Welcome to Conant High School’s graduation ceremony! Below, we’ve provided copies of your graduation speeches. If you need to change the language on this page, click the drop down menu in the top right corner of this page to select a language from the list.
*Note, some speeches may not be available.
Congratulations District 211 Graduates
Translation provided by GTranslate
OPENING REMARKS
Ms. Julie C. Nowak
Principal
Good Evening, I am Julie Nowak, and I have the great pleasure of serving as principal of these amazing students who sit before us tonight. I would like to welcome all of you who join us to celebrate the graduating class of two thousand twenty-six!
On behalf of the Conant High School staff, I’d like to thank you – the parents, relatives, mentors, and friends of our students- for being here tonight to celebrate this special day.
Thank you for the privilege of teaching your children.
I would also like to acknowledge our faculty, many of whom are here tonight. They are an incredibly talented group of educators whose commitment to our students is second to none.
To the Class of Two Thousand Twenty Six,
Whether you started at Conant as a freshman or came to Conant as a transfer student, each of you has made this class incredibly special. In your time, you have demonstrated your academic prowess, resulting in post-secondary plans that are truly remarkable.
Over 80% of you plan to pursue a post-secondary college education, with most focusing on science, technology, engineering, and health sciences. 27 graduates plan to attend trade school and earn credentials as electricians, automotive and HVAC technicians, and welders…areas requiring high-level skills in high demand. 73 students plan to become future high school teachers with areas of focus in business, science, and math.
Additionally, your athletic and artistic accomplishments are outstanding, culminating in 16 students who will continue a sport in college and 112 students who will continue their talents as musicians, singers, artists, and actors- earning well over a million dollars in scholarships in the arts alone.
As impressive as those accomplishments are, they are not what make this class unforgettable. The Class of 2026 is special. This class has our hearts.
As a class, you cared for one another, celebrated together, and embraced the richnes of our diversity, respecting what makes each person unique while remaining united as one community.
Whether it was Chris singing Frank Sinatra in the cafeteria, Soham’s tremendous Cougar Pride, or Daisha’s ability to break track records with grace and humility, even though she is perhaps the best of any athlete in Conant’s history to walk our halls, you each brought your own sense of spirit, resilience, heart, and humor.
In a world that often rewards attention, competition, and individual achievement, you know that kindness matters. With that said, my advice is simple. Trust your stuff.
During the 2024 state playoff run, a reporter asked Bryce Loeger, one of our alumni, about the mounting pressure as the series continued. Bryce offered 4 simple words. “I trust my stuff.”
Life is indeed going to put you in pressure situations.
Moments when you doubt yourself.
Moments when your heart breaks.
Moments when you wonder if you’re ready.
Moments when the future feels uncertain.
And in those moments, trust your stuff.
Trust that you are more resilient than you realize.
Trust the quiet voice inside you that knows who you are, even when the world gets loud.
Trust that asking for help is not a weakness, but wisdom.
Trust your values, especially when they are tested.
Trust that growth often comes through discomfort and uncertainty.
Trust your courage to speak up for what matters.
Trust your ability to begin again when things don’t go as planned.
Trust that you are capable of even more than you realize.
Trust the friendships and connections you’ve built or that you plan to build.
Trust that it will be okay.
Trust that character matters more than perfection.
Trust your stuff.
Today you celebrate as one class. And while you will go your separate paths, there is one tie that will always bind you. You will always be Conant Cougars from the class of 2026- and as you know, “Once a Cougar, Always a Cougar.”
WELCOMING ADDRESS
Rhea Govani
Senior Class Member
Freshman year, I used to sit across from classmates at the library and walk them through algebra problems step by step. They would nod. A week later, they would come back with A’s.
My grade on those same tests: a C.
My name is Rhea Govani. While this is part of my story, I know every single person in the Class of 2026 has a different story of what these four years looked like.
Different struggles. Different triumphs. Different moments that changed us in ways we are still figuring out. And somehow, every single one of those stories ends here. Together. On the same day.
That is the result of four years of showing up: for ourselves, for each other, and for something bigger than any one of us.
Going back to failing test after test in Honors Algebra 2, while successfully tutoring peers through the exact same material, I think a lot of us have lived some version of that contradiction: capable in one room, struggling in another. Confident in ways nobody sees, uncertain in ways we work hard to hide. We are never only the grade, or the version of ourselves that looks good on paper. We are also the struggle behind it.
The problem was not the math. What was missing was confidence under pressure. So something had to change: not the subject, but the approach. Asking for help with how to take a test, not just the content of one.
That one shift changed everything. AP Calculus BC. AP
Statistics. NHS and Tri-M. And the understanding that asking for help is not weakness. It is the most efficient thing any of us can do.
We showed up for the hard things. And for the shared ones too: the rituals nobody scheduled but everyone understood.
Take the library. For most of the year, it exists. We pass it. And then finals week arrives, and suddenly many more students discover it at the same time. Seats that were empty in September become prime real estate in May. Someone usually has a whiteboard marker and absolutely no whiteboard. Some of us walked by the suddenly flooded library in awe, some of us crammed ourselves into that room like it held all the answers. And maybe, in its own way, it did. Not the answers to the tests. The answer to who we are: people who will find a way, even at the last possible moment, even together.
And then there is what happens after the exams, after the big project leaves your hands. We go outside. Every single time. We flood the courtyards and every open patch of sky we can find, blinking in the sunlight like we just remembered it exists. We needed the air. We needed each other. We needed to remember there is a world outside the one that grades us.
These are not footnotes to our experience here. They are the heartbeat of it.
And to the parents in this stadium, thank you. For every morning you sent us out the door, every late night you stayed up alongside us, and for loving us through the versions of ourselves we are still grateful you never posted on social media.
On the field, in practice rooms, in club meetings and art rooms and every hallway of this school, we showed up. Sometimes over-prepared, sometimes running on four hours of sleep. But always there.
We did not have it easy. And that is meant as the highest compliment.
Some of us failed tests. Some failed entire semesters. Some carried weight that never made it onto a transcript. And some of us walked through those front doors every morning carrying things that had nothing to do with school at all. Things waiting at home. Things most people in this building never knew about. For some of us, showing up was the hardest thing we did all day.
We showed up anyway.
What unites us is not that we had it easy. What unites us is that we are still here.
We are not finished. We are not arriving. We are beginning.
In a matter of months, we will scatter. Some to universities, some into the workforce, some into trades, some enlisting, some still figuring it out. That is not a crisis. That is an open door. There will be Conant graduates in hospitals and courtrooms, on construction sites and stages, in classrooms teaching the next generation who will one day sit exactly where we are sitting. None of those paths is the right one. All of them are.
Tomorrow, the library will go back to being a room we pass. The grass outside will just be grass again. But we will not go back to being who we were before this place. We will carry it into every room we walk into next: the resilience built here, the friendships that survived the hard years, and the knowledge that we have already survived the things we were most afraid of.
Years from now, we will not remember the grades. We will remember the people we became while chasing them. The teammate who stayed late. The stranger in the library who slid over their notes without being asked. The moment we almost quit, and did not.
That is what Conant actually gave us. Not a diploma, though we did earn that too. It gave us each other.
I have had the privilege of seeing almost every corner of this school: from the orchestra room to the track, from the art room to the AP classroom, from HOSA meetings to the library at finals week, right alongside everyone else. I have not experienced Conant from one angle. I have experienced it from nearly all of them.
And because of that, I believe I can speak not just for the students who shared my path, but for every one of us.
Every corner of this school. Every path through it. Every person who made it their own. Congratulations, Class of 2026.
We showed up.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Mr. Stephen Kurfess
Conant Teacher
Greetings family members, guests, teachers, all math fans and especially the class of 2026. You have no idea how honored and humbled I am to be your faculty speaker this evening. I’m so happy to be here with you today.
Before I begin to give you some life lessons, which I love doing in math class every chance I get, I want to take a moment to reminisce and thank a few people in my life. Actually a lot of people in my life. The first group of people I want to thank are you kids. I got into teaching because I wanted to make a difference in kids’ lives.
Most of my classes in the past several years have been made up of mainly sophomores. Well, 2 years ago, when I was a sophomore, 2 years from retirement, my group of sophomores were awesome. I pretty much knew this right away. They were hard-working, kind, genuine and funny. I knew I was in for a good year, and man, it was a great year. I enjoyed that year and the 2 years following that year. Even talking with other teachers, we all agree that the class of 2026 is a great group of kids. So, I want to thank you for being an awesome group of kids and giving me some of the best years at Conant.
Another group of people I want to thank are the teachers, administrators and all the staff at Conant. I loved getting to know all of you and I made some good life-long friends over the years. I especially want to thank the Math Department. You have been my Conant family for the past 28 years, and I’ve enjoyed working with you. You are special people to me.
The last 2 people I want to thank are my Mom and Dad. My Dad passed away before I ever thought of becoming a teacher. I really wish he was here to see me so happy in my job. I do know he is always with me in spirit. My Mom is here today in the audience and has seen me go from my so-so engineering job to my love of teaching. My Mom has been my role model and my support, my whole life. I appreciate her so much. Thanks MOM!!!
A man and his wife went to the doctor for their annual checkup. While the woman was out of the room, the man told the doctor that his wife’s hearing was getting really bad, and he wanted to know what he should do about it. The doctor told him to test his wife’s hearing at home by speaking to her at different volumes. So the couple went home. The man yelled to his wife in the kitchen from the living room, “What’s for dinner?”. She didn’t respond. The man went to the entrance to the kitchen and yelled, “What’s for dinner?” Again she didn’t respond. Finally, the man stood right behind his wife and yelled, “What’s for dinner?” She turned around and said, “for the third time hot dogs and sauerkraut.”
He may have not been listening, but I hope you will listen to what I have to say today.
First, I want to make sure I tell you to treat everyone with respect in life. No matter what position you hold, you need to be kind to everyone. You may have the title of a doctor or CEO of a company, but you need to treat everyone the way you want to be treated. If you become the CEO of Amazon, go down to the lunch room in one of your factories and introduce yourself by your first name and call your employees by their first name. I promise you, they will have more respect for you if you treat them kindly. Just last week, I was talking to Mrs. Nowak outside her office and one of the ladies who cleans the front office walked by. Mrs. Nowak smiled and said HI to her and called her by her first name. You should have seen the smile on this ladies face. It doesn’t take a lot to be kind.
Let’s switch gears and talk about the last thing you are thinking about, considering you are just about to graduate. Saving for retirement. Let me say that one more time for those of you not paying attention…..saving for retirement. Those of you that been a part of my Finance Club or who have been in my class know exactly what I’m about to say…..but you know what….you aregoing to hear it again because you know it’s important.
The moment you start work, whether it’s tomorrow… the day after you graduate from high school or after graduating from college or trade school, you need to start saving for retirement. I need to plant this seed in your brain today so you will remember it when you get your first job. You have to start saving early in life to have enough money to support yourself when you retire. Nobody is going to save for you, and we don’t even know if social security is going to be around in 50 years. It doesn’t take a lot of money to create a significant nest egg, but it does take a lot of time. Let me give you an example. If you invest $100 a week for 40 years into the S&P500 stock market, you will have on average $3 million. $3 million after investing only $200,000. But
I’ll tell you….if you wait 5 years you lose over $1 million. Put that thought in your mind…..save for retirement when you get your first job.
Here is another quick piece of financial advice. Don’t buy a new car as your first car. Buy a used car. Buying that used car can save you a lot of money. You can save on average 30% by buying a 3 year old car. A lot of people lease a car for 3 years and then return it to the dealer to get a new car. Well, why don’t you buy that car and save money. Before you buy that used car though, make sure you get it inspected. There are a lot of people out there that claim that their car has never been in an accident, when in fact, it’s been in a major accident and it’s just repaired. Don’t trust anyone online selling their cars. Get it inspected. I know some of you really want that new car because you just love the new car smell. It’s a great smell. Well, I went on Amazon, and I bought this air freshener with a “new car” scent. It’s rated pretty high, 5 stars and it cost me $5.00 for a 2 pack. Now my used car smells new and I saved a ton of money. Buy a used car!!!
OK, enough with the financial advice. Now, let’s talk about you making a difference in the world. How can one person make a difference? Does it have to be on a grand scale that solves the world hunger problem?
No!!!
How about volunteering at the food pantry passing out food to those in need in your community. Do you have to be the person to find a cure for cancer?
No!!!
How about donating blood every few months or register to be an organ donor. How many of your are registered to be an organ donor? Ask you parents tonight on the way home from commencement if they are registered. It’s important…..it saves lives.
As I speak to you today, I am retiring in 4 days. One of my future goals is to volunteer at a senior home. My Uncle lived at the old Friendship Village for 3 years. I remember coming to pick him up, especially for the holidays and there were so many residents that had nobody to pick them up. That is so sad. I want to go there and make people happy. I have to tell you….you know what really makes the seniors happy? It’s when young kids come in to visit, play games, play instruments, sing with them or just sit and listen to their stories. The elderly love kids. So why not join me this summer and spend a few hours a week and make people happy. Bring your skill and bring your smile. I already have my plan of action. I’m going to make balloon animals for
them. I learned this skill during Covid and practiced it on many of you. See? Let’s make a difference in their lives….together.
I am confident that many of you will be financially successful in life. As you achieve your financial success, please make sure you also financially help others that are in need. It’s important. Over just this past year, many of you and your families have donated to Cougars I Need and together, we have raised over $18000. I had people donate $1000 and some donated $3.14. Every bit helps. Just remember that as your start your first job, it’s ok to spend money on yourself….you earned it and you deserve the good things in life. But please make sure you help others. How do you want to be remembered in life? Having a big house or a big heart? I would choose the big heart.
Before I say goodbye and wish you success in your life, let’s talk about the word “success”. Is success how much money you will make? Is success how popular you are? Is success what kind of car you drive? Well, I have a quote in my classroom that says…”Success is not what you have done, but what others have done because of you.” Through my life lessons and my few words of wisdom this evening, I hope I am successful giving you advice for your future in our world.
You have just spent 4 years of your life at Conant. I’ve seen many of you sad to leave. I’m not going to lie, I’m also sad to leave after 28 years. But there is a great quote from Dr. Seuss, “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” I’ve spent some of the best years of my life at Conant with you kids. I know this time is over, but man, I have so much to smile about.
Thank you for being part of my Conant family and for being such a great group of kids. You have made a difference in my life and I am grateful.
Remarks
Dr. Judith Campbell
Superintendent
Good evening! As I stand before the Conant Class of 2026 in my first year as superintendent of Township High School District 211, it has been an honor to witness the impact you have made on your school and community.
You have distinguished yourselves as scholars, athletes, artists, musicians, technicians, debaters, collaborators, innovators, and most importantly, leaders. This year’s theme, “United in Purpose, Powered by Passion,” perfectly reflects YOU, Class of 2026. I watched you all model how true strength is measured not only through achievement, but by how you showed up for one another during some of the toughest moments on your journey. Your resilience, compassion, grit, and unity speak volumes about your character through both the good days and the difficult ones.
I would also like to thank my Cougar Superintendent Advisory Group. You helped keep me grounded in my “why.” Thank you for allowing me to listen, learn, and grow alongside you.
As you begin your next chapter, never stop imagining the difference you can make, the places your talents and work ethic can take you, and the bright future you are helping to create. The world needs your Cougar pride of compassion, courage, and leadership.
Class of 2026, continue moving forward united in Purpose, Powered by Passion, and at this time, it is my pleasure to welcome Board Member Mr. Pete Dombrowski to the podium to accept and share remarks with you. Congratulations, Conant Cougars!