St. Charles North High School

by Bradley Urhausen, Salutatorian
Wednesday, May 28, 2003

Good Evening.  I Don't know how many of use have realized all the things that graduation means, but this is probably one of the last times all of us here tonight will be together again. I don't mean to sound too somber on this rather joyous occasion, but that fact deserves some though. The reality of the situation is that we will continue to move on and go our separate ways and chances are, you and the people sitting around you will never be together in a single large group again. So whether or not you think that this is another sappy school function for all of the graduating seniors, this truly is a very special night. So when Dr. Kling came to me last week and asked me if I would like to speak at this ceremony, I responded "yes" without thinking twice.

But once I complied, I quickly realized that I didn't know what to talk about... So I figured that the title of this evening's events probably wouldn't be a bad place to start. The Senior Farewell. As I prepared to draft a copy of the speech that I am delivering to you right now, I realized that I really didn't know what the word "Farewell" truly mean. I mean, we all use it rather nonchalantly here and there, but what does it really mean? Probably for most of us, myself included, we associate this word with the word goodbye... or the phrase "see ya later"... or an end to something. But the more I thought about this word, the more I realized that I couldn't be farther from the truth.

As some of you may or may not know, the word "farewell" was derived from the colloquial phrase "fare-thee-well," or in modern medieval dialect, "goeth-thee-well" or "doeth-thee-well"--the word fare meaning "to go" or "to-do" and the word well meaning... "well." This phrase was actually used frequently when a cruise ship would leave a dock and head out to sea. The people on shore would shout "farewell!" as their loved-ones ventured out over the horizon, wishing them well on their journey and hoping for their safe return. Although the term "farewell" is used in times of departure, it hardly means goodbye. When someone is wished "farewell," there is the utmost expectation that the well-wisher and the recipient of those wishes will be reunited again.

For those of you who thought that by coming to this ceremony tonight you would be told "good-bye" by your friends and teachers and mentors, you were wrong. While this is, indeed, an evening dedicated to departure, this is not an evening about good-byes. Tonight is an opportunity for those who we have spent much of our adolescence with to wish us well in our future and to extend their expectations for a lifetime of interaction with each other. This is by no means an end. We are simply leaving the port of a bay that is our high school career and preparing to navigate the vast ocean that is our life ahead. And someday, god-willing, we will return to that port where we will undoubtedly find all of the well-wishers welcoming us back home, inquiring how we have "fared" on our journey. I would like to take this opportunity to be the first to wish you "farewell." May you "fare-well" many times in your life to come. Thank you and good luck and good sailing to all of you.

For questions, comments or suggestions, please contact Todd Hewell