the promise that who you are and what you are and who you choose to be and what parts of yourselves you nurture are not only enough for the world around you, they illuminate the world around you.
If any one of these people is extraordinary, it is because we are all extraordinary. Yeah, yeah—we are all unique, sure. More importantly, we are all enough. In and of ourselves.
You, personally, do not need a role model to follow to become your best self. You are all you need. You are enough.
Indeed, having watched you in our time together, you are more than enough.