"What a strange machine man is! You fill him with bread, wine, fish, and radishes, and out comes sighs, laughter, and dreams." -Nikos Kazantzakis, poet and novelist (1883-1957)

I feel much the same way about the students who will be leaving our schools this year. What a wonderful mix of intelligence, humor, creativity, irascibility, hormones and love. They are a veritable stewpot of the human condition, and like stews everywhere, no two are ever alike.

As teachers, we relish the success stories and agonize over those who did not live up to their potential. At the same time, we are fully aware that many great individuals - Winston Churchill being the most frequently cited - did poorly in school only to blossom into full flower later in life.

As a drama teacher, I am privileged to watch students progress throughout all of their years in high school. I see immaturity morph into poise, inarticulateness change into precise diction, confusion transform into clarity of purpose, anxiety sublimated into confidence. It is truly a marvelous opportunity to see our young students transformed from gawky adolescents into assured young adults.

It's one of the experiences that I share with many other teachers and that makes teaching so much more than a job. To forge a covenant with young people to do your best to help them educate themselves and to see the results before your very eyes is thrilling beyond belief. Our Farmingdale community has much to be proud of in this year's graduates. They will carry our community's name into the world and add luster to it by their actions.

All of the members of the Farmingdale Federation of Teachers join with me in wishing them success and happiness in their lives. We hope many will return here to live - some even to teach - and that the circle of dedication and affection will be closed.

As close to many students as we become in their school years, we are often closer yet to teacher and administrative colleagues with whom we have spent 20, 25, 30 or more years working closely together. Many of them are retiring this year, taking with them a great deal of irreplaceable institutional memory and, in many cases, leaving behind a cadre of professional protégés who will carry on the task of educating Farmingdale's youth.

The new teacher buddy program that we participate in benefits all concerned. It helps new teachers learn the ropes more quickly and allows them to become full professional colleagues quickly. It allows our senior teachers to transfer some of the benefit of their experience and knowledge so that the continuum is not lost. Once more the circle is completed.

To all of them, students and retiring colleagues, we offer the ancient Latin valediction, "Ave atque vale." (Hail and farewell, for those whose Latin is a bit rusty.)