At Wilmington Friends School’s final assembly for the class of 2009, student speaker Andrew Trainor earned a lot of laughs, as he introduced the audience to “the Trainor model” of the journey to adulthood.
There are five stages to his model: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, Trainor said Monday, June 8.
“The great thing about this school, and these people, is that I don’t have to tell you to believe in yourself and to accept that you will do great things,” he said. “You’re already an adult in that regard. We have been brought up to believe in the power of the individual to bring about change.”
In the fall, Trainor will attend Williams College and play soccer there.
The other student speaker, Mary Williams, also was humorous as she opened with a quote from Ron Burgundy, as portrayed by Will Ferrell in the movie “Anchorman.”
“‘I’m kind of a big deal,’” Williams said, applying that statement to the Friends class of 2009.
She noted the size of the class, one of the biggest in school history, and its distinguished accomplishments in academics, athletics, the arts, leadership activities and clubs such as Peace and Ecology, Science Olympiad and her favorite, the “Woodstock ’09” group. The latter started with a sing-a-long on a bus ride and continued in what Williams described as “a spiritual experience.”
Williams will attend Haverford College.
The commencement speaker, White House Deputy Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer, told ’09 graduates that their dream may change as they figure out their roles in the world.
“The important thing is to follow it where it leads you,” he said. “Given a choice, most people choose the safe route. … Most people would rather not try than fail. Don’t be most people.”
Pfeiffer graduated from Friends in 1994.
