Our View: Outside The Lines

 “We learned to park outside the lines,” Nauset Regional High School Class of 2025 President and Salutatorian Brianna Wall said during last Friday’s commencement ceremony. While she was referring to the disruption students experienced while the school was being renovated, her comment also applies to skills we hope all of this past week’s graduates learned during their high school careers — the ability to think critically, reach their own conclusions, and question authority.

These are important skills, not just for those destined for college, but for anyone entering adulthood, especially today. As Monomoy Regional School District Superintendent Scott Carpenter acknowledged in his address during Monomoy High’s commencement Saturday, rapid technological changes are impacting every facet of life; artificial intelligence is becoming ubiquitous, but it can’t replace the human experience of change, learning by making mistakes, and thinking freely.

Perhaps like no other period in recent history, this is a fraught time for graduates. Higher education is under attack, as is the pluralism and diversity that has made our country strong. The greedy and power hungry are attacking many of the values we’ve taken for granted. It’s a time when we must all “become comfortable with being uncomfortable,” as Thomas Griffiths, a 2008 Cape Tech alum and the keynote speaker for the school’s 50th annual commencement, said Saturday. Despite what certain megalomaniacal billionaires claim, “choosing empathy when it would be easier to be petty” is critical, as Monomoy Class President Paige Nash said. 

 “You don’t have to be perfect,” she said. “You don’t have to have it all figured out; none of us do. But if you can walk out of this school into the next chapter of life and choose to live by the Golden Rule, you’re already doing more than most.”

We couldn’t agree more. Congratulations to the Class of 2025. You face incredible challenges, but the growth we’ve seen in you over the years gives us confidence that you will meet, and exceed, those challenges, whether you do so outside or inside the lines.