The Pioneer Spirit: Changing the World
Dear Hill-Murray Community,
There are certain moments in the life of a school that feel bigger than the event itself. High School Graduation is one of those moments. It is more than a ceremony or a tradition. It is the culmination of years of growth, formation, challenge, friendship, faith, and discovery. This Thursday evening, within the beauty and grandeur of the Cathedral of Saint Paul, the Class of 2026 will receive their diplomas and join the ranks of our proud Hill-Murray alumni.
And while graduation naturally marks the end of one chapter, what moves me most is everything these students have become along the way. For years, they have walked our halls carrying backpacks, assignments, anxieties, friendships, dreams, heartbreaks, victories, questions, laughter, and growth we could not always see happening in real time. Somewhere along the way, often quietly and without announcement, they became young men and women ready to step into the world with courage, confidence, and hope.
At the Senior Awards Ceremony last evening, I shared something that I hope every graduate will carry long after Thursday night.
The world does not need more impressive people nearly as much as it needs more good people. Be kind. Truly kind. Not performative kindness. Real kindness. The kind where you notice people. The kind where you tell the truth. The kind where you apologize when you know you’ve screwed up. The kind where you stand up for someone when it would be easier not to.
And please understand this early in life: you do not have to have everything figured out at 18. Honestly, most adults are still out here improvising with willed confidence and some form of a calendar app. You will make mistakes. You will have heartbreak. You will fail at things. You will change your mind about who you are and what you want. That is not failure. That is becoming.
Do not lose yourself trying to become who the world tells you to be. Stay close to God. Stay close to people who bring out the best in you. And finally, do not forget to enjoy your life. Laugh loudly. Travel when you can. Thank your parents. Be brave enough to love people deeply. And every once in a while, pause long enough to realize how beautiful and fragile life actually is.
Class of 2026, the world does not need you to simply fit into it. It needs you to change it. So go build things that do not yet exist. Go ask harder questions. Lead with courage when it would be easier to stay quiet. Go bring faith, hope, integrity, and compassion into rooms that desperately need all four.
Because that is what Pioneers do. Pioneers do not run from hard things.
Pioneers go first. They create paths where none existed before. They carry light into places that have forgotten it. My prayer for you, the Class of 2026, is not that life becomes easy.
My prayer is that when life becomes difficult, as it inevitably will, you are brave enough not to quit, faithful enough not to lose yourself, and grounded enough to keep moving forward anyway.
Because the Pioneer spirit was never meant to stay inside the walls of Hill-Murray…
It was meant to go out into the world and change it.
Congratulations, Class of 2026.
Go live boldly. Go love deeply. And go leave every person, every place, and every corner of this world better because you were there.
Please join me in celebrating our Class of 2026 and praying for each of them as they begin their next chapter, carrying the Pioneer spirit with them wherever life leads, because no matter where they go, a part of Hill-Murray will always go with them.