From the Desk of Jeff Kuhns
5 June 2023
Go For It
It's summer time! For my June post, I thought some of you may want to read the comments that I made at the 2023 Graduation Ceremony. Thank you all for your support as I start my time here it West Perry. It has been a whirlwind at times but knowing that I have support from the community has been a difference maker for me.
When I was in college, I had the opportunity to hear one of my uncles speak at a high school graduation. At that point in my life, I thought that being invited to speak at a graduation ceremony was the epitome of ‘making it.’ So, I had set that as a life goal thirty some years ago and finally here I am. Of course, I’m the boss so they couldn’t tell me no. That and I slid Mr. Hoffman 100 Cirulli bucks. I think he can get a homework pass next year.
I have some official stuff that I have to say here in a couple of minutes, but they’ve allowed me a little latitude to offer some advice to the outgoing class of 2023. Again, I’m the boss – Cirulli bucks
They keep me busy around here, so I didn’t have much time to write a proper speech so if you’ll give me a second, I’m going to do what I imagine several graduating seniors have done this year. I’m going to put it in Chat GPT.
What advice should I give the West Perry high school class of 2023?
Honestly, though, I can’t remember one piece of advice that came from my high school graduation or two college graduations but what I can remember is the 1997 Top 40 Hit ‘Wear Sunscreen’ by Baz Luhrman. Your parents probably remember that. The gist of ‘Wear Sunscreen’ is that many people are going to give you advice over the next few days. Some of it will be good and some of it won’t, but if you only remember one thing, remember to wear sunscreen because wearing sunscreen is undoubtedly good advice.
So, I wanted to figure out ‘What is my Wear Sunscreen?’ What can I say to you today that you will carry with you and remember it for at least the next 25 years and its undoubtedly good advice. So here goes!
Righty Tighty; Lefty Loosy – That I know to be true about 90% of the time.
But I was also thinking about what I wished that someone would have told me when I was 18 years old, and this is what I came up with:
You’ll never regret the chances that you took even if you failed as much as the chances that you never took. It took me too long to learn to not let fear keep me from living. Don’t be afraid to take chances, to live life to the fullest. When you get to be my age people start talking about bucket lists. I don’t have a bucket list. I don’t believe in bucket lists. I want to do ‘All The Things.’ I want you to do 'All The Things!'
In Spanish they say muere con recuerdos no con suenos – die with memories not with dreams. If you have a dream, go after it. If you don’t have a dream yet, that’s OK. Keep collecting experiences and eventually you will. Never be content, keep dreaming and keep experiencing.
I noticed that the class quote is from Pitbull. Pitbull is also famous for saying Dale! Like a lot of Latino slang, it has many meanings depending on the context but usually it means ‘Go ahead, Let’s go or Go for it.’
So, my advice to the West Perry Class of 2023, 'Dale!'
But trust me about that Righty Tighty Lefty Loosy thing