Konnichiwa and hello everybody. I hope you are all geared up for your Japanese lesson today. Well, last time in our last lesson, I left you with a small phrase in the end which I did not explain. So, I will explain it today. I left you with this phrase, ashta mata aimashou. A simple phrase which is used very commonly in Japan when you part from someone when you part from somewhere say probably from a class or from a meeting. You generally say and if you are going to meet the person again, people again, then you say mata ashta aimashou. So, well I used ashta mata aimashou. Ashta is very simple, ashta means tomorrow, mata means again and aimashou means let us meet. So, the meaning of this phrase is let us meet again tomorrow. So, well just repeat after me once ashta mata aimashou. Once again ashta mata aimashou. So, now last time in our last lesson, I had given you some assignments. Did you complete them? Well, I am going to give you the solution as well. It is a very simple one. Assignment 1 was match group A with group B. So, you have group A over here listed in Roman. You have it in Hiragana as well and then we have group B over here which is the English meanings. So, I will just point it out to you once for pronunciation. So, that you get the right pronunciation. The answers are ashi leg, ari mint, karasu, kro, koara, kolaber, isu, chair, kani, crab, iruka, dolphin, kohi, kofi, su, monkey, sakana, fish, Suzume, sparrow. Well, I had given you another assignment to match group A with group B. Now, group A has numbers written over here in Japanese and group B has the English equivalent written over here. So, you just have to match them. I will do the matching right here in front of you, so that you can also get the pronunciation well. So, I start now hachi 8, ni 2, roku, 6, q, 9, juu, 10, san, 3, shichi or nana, 7, ichi, 1, yon or shi, 4, go, 5. So, I hope now you would remember all the pronunciations properly. Now, this was your third assignment where there are a lot of pictures given and you have to name the animals and the objects in the pictures. So, well, let us see what the first one is. Well, the picture is of a crab. So, what is a crab in Japanese? You have done the word, it is kani and then we have a watch, a wrist watch which is tokei. Kaban, we have sushi here which is a Japanese delicacy and you can see rice in white.  So, it is called sushi and it is had with soya sauce. Then we have tamago which is egg. You can see a table over there, a table is called a tsukue. It is T-S-U-K-U-E tsukue and not tsukue, S-U-K-U-E. Please remember that it is tsukue, keshigomu which is a rubber or an eraser. Then we have kumo which you can clearly make out is a spider, karasu which is a crow. It is all black with a long beak. It is a crow, karasu, ari, arisen and you have this boy, sweating. So, well, sweat is ase and then we have osara which is a plate. You can see a lot of trees in this picture. It is mori, looks like a wood, looks like a small forest. So, a forest is a mori in Japanese. We have boushi over here and the pronunciation is boushi which is a long O sound means a cap. M-pitsu and you can see the spelling is E-N-P-I-T-S-U, but when you pronounce it, it is E-M-M-pitsu. So, before P, the sound N changes to M. Please remember it is M-pitsu. Then we have megane which clearly you can see what it is, uma, a horse, isu. Then we have hachi which is a bumble bee and hachimitsu is hanu. Then we have kutsu. So, this is your vocabulary section for you. You can learn a lot of words over here, speak aloud, say it out aloud and you will feel comfortable. So, now I hope you will also practice at home and get the right pronunciation. This is a small picture for you over here. You were supposed to name the objects in the picture. So, again for the pronunciation, we will do it right here. Boushi, kaban, isu, hon, M-pitsu, kasa. Now, we were doing pronunciation practice. It will help you in saying words. You will get used to the sounds. So, this pronunciation practice is extremely essential. Try to do it out aloud and over here, please repeat after me. Now, let us see what the first one is. A-i-u-e, ho-hi-hi-he, a-i-u-o, sasu-sase, keikiku-ko, tachi-tatsu, koki-ki-ke, tachi-tsu-te, kaki-ku-ke, te-chi-tu-to, keikiku-ko, te-chi-tatsu, o-i-i-e, tochi-tate, o-o-i-e, sashi-suse, e-i-u-e, se-shi-su-so, sashi-sasu, nani-nu-ne, ha-hi-ha-hu, ne-ni-nu-no. So well, this was your pronunciation practice. Now, if you remember, in the last lesson, we did the scripts in Japanese. So, we started with hiragana script. We did three sections of hiragana, which is the wobbles. We did the ka series and we did the sa series for you. I will write down all of it for you on the board, before I start on pronunciation practice. The wobble series is a, i, u, a. Then the k series is ka and ko. Please try to get the right pronunciation. Then we have the sa series or the s series, shi-so. This is what we did last time. You will notice that this sound is a little different. This is an exception here. It is not c, but it is shi, similar to this English shi. Pronunciation wise, it is similar to s, h, e in English. So, please remember that. Now, today we will do the t sound, the h sound and the n sound for you, hiragana. As I had told you earlier, hiragana has 46 such symbols. Hiragana has 46 symbols for 46 different sounds. So, the first set of hiragana is 46 symbols. We have already done 15 over here. Now, again we will do 15 more with vocabulary as well. So, you have so many words, new words for you to learn now. You will notice that the sound ta is not followed by sound t and tu as in ka, ki and ku. It is ta, chi, sur, te and to. This is an exception over here and again this is also an exception. Please remember these two are exceptions in the ta series. I will write down the ta series also for you. Ta, chi, sur, te and to. So, please repeat after me. Ta, chi, sur, te and to. Some new vocabulary with the series tanuki, tamago, cheetah, chikatetsu, tsunami, terebi, tokage, toke. Now, this is su. Please remember su. It is different from tu. The next series is the na series. The na series na, nana, nami, ni, ningyo, ningin, nu, nuigurumi, nu no, ne, neko, nezumi, no, nokogiri, nori. So, you have more vocabulary for you to learn nabe, namida, niji, niusu, nuru, numa, neji, nedan, nodo, nogyo. All these new words, new vocabulary that we are doing over here now will actually come in handy. So, please practice at home. Get this vocabulary. Try to say these things more often so that your tongue is used to these new sounds. You can pronounce easily and it is easier for you to speak when we actually start conversation. So, now we have ha series for you over here. So, these are all new words for you for your tongue to get used to these sounds, for your mind to get used to these sounds when you speak, so that it comes out easily. You need to practice more at home. Some more vocabulary with ha series, Hana, Hachi, Himo, Fusuma, Henji, Heiwa, Kiki.  Ha, hi, hu, hei, ho. Now, you will notice this sound is somewhat hu and somewhat fu. So, whichever is easy, the actual sound is hu as you blow air out, but you can also say fu if it is very, very inconvenient. Well, I would like to tell you one thing that as we are doing hiragana, that is the first script that we do in Japanese. And of course, everything can be written in hiragana. We do not require all the three scripts that I told you about in our last lesson, but later on you will notice yourself that without kanji and without katakana, it becomes a little difficult for Japanese to read the script. Why? You would like to know why? It is very simple, because when you write in Japanese, you do not put spaces in between words as we are all used to doing in English. And because there are no spaces, one does not know when the word begins and when the word ends. So, it is extremely essential. So, it is easy when you have three scripts. It is easy to understand when a word is beginning and when the word is ending, even if the space is not there. So, well now, enough of vocabulary for today. There is lots to learn at home. We will start on simple conversation over here. Something very simple. This is how do you do? How would you introduce yourself in Japanese? How would you tell who you are in Japanese? So, simple word is jikoshokai. Jikoshokai means self introduction. We will do self introduction today. First chapter for you, simple conversation. I will read the conversation to you first and then I will explain it. Now, you can see over here how it is written. It is written in all the three scripts. Of course, this is Hiragana. I am sure you would have understood. This part is Hiragana. Now, this small thing over here, this small character that you see over here, this is Kanji. These characters we will do a little later. There is one over here, then there is another one over here and then you can see something written, two characters written over here also. So, you will notice that we have Hiragana, we have Kanji and then as I told you in our previous chapter, in our previous lesson, Katakana is used for foreign words. So, well it is a foreign word. So, it is very clear. Of course, I have given the spacing for us to understand and read. But generally, when you write in Japanese, there is no spacing at all in between words. Now, I will read it out that this conversation is between Kumar and Honda. Kumar-san and Honda-san. As I told you, for Mr, Mrs and Mrs, we use san in the end after the name. So, Kumar-san and Honda-san, conversation between the two. I will just read it out to you. Hajime-mashite, watashi wa Kumar desu. Dozo yoroshiku onigai shimasu. Hajime-mashite, watashi wa Honda desu. Dozo yoroshiku. Of course, it is a little difficult to understand anything now, but I am sure two words you would have caught, Kumar and Honda. So, now I will explain this to you. Hajime-mashite, this word actually means to start to begin, anything. Hajime-mashite word means to start or to begin. Now, this is a very, very common phrase used when you meet someone for the first time. When you introduce yourself to anybody, to a group or to anybody for the first time only, then you will use this phrase, Hajime-mashite, watashi wa you tell your name, watashi wa so and so this and dozo yoroshiku onigai shimasu. I have just told you Hajime-mashite, which means to start or to begin. It is association, let us begin. Watashi word, watashi means eye. This word, this sound written here in bold is wa. It is a particle and particles are a very, very important integral part of the language. Why? Because they join words to make proper, complete, meaningful sentences. So, we need wa over here, then Kumar is the name of this person who is introducing himself and this over here in the end is a verb. So, from here I am sure you can make out the Japanese is a subject-object verb combination. The subject comes in the beginning, object in the middle of the sentence and verb, unlike English, comes in the end. I will of course explain what you later, but for the time being I will read it again, Hajime-mashite, watashi wa Kumar desu. So, now you can understand this gentleman here is introducing himself as Kumar, I am Kumar. We go on to the third one, dozo yoroshiku onigai shimasu. This is a phrase, it can be divided into parts of course, the complete meaning of the phrase is that I am introducing myself, I am so and so, I place myself in your hands for your favorable consideration in the future. So, I am sure you can understand some of it over here of course, wa and desu, I will explain a little later. So, once again Hajime-mashite, watashi wa Kumar desu, dozo yoroshiku onigai shimasu. And Honda-san again does exactly the same he says Hajime-mashite, watashi wa Honda desu, dozo yoroshiku. Now, as I told you earlier, wa is a very important particle, it is a grammatical particle and it tells you about the topic or the subject of conversation. Wa signifies as is written over here, the primary subject or topic in a sentence. So, it is very very important and generally the topic would be a noun or a pronoun would be there. So, generally wa will follow a noun or a pronoun. As I said, the verb part comes in the end, this is a verb, but it is not a complete verb as such. It is a combination of verb and a particle and is being used in the language as a verb. Well, it is given for your reference over here, Hajime-mashite an expression used when introducing oneself or meeting someone for the first time only and is similar in meaning to the English phrase, how do you do or nice to meet you. Those are yoroshiku or phrase used together with Hajime-mashite when introducing oneself to someone, meaning please to meet you. The phrase is a request for the other person's favorable consideration in the future. Yoroshiku actually means to convey my best, convey my good wishes. It is also used in formal written Japanese to convey regards to someone. You have the example here, you can read it. Onigai shimasu is a request to start the association or relationship and is a request for approval and consideration by the other individual in the future. So, these are just phrases which you have to learn and memorize. Well, now as we did this first sentence over there, watashi wa desu. It is very simple, watashi as I told you is I, wa is the particle which I talked about earlier and over here you can have your name. So, it can be any name, anybody can be introduced like this. Tana ka, a Japanese name. Suzuki, another Japanese name. Honda, another Japanese name. An English name, Jane. Rao, an Indian name. So, anyone, you can introduce yourself like this. Watashi wa tanaka desu. Watashi wa Suzuki desu. Watashi wa Honda desu. Watashi wa Jane desu. Watashi wa Rao desu. So, simple introduction over here. Watashi wa tanaka desu. Watashi wa Suzuki desu. Watashi wa Murakami desu. Matsumoto desu. Nishimura, Rao and Jane. So, very, very simple. You can do this on your own now. Then you can also tell about your profession. You can talk about your profession. The pattern does not change over here. Again it is about yourself. So, the subject is over here which is I. After subject wa will come and instead of name you can put your profession over here. So, you could be Doctor Isha, Engineer Gishi. You could be a nurse Kangofu. You could be a teacher Sensei. You could be a secretary Hisho. You could be a lawyer Bengoshi. So, whatever you are doing, whatever your profession, instead of name you can put the profession and you can introduce yourself like this in a very, very simple manner. Watashi wa Isha desu. Watashi wa Kangofu desu. Watashi wa Hisho desu. Watashi wa Shufu desu. Shufu is a housewife. Watashi wa Gakusei desu. Gakusei is a student. Watashi wa Bengoshi desu. As I told you lawyer. Watashi wa Gishi desu. As I told you engineer. So, now this is a very, very simple way of introducing yourself. Now you could say the whole thing once again. Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Tanaka desu. Watashi wa Bengoshi desu. Dozo yoroshiku onigai shimasu. So, you have your complete introduction now in a proper manner. Now, of course, this is you are just stating something. You are just telling something, but what about when you want to ask, are you a student? Are you a lawyer? Are you a doctor? So, what will you do then? Very, very simple. Nothing much has to be done. The pattern remains the same. It does not change at all. Instead, we just add something in the end which is particle ka. We just add a simple particle in the end to make it an interrogative sentence statement over here. We have done Watashi wa Isha desu. Simple. It is a statement. I am a doctor. But well, if I want to ask, are you a doctor? The word for you is, you have done the word for I. The word for you is anata. Y-O-U, anata. Anata wa Isha desu ka? Anata wa Anata wa Isha desu ka? This particle ka over here. Ka is a interrogative particle, important particle making a sentence into a question. Simple to be used in the end of a sentence. Now, one thing I want to tell you before I go any further, I have told you about Watashi. Now, I give you this word anata which means you. But in Japanese, whenever you ask a question, you will generally not use anata which means you. You will take the name, use the name of the person you are asking. For example, if you are asking Tanaka san, you are asking Rao san or you are asking Jain san. Then you will say Jain san, anata wa Isha desu ka? Tanaka san, anata wa Isha desu ka? Or just Tanaka san, Isha desu ka? That also can be done. Anata is of course, you unlike English. In English, of course, we use you all the time for anyone, any age. But in Japanese, anata is considered a little direct. So, generally you would use the name of the person. We have this over here for you. Again, Honda san and Kumara san over here. Honda is asking Kumara san. Kumara san wa Gakusei desu ka? See, you can see Kumara san is given over here. So, Kumara san wa Gakusei desu ka? Hai, Watashi wa Gakusei desu. So, Hai, this word Hai, which I am introducing here now means yes. Means, yes, I am a student. Gakusei is a student. So, Kumara san wa Gakusei desu ka? Kumara san, are you a student? Yes, I am a student. Watashi wa Gakusei desu. Pattern is the same. Watashi wa Gakusei desu. Gakusei of course, Gakusei desu. So, it is very, very simple. A statement can be changed into an interrogative statement by just using ka. You can ask and answer in this very simple manner. Put a stop here and say Hai, Watashi wa so and so. This. Short answers are also listed over here for you. For example, if I ask Kumara san wa Gakusei desu ka? So, instead of saying the whole thing, Hai, Watashi wa Gakusei desu, you can always say very simply Hai, so this. It is a simple short answer, which means yes, what you are saying is correct. Or you can also make it even more simpler by just saying so this. So, long sound this. Of course, this is not very formal. This is extremely informal to be used amongst friends only and not to your seniors at all. Now, over here you can see ka is used to express the speaker's doubt and uncertainty about something and interrogative sentences form by adding particle ka at the end of a sentence with a rising intonation. So, please remember the rising intonation is very, very important. With ka always the intonation is high. That is what makes it into a question statement. So, please remember that. So, now a simple phrase for you. We have done so much, wakarimashitaka. A simple statement over here. We have already done so much. I have explained so many things to you. Wakarimashitaka, have you understood? Have you understood what we have done so far? Wakarimashitaka. Say that please. Wakarimashitaka. This is with ka over here. This is a question I am asking you. So, you can say high wakarimashitaka. You have done high means yes. Wakarimashitaka means understood. So, wakarimashitaka means have you understood? High I have understood. Now, last time I had talked to you about these three scripts, the Hiragana, Katakana and the Kanji script. Of course, the Hiragana script I have been doing with you. Last time I did and this time also I did about 15 characters with you, 15 symbols with you, 15 sounds with you. Now, today I will just introduce the Kanji script a little. Just three Kanji characters for you today, not too many and we will be doing it from this book here. It is 250 essential Kanji characters for everyday use. This book is very simple and why I find it interesting is that it has things given very clearly. The stroke order of the Kanji, how it is to be drawn, how it is to be made is given very clearly in this book, which stroke comes first, which comes second and then how it is to be written. So, all those things are there and the most important part about the book is that how the Kanji has come into being is also given very clearly in the book. This book is by Kanji Text Research Group of Tokyo University, 250 essential Kanji for everyday use. You could use it at home. So, I will write it down for you on the board. It is a straight line, horizontal line drawn like this. The Chinese count their numbers and write Kanji like this. It is counted like this and the picture, the character comes from the single finger which is horizontal in horizontal like this. I will show it to you. Can you see it? Can you zoom in a little please? Is this clear now? Is it visible over here? See, look at this one over here. This is how it is to be written and shown. In a similar manner, we have Ichi. We have Ni also for you. Two lines, two horizontal lines to be made like this. The first one is short and the second one is longer than the first one. If you make it like this, then it becomes an equal sign. So, that you have to please remember the first line is small and the second one is longer. This is Ni like this. This is how they show it in Chinese. Then, we have three which is Sun. You all know Ichi, Ni and Sun. So, you will see. It is very clear. The first one is long. The second one is a little shorter than the first one and the third one is the longest of them all. This is Sun. So, Ichi, Ni and Sun. Please, I will draw it once again for you. Ichi, Ni and Sun. Is it clear? Please remember that these are very simple. Of course, for the time being, we will only do one reading each for all of them. There are a number of readings for Ichi, Ni and Sun, but for the time being, only just one each. Now, we have a simple expression for you. Kombaowa. Please say that. So, it means good evening as you can see very clearly. But please remember this N over here is of course, N, but the way it is pronounced is press your lips like this, close your lips and it is an M sound. So, please kombaowa. So, please remember that it is easier and there is a reason for it. Of course, the reason we will do later when we do more words. Last time in our last lesson, we did vocabulary from 1 to 10. I hope you remember all of you. We did Ichi, Ni, Sun, Shi, Go, Roku, Nanna, Hachi, Q, Ju. So, now after Ju, today I will just read this out for you from 11 till 30. Ju Ichi, Ju Ni, Ju, Sun, Ju, Yon or Shi, Ju, Go, Ju, Roku, Ju, Nanna or Shi, Ju, Hachi, Ju, Q or Q, Ni, Ju. Again after 20 it is back to 1. So, Ni, Ju, Ichi, Ni, Ju, Ni, Ni, Ju, Sun, Ni, Ju, Yon, Ni, Ju, Go, Ni, Ju, Roku, Ni, Ju, Nanna, Ni, Ju, Hachi, Ni, Ju, Q, Sun, Ju. So, please remember these. These are very important. These will come very handy when we are doing other things later on. So, you need to remember your numbers very, very nicely. Of course, there is vocabulary for you. You can introduce yourself better now with this vocabulary. I will just read it out, so that you get the pronunciation. Daigakusei, Ryugakusei, Kyoju, Sensei, Bengoshi, Annensei, Hisho, Shufu, Untenshu, Kenkyuin, Kenkyuusei, Joshu. Some of the vocabulary I have already done in the conversation. There is new vocabulary for you. You can learn it. Introduce yourself in a better way. Of course, there is more vocabulary again. Kangofu, Oisha-san, Keikan, Shufu, Astronoto, Osumo-san, Eahostesu, Pirate-to. So, these are all new words, new ways of pronouncing these words. Tamago, Tora, Chita, Kasa, Tokage. So, you got all this vocabulary earlier. Now, it is with pictures. So, it is easier to remember with pictures. Visuals are always very strong. So, please try to remember this. Now, is the difficult part. You have your assignments. So, you need to do these assignments at home. You have done a lot of vocabulary. Some conversation you have done, lot of new vocabulary you have learnt. So, now, we have the pictures for you. Here, I have put these pictures. I want you to name what the object is. So, please try to name them and then we will see it tomorrow, whether you have done it properly or not. Assignment 2 is again match A and B. It is very simple. You have done this earlier in primary school, I am sure. Match group A with group B. So, it is similar to that. Group A has Japanese words here. Listed for you. Group B has the meanings. So, I want you to match these. Then, as we did earlier, given you some pictures. You have to name the pictures. You have done it. So, please try to do it without looking at what is given. Over here, I have this small conversation, which we did. I want you to use these words A, B, C, D, the options here. Use it in place of this word underlined, which is Gakse. Use these and then answer these questions. These are short questions. You could answer them any which way you want. It could be short answers. It could be full answers, whichever you want and you just see how much you remember actually. Well, this is for today. I think we have done quite a bit. We have done a lot of things. So, I will leave you here today. There is lot of work for you also to do. Remember, memorize, learn, practice everything. Try writing also if you can with a small phrase again. So, dewa minasan ashita mata aimashou and this I will explain to you next time in our third class. Thank you very much.


staff and administrator procession followed by the class of 2023 senior student procession. We ask that you all please remain standing as both processions occur and then remain standing as Maeve Kennedy leads us in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance followed by Layla Grimaldi singing the Star-Spangled Banner and turn your attention to the American flag. Maeve, would you please come up and lead us. To the flag of the United and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God with the visual with liberty and justice for all. Amazing graduating class. At this time I'd like to introduce our co-principals for 22 years and Katie Sutton who has been a part of the RUHS faculty and staff for 12 years. Thank you for all you've done for our graduating seniors. Welcome to the 2023 commencement ceremony for our RU, oh sorry. Wrong part. Alright. Thank you Chelsea. I'm Lisa Floyd, not Katie Sutton, co-principal at Randolph Union High School and I am thrilled to be here with all of you this evening recognizing these smart funny capable young people that you have raised. Our community indeed this world is made better through their work ethic determination and creativity. And I am Katie Sutton co-principal at Randolph Union. It is our honor and privilege to celebrate these senior students with all of you here tonight. As you can see as you review the program for this evening's ceremony, we will hear from individuals who the seniors wish to celebrate and recognize and of course we will hear our seniors voices as well. We are delighted to spend this evening with you on this monumental occasion and with respect to the solemn and special nature of this occasion we ask that you please silence your cell phones and remain attentive as we enjoy our time with these remarkable senior students for just a couple more hours. Dear class of 2023 and all of you here with us under this tent on this lovely evening parents, guardians, grandparents, siblings, friends, community members who have supported and guided and nurtured these young people right up to this significant point in their lives. Thank you for joining us this evening to celebrate this remarkable accomplishment. This evening can be a bit bittersweet because while it marks the beginning of new and wondrous journeys, it also marks the end of equally many journeys and though our you has been a common experience for these young people and though their paths may have been intertwined at times, their journeys, obstacles and triumphs often have been their own. A lot about the idea of transition and change lately and how sometimes transition feels organic and gradually evolved much like a sunflower seed that is planted in the earth and knows vaguely but importantly what it will become. What its potential is to be tall and strong and beautiful to those who witness its growth. I ask you this evening to imagine a beautiful and vast field of sunflowers all kissed by the light all gently swaying in the wind together and in unison. We know that the students who we are celebrating tonight are also experiencing a significant and important passage in their lives. One that was not guaranteed and certainly not given to them without an extraordinary effort. I will always think about this class of students and what it took for them to be here in front of you all as their journey here has not been an easy one. They have experienced incredible adversity, a gale force wind, a torrential rain, the absence of light for prolonged periods of time all of which has impacted their growth and their ability to see what could be what potential they have to grow into the individual they are capable of being. Many of these factors have been beyond their control.  Sometimes the rain and wind is too much to bear and their stocks give out and there they lay exposed to the elements wondering if anyone will come by and lift them up or prune them to allow for regrowth. Some nurture, some care, some recognition that the conditions that they are facing are hard impossible even. Will anyone notice? I say to you tonight that we saw you and we see you. We know you've lost your teachers and peers throughout your tenure at RU. We know that during a critical point in your lives here at school you were not given the opportunity to witness other sunflowers grow in fields from afar and who also would have benefited from your presence, your inspiration to grow, your brilliance. That a pandemic, something beyond your control, much like an adverse weather event, attempted to steal your promise and our ability to support you in the ways in which you needed to be cared for. But here you stand, strong, tall and beautiful. We know there have been times over the course of your journey with us when things have been hard, times when your advisories seemed like they were falling apart and needed support, times when classes challenged your assumptions and left you feeling as if you would never pass that summative. There have also been times when life outside of school felt as if it would overwhelm every effort you made to learn and grow. And we have been fortunate enough to have front row seats to serve as guides and witnesses, as you solved problems, learned to reach out for help, leaned on each other for support, all in order to continue on your educational journey. Watching all of you enter this tent tonight reminded me of a time that doesn't feel very long ago, when you all were nervous eighth graders preparing to enter the world of high school.  Choices that have brought you on to this stage this evening. If you have ever observed a sunflower, you may have witnessed that they turn in the direction of the sun, hence the name. You can almost see the decision making as they slowly and gradually turn and tilt their heads, earnestly finding the right light that will allow them to realize their full potential. The choice is subconscious. They know they need the light to live and the transition, the change, ever so slight, ever so gradual, is essential to their growth. Some transitions feel like that. There seems to be no choice in it.  But sometimes the change feels thrust upon you in abrupt, uninvited imposition or disruption, an invasive and persistent pest, much like the pandemic presented to all of us. What is remarkable about all of you is that when the changes, the transitions, have been imposed upon you, and it appears that you have no choice in it, no decision to make, that you have made one. You have decided that you can either lay on the ground, waiting for nurture and care, and decide to accept unfortunate conditions and slowly decay without purpose, or you can decide that you do have control and agency in it, that you can decide to approach the adversity, the change, the transition, with hope and optimism, and know that you will be nurtured, you will be cared for, and you are seen and heard, that you can leave a legacy, an impression that others are watching you and what you do, so that they then will have the courage and the fortitude to make something important and precious out of an unfortunate circumstance. That is why you are all here tonight, glowing in your growth and beauty right before our eyes. I have no doubt that others, outside of our special school community, will notice. Those of us who have had the joy of watching you grow and seeing you develop your own voices and strengths over time know that life will bring unexpected challenges. You have developed the capacity to learn to get back up, turn your faces to the sun each time you've been knocked down. And while your journeys may take you to varied and wild places, we sincerely hope that you will always know how to find your way home to the places that support and nurture you. We share with you a graduation gift, a poem by Mary Oliver, appropriately titled, The Sunflowers, which reminds us of all of you. Come with me into the field of sunflowers. Their faces are burnished discs, their dry spines, creek-like ship mass, their green leaves so heavy and many, fill all day with the sticky sugars of the sun. Come with me to visit the sunflowers. They are shy but want to be friends. They have wonderful stories of when they were young, the important weather, the wandering crows. Don't be afraid to ask them questions. Their bright faces which follow the sun will listen. And all these rows of seeds, each one a new life, hope for a deeper acquaintance. Each of them, though it stands in a crowd of many, like a separate universe, is lonely. The long work of turning their lives into a celebration is not easy. Come and let us talk with those modest faces, the simple garments of leaves, the coarse roots in the earth so uprightly burning. Congratulations Class of 2023. Thank you. Now we will engage in a special tradition at RU, recognizing and celebrating our international exchange students and families with the International Exchange Club Exchange of Flags. Please welcome Paula de Miguel Gonzalez of Spain and her exchange siblings Helen and Blake Allen to the stage. Good evening. My name is Blake Allen and my family has had the pleasure of hosting Paula de Miguel from Spain this past year. RUHS has a long tradition of honoring our exchange students and families at graduation with a sharing of flags. Year after year, our exchange students complete not only the lives of their families, but their classmates in the Randolph community. We are lucky and grateful to have them. This past year, RUHS welcomed Paula de Miguel as an AFS student from Spain. From the beginning, Paula fit right in with our family and school. She totally rolled with our family's humor and enjoyed the trips and activities we took. At school, Paula played three sports, being the star of the volleyball team, but picking up softball and basketball for the first time. She volunteered in the community through her Interac class and recently traveled to Florida through the RUHS Marine Biology trip. Paula will leave Randolph having found her way into broader RUHS community and into the hearts of her friends and host family's hearts. I will miss Paula comparing everything to high school musical, but I will never forget her. We now welcome Annabelle Sprague for our yearbook dedication. This year's yearbook dedication goes to Mike Gray. Mr. Gray has been with the class of 2023 for many years as he was a seventh grade advisor. You can always expect Mr. Gray to be participating in school events and busting a move on the dance floor at prom. Mr. Gray taught eighth grade science to our unbunctious class. His calm demeanor and humor proved to be just what our class needed. As Mr. Gray moves on next year, he will be greatly missed. Thank you Mr. Gray. Senior speaker of the evening. Please welcome Simon Allen. Good evening Randolph Union Galloping Ghost Community in the class of 2023. Albert Einstein once said, if you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not people or things. As we gather here today, we, the class of 2023, stand on the threshold of a significant milestone in our lives, high school graduation. This occasion is not just about us as individuals, but also about the people who have helped us get to this point. I, Simon Allen, stand before you as a representative of our class, sharing my own journey of adapting to Randolph Union. When my family informed me of our move from Chelsea to Randolph, I was initially resistant, leaving behind my familiar surroundings, school and cherish connections seem like the end of the world. However, as I entered seventh grade at RU, I quickly discovered the unfamiliarity was not as daunting as I had imagined. New friendships blossomed and we experienced the joy of growing together. As a sophomore, I had the privilege of attending a, ah, my bad. I had the privilege of attending a sports leadership conference put on by the BPA, supported by the school's booster club. It was there I learned the significance of setting goals and envisioning their realization. I actually took away a lot from the conference, but most important thing I took away was goal setting. Setting goals is not about merely going through the motions, required setting attainable yet challenging objectives, pushing ourselves outside of our comfort zones and breaking down our aspirations into smaller manageable steps. And just through this process of growth and achievement that we can realize our full potential and make our dreams a reality. Since then, I've set goals for myself that are attainable, but won't be easily reached. And I set smaller goals to reach that large goal. They talked about making a dream board in this conference. And ever since then, I have had a dream board in my room, where I set goals all the way from three months out to 10 years. This lesson has stayed with me throughout my high school journey and will undoubtedly shape my future endeavors. You may ask, what is the point of all this? Well, we have all had the goal to graduate and we've done it. We'll now open the next chapter of our lives and continue to move forward with the same drive and aspirations that we have developed over the years. We may not have had the best athletics or academics, but I know that this class is full of hardworking and goal driven people. So class of 2023, even though Mr. Hawks thinks we are the class of 2022, I wish you the best of luck and thank you for the memories we have made together. Let us be bold in our ambitions, diligent in our efforts and unwavering in our commitment to success. Brian Cagney said, in order to know where you're headed, you must be aware of your own personal goals. So move forward in your next chapter by setting goals and working hard to attain them. And of course, stay small. Thank you, Simon. We now welcome Hisoka Chamberlain, our next senior speaker.  From the parents to the teachers and faculty who have held our hands. Thank you for guiding us through these crazy, important years. Not only have these years been crazy due to the growing process and discovery process, but they were also insane because we got caught up in COVID during our transition through into our high school years. For this, I want to commend everyone under this tent tonight for making it through for supporting students and being there for your peers through the rest of it. Here's to each and every one of us on the stage and off the stage tonight. To everyone who has lended a helping hand in raising each of us to be where we are today. To my fellow peers, we should all feel very accomplished for making it to this huge milestone in our adult lives. No, no matter what you do after this, just remember everyone who has made an impact on you in this moment right here and now. Have a wonderful night and peace and love be to all. Senior speaker will be Illumi Wheeler. I'd like to thank RUHS for helping me learn my potential and for granting me the ability to gain bonds over my years here. I'd also like to thank everyone who has helped me get to where I am today and I'll be leaving here with important knowledge and relationships and I know I'll be leaving here and have people believe in me. Goodbye RU and rock on. Samantha Flint. Celebrate the moment we've been thinking about since we walked in those doors in seventh grade. Back then it seemed so far away and now that's here it's kind of crazy how fast the years have gone by. Mostly you probably know me, but for those that don't, my name is Samantha Flint. I have been head of the costume team for the past two years and I spent my senior year in the ag program at the tech center. When I joined drama in ninth grade, I was really nervous because I didn't know anyone and I was the only freshman. I ended up having a lot of fun. I was able to expand my experience with sewing and altering clothing and I became friends with a ton of amazing people. I stayed in the drama program for the rest of high school. I've really enjoyed my time in the program and I've been able to learn a lot from Mr. Rainville and Mr. Mikiwan. Thank you. When I started this year in the diversified agriculture program I was pretty nervous but as time went on I had a lot of fun, made some new friends and got to know my cousin better. Most or both of these experiences have taught me that it's good to take risks and try new things. There have been a lot of times over the past six years where I was unsure of doing something because I didn't want to be alone, but I learned that if I'm going to do something I enjoy with people that enjoy it too I won't be alone. So my advice to everyone still in RUHS is to try joining a club or a sport or go to the tech center. Just don't hold yourself back and don't be afraid to meet new people. Trust me going to tech and joining drama has really paid off me because I've met some of my best friends there. Congratulations class of 2023 and good luck in the rest of your lives after high school. I now welcome Layla Grimaldi for her speech. Hello seniors, families and friends. I'm Layla Grimaldi but you might know me as campus life president, Miss Randolph Teen or even the new Southern girl that moved here last year. Or you might not know me at all but I find that extremely hard to believe. All the report cards and teachers notes I brought home the past 12 years had said something along the lines of this. Layla needs to learn a whole lot more and talk a whole lot less. Anyway I'm done with my intro so let's get why we're all here. Graduation. Dear fellow graduates, as we gather here today to celebrate our graduation I can't help but reflect on the journey that brought us here. For me that journey is when I moved here from Georgia all the way to Randolph. I was nervous and unsure about what to expect but I quickly realized that I had landed in a very special place. And just like that you get new experiences. I've met so many cool people in Randolph through school and my extracurriculars. I've also met amazing people beyond the walls of high school. We've all had our fair share of foreign exchange students to never forget. And friends that you meet from different schools or sports events. But with this you also find people you don't connect with or like. And that's something I had to come to terms with. We all have gone through some awkward phases. If you had seen 2019 Layla begging her mom for the Air Force Ones and wearing that God awful red lifeguard hoodie you'd understand. But through these high school experiences we find ourselves. We start seeing what we can do and who we want to be. For me this defining moment is when I started pageantry. Even though it's not really understood in our little town. I made so many amazing friends by walking in stages and sparkly dresses. I've learned to have amazing speech skills and to be a leader. I've also learned how to fail and get back up and to be confident when we're not our best selves. Throughout these four years a lot of us couldn't believe in ourselves. At some point in time we have all been scared and afraid. Whatever that moment was no matter if it was on the Asbab or on your 10th grade portfolio we all had that same exact moment. But I know moments of strength can also look different for everybody. It might be when a paint brush is first put into your hands or when you scored your first goal on the varsity team. This moment opens everyone's eyes to see that you are okay with who you are and not with what people want you to be. Randolph Union High School has been more than just a school for all of us. It's been a community, a family, and a home. We have made lifelong friends, shared unforgettable experiences, and learned valuable lessons that will stay with us forever. It has been a long road these past four years of high school life, but I feel like all of us had made valuable connections and left our marks. But my experience is just one small part of the bigger picture. Everyone of us has a story to tell. A journey to share and a unique perspective to offer. Together we make up the fabric of this amazing community. Class clowns, athletes, artists, and actors. We all love Randolph and in common, we will have it in a common and we all have it in common for the rest of our lives. Standing here I want to make it clear that no matter who you are, what click you're in or what path you're taking out of here, you are getting the same diploma as everyone else walking the stage, doing it in front of the people who did or didn't believe in you. Maybe some of you heard graduation isn't an accomplishment. When I heard this from my dad being halfway through high school at the time, I felt disconnected and discouraged. But being here today I know what it means. He knew and he believed I would do better than a high school diploma. He knew the work was going to be worth more in the end. High school will only be one very small part of my achievements and our achievements and one very small stepping stone for our futures. Seniors, we have come together to support each other through the good times and bad. We have celebrated each other's victories and lifted each other through our defeats. We have learned from our mistakes and grown stronger as a result. I feel like this year we really morphed seniors into a family. As we talked to each other and we became a team by the end of the year. As we move on to the next chapter of our lives, we will take us lessons, memories, and happiness that we have found here. Whether those were hard lessons or a teacher connection for the next chapter, there was something you took away from Randolph Union. We will look back our time at Randolph Union with gratitude and fondness. So let us take a moment to thank our teachers, our families, and each other for what we have done to make this day possible. Let us look forward to the future with optimism and excitement, knowing that we are ready for whatever comes our way. I hope you all work hard and accomplish all of your dreams. I hope you live day by day like it's your last. Push yourself and break the rules. One day you'll find what you truly love. One day you'll sit down and say this is what I'm meant to do. This is what the path God or the universe holds for me. To quote an influential woman of our time and one of the number one lyrics screamed on the senior trip bus and on the dance floor prom, here's a quote from the boss herself, Lizzo. Turn up the music, turn down the lights. I've got a feeling we're gonna be all right.  Congratulations class of 2023. I'll see you all through union. Who's our keynote speaker for this evening? Please welcome seniors, Logan Margison and Quinn Gallant. Good evening. Hold on. I'm tall so I gotta justice. Good evening. Are you guests? I would like to introduce an old friend of mine. This man is my former para and has helped me throughout most of my high school career. I miss having him around and really appreciate all the help he has given me.  And he has helped me become a stronger person both accidentally and emotionally. In the brief time he and I have worked together, he has become one of my closest friends. Additionally, our speaker is someone I've known since I was nine as a camp counselor and in the last three years as a lacrosse coach. I can say with confidence that he is a personable, thoughtful, and inspiring person as a coach and a friend. It is our honor and pleasure to call Richard Burnham to the stage. Superintendant Lane Millington, principals Katie Sutton and Lisa Floyd, members of the faculty, family, friends, and most importantly the graduating class of 2023. Congratulations on this milestone. I remember graduating on the same stage back in 2016 just seven years ago. I remember the conversations about the after party and brain tree later that night. I remember wearing slippers under my graduation attire, which my mother was very angry about. And among my lasting memories is the fact that I was chosen as one of the student speakers. I remember I thought I was going to change the lives of my classmates with this genius piece of advice I had come up with. I wrote a speech about never forgetting where you came from. Super original. At the moment, at that moment, I was proud of the work that I had put forward. But as I got older and had more time to reflect in the speech that day, I realized a few things. One, that piece of advice was extremely corny.  And three, I was 18 years old with no real adult life experience attempting to give people the same age as me advice on being an adult. Something about that never felt right and it felt kind of selfish. What I have learned is that the best advice is given through the actions of others. Anyone with the right amount of time can sit down and write positive affirmations like get comfortable being uncomfortable. Everything happens for a reason. Success is a mindset. All of those are great, but the people that live by those positive affirmations, they're the ones that we were supposed to learn from. They're the ones in the front lines fighting wars, protecting our streets, sprinting into fires and standing up for what is just. They're they're the ones who sacrificed every waking hour of their lives, nursing people back to health during the COVID-19 pandemic, teaching our next generation and maintaining our societal infrastructure. They're the ones that left a forever long impact on those around them. Acknowledging that fact, today I'm going to do something different. I'm going to tell you the three life lessons I learned from the actions of others that have come into my life. Number one, serve a purpose bigger than yourself, but expect nothing in return. It is spring 2022 and I'm working in a classroom with a unique group of students. Every day, this particular group of seniors had a different objective. Some days it was, how can we make Richard extremely uncomfortable? Other days it was, is it possible to make Richard angry? However, in this particular instance, they were preparing for prom. While the majority of the students browsed websites for tuxedos, dresses and other items, there was one senior who never did. She always faced the window, never truly interacting with the rest of the classroom, except when the topic of prom came up, the student's head would perk up quickly and her, and their eyes would widen in excitement. However, there was one problem, the student could not afford the prom experience. I had a supervisor at the time who always sat diagonally across from me in our classroom. If a student had a bad day, she was the first to listen. If a student accomplished even the smallest of tasks, she was the first to scream in excitement. Despite having kids of her own, I could tell each day of working alongside her that no matter what student she worked with, she cared about them as if they were her own. On this particular day, I was only a bystander to a conversation with a student who sat by the window. Sadly, I do not remember it word for word, but the result of it was my supervisor paying for her to have the prom experience. She got her hair braided, her nails done, and got to choose from a selection of dresses collectively given to her by a few staff members. Then, on the day of prom, my supervisor and I attended their pre-prom photo shoot. The student who sat by the window, who never truly interacted with the rest of the classroom, was now a social butterfly.  The student who thought it would not be possible to truly experience prom had it brought to life for her, and it was all because of my supervisor. There will always be someone less fortunate than you. Even in the darkest, most painful moments of your life, there will always be someone who has it worse. Yet, we get so easily blinded by our own misfortunes. We forget about the world others live in. We forget how hard it is for others to afford commodities like food, water, or shelter. If you want to leave a positive legacy, it starts with serving others so that they can experience the beauty that life has to offer. The sad part is, though, some people who serve do it for the wrong reasons. They want the clout that comes along with it. They want to be able to make a new Instagram story or TikTok. These people want someone to recognize them for what they are doing. That is not why we serve others. We serve others because it's the right thing to do. We serve others because there are people out there that will never get the same opportunities as the rest of us. We serve others because we don't know how much time everyone has on this earth. If you commit to helping others, at some point the recognition will come, but don't make it the reason you do it. Serve a purpose bigger than yourself, but expect nothing in return. Number two, build a strong and undeniable belief in yourself while staying grounded and humble. It was August 2018. I was running through a torrential downpour in Northfield, Massachusetts, wearing a 25-pound weighted vest, raising money for the Wounded Warrior Project. I had spent my entire summer training for a 10-mile Spartan race, consisting of trails knee-deep in mud, gruesome sandbag carries, rope climbs, and endless amounts of burpees. As my runs got faster, my lifts got stronger, and my confidence grew at an insurmountable level. But at this particular moment, I was uncontrollably shivering from the cold. My weighted vest weighed about 20 pounds heavier due to the rain. With each step, I couldn't feel my legs from the knees down.  My thoughts consisted of a never-running circle of wanting to quit, thinking about the pain I felt and feeling sorry for myself. On your right, the man behind me shouted, I move over into the grass to allow the other racer to pass me. He was about six feet tall, wearing nothing but black shorts and a pair of running shoes. He had long, curly black hair, a thick, survivalist beard, and tattoos covering most of his body. But then, as he completely passed me, I noticed about halfway down his forearm, the remainder of his arm was missing. He was also missing half of his right leg. Instead, he had a prosthetic attached below the knee. I stopped running, and my thoughts completely cleared. I was no longer thinking about the pain I felt in my body. My legs began to wake up enough so I could feel my toes, and the air no longer felt nearly as cold. Being cold no longer mattered. Being wet no longer mattered. The pain and soreness in my body no longer mattered. They were all minor inconveniences, not real challenges. I'm proud of myself for finishing the race, despite not finishing first. But I learned there are people in this world who have stories you will never know. They grow up with hardships that we as people can never dream of experiencing. Yet, there are still people in this world that don't want to put the work into capitalizing the opportunities they were born into. This feels disrespectful. Even worse, those same people try to instill into others that they should take shortcuts, do what they want them to do, or not challenge themselves. That is not how you build confidence. That is how you develop an ego. We were supposed to do hard things. The greatest lesson, the great, sorry, the greatest lessons and personal stories are rooted in experiencing, surviving, and thriving when doing things that suck. In order to develop into the greatest human you can be, you need to take advantage of every single opportunity given to you, not because you have to, but because you get to. Build a strong and undeniable belief in yourself while staying grounded and humble. Number three, never allow anyone to convince you that you're incapable of achieving something. In the winter of 2019, I was attending my alma mater, Wake Forest University. I was taking an anatomy course and after seven weeks into the class, I was failing. My professor was not only one of the leading researchers on Neosteoarthritis, but he was also extremely old school. His class had no curve. He did not post his notes online. He never once made a slideshow. If we visited him in his office hours, we weren't allowed to record our conversations. We could not take any pictures of our notes, nor were we allowed to make any copies. He admittedly told us about some of our test questions, being ones he stole from his PhD program 30 years ago. It took him until 2015 to start giving quizzes in between tests in the class average he maintained out of sea. This was a man who would push you until your absolute limit. And if you did not meet his and only his standards, you would not succeed. We were about to take our fourth exam in seven weeks. We were expected to know every muscle from the neck down to the hips. What nerves innervate said muscle, the origins and insertion points of each muscle. And lastly, the functions of each. On top of this, we had to be able to identify every factor on either a cadaver, specimen, diagram, model, bone, or even a magazine. In total, there were 492 pieces of information we had to have memorized. We were only being tested on a random set of 80. I was nervous. I was nervous beyond belief. If I failed another exam, there was no way I would be able to recover. What I decided to do was try and win over my professor with my work ethic. For 10 days, I documented every second detail, image and video that I studied. I created a color coordinated spreadsheet that outlined everything I did to prepare for the test. So I could show my professor how much I genuinely cared, hoping if I failed, this would be my one saving grace. Fast forward to the end of those 10 days, I had just finished my exam and within 10 seconds of leaving the lecture hall, my anxiety had overtaken my entire body. I could not wait to hear what my grade was. My only option was to go see my professor before he was able to grade. As I approached his door, my heart was pounding. I could not get the idea potentially failing the class off of my mind. But before I could knock, he noticed me standing there. Come in, Richard, he said. He could tell something was immediately wrong because the second my foot crossed the entrance of the door, he said, what is troubling you? I poured out every ounce of self doubt and panic I had in my body. I showed him my studying spreadsheet and explained every single detail. He stared at me and listened intently to every word that left my mouth. And then he said the words that forever changed my life. In the 30 years, I have been a professor. I have never adapted my course for a single student and I'm not going to start now. Maybe you are not meant to pass my class. It felt as if a fire had been lit inside of me. It was a fire that I was missing for my entire academic career. My potential was being doubted once again. I had people tell me my whole life I couldn't accomplish countless things. You could never run 48 miles. You could never get into Wake Forest. You could never become a teacher. You could never get out of Randolph. I proved all of those people wrong. Why am I going to stop now? I shook my professor's hand, thanked him for his time. They went back to my dorm and changed every single one of my habits that I believed were affecting my ability to do well in this course. I passed the exam and eventually passed the entire course. The people who doubt your potential are some of the strongest sources of external motivation you will ever experience.  There will be people who purposely try to prevent you from succeeding. These people are not meant to be hated, resented or disrespected. They're meant to be proved wrong. Do not let their doubt consume you. Instead, embrace the challenge and rise above their disbelief because it is in those moments of adversity where you will truly shine.  Never allow anyone to convince you that you are incapable of achieving something. With each passing second, you draw closer to embarking on your next journey. There will be times where your very best will not be good enough. There will be people who do everything in their power to make sure that you don't succeed and there will be uncontrollable events in your life that will forever change who you are. But if you serve a purpose bigger than yourself and expect nothing in return, if you build a strong and undeniable belief in yourself while staying grounded and humble, and you never allow anyone to convince you that you are incapable of achieving something, you will unlock the limitless potential within you and pave the way for extraordinary accomplishments. Thank you very much for this opportunity to share my story with all of you. Congratulations, class of 2020, 2023 and go ghosts. And now for our introduction of the RUHS graduates of the class of 2023, we welcome senior advisor Jamie Conner to introduce our graduates while we present the diplomas. We ask that families only come forward to take a picture when their graduate is receiving their diploma. We promise we will hold our pose to wait for you to get pictures. Here we go, seniors. Dakota Gonzalez. I'm taking a gap here and working as an LNA. School for the U.S. Air Force Medical Services Education of 2023, majoring in public health science and minoring in Spanish and to complete an 18 day early childhood course then apply as a substitute while also focusing on her bowling career and sewing passion. He beginning in the fall of 2023, majoring in art and design for two years and studying business for an additional two years. Ellie has received her cosmetology license and is now pursuing additional certifications. State University major undeclared while continuing to study dentistry and work in the field. Lily Smith to move to North Carolina after graduation to start her family. Kaylee Monger here to travel after graduation. Florence University in the fall of 2023, majoring in psychology. Makayla Herring, College of Vermont whilst also continuing her job as an LNA. Leah Vinton will continue to work as an LNA while studying to become a registered nurse. Enter the workforce, majoring in electrical engineering and minoring in computer science. Diesel equipment, his work in photography and making it a career is on finding an art major. Leah of Kentucky, majoring in business 2023 to earn her bachelor's of science in nursing. College this fall, majoring in theater acting. Enter the workforce, gets in business while being a salesman at Green Mountain Electric Supply, which then transferred to Grand Canyon University to pursue an education in mechanical engineering and physics, conservation. River Toyota as a mechanic, animations pursuing welding to begin a welding apprenticeship to pursue a degree in fire science. Love de Saint. Caleb will be going to Vermont State University, VTC campus, majoring in construction management and will continue to work and pursue his dream of photography, ski to the best of his ability and will never stop working on his car. Is continuing into her second year at Norwich University with hopes to get her master's in architecture 2023 for snapping turtle tree work, he will reach different heights by becoming the new climber mechanic while still room electrical engineering, this majoring in renewable energy, continue working as an electrical apprentice working towards his journeyman's license and further advancing in his career, clinical college in the fall of 2023, majoring in mechanical engineering. 23 time for the town of Randolph, continuing to work at Gifford Medical Center as an LNA after graduation and may attend college in the future to further her nursing career. Union principles, we certify tonight to OSSD board chair Hannah Arias and superintendent Millington and the surrounding communities that these Randolph Union seniors have successfully met the state of Vermont and Orange Southwest school district academic graduation requirements and proficiencies and that they are prepared for the conferral of their diplomas. These turn your tassels from the right side of your cap to the left in order to signify your status as Randolph Union at this time it's of the class of 2023.


and welcome to Issues and Answers, a production of the Government Information Service and NTN. I am your host, Kendall Eugene. Let's talk basic needs, let's talk trust fund. What comes to mind when you think of basic needs? And of course, when you hear trust fund, immediately money should come to mind, right? Today we'll find out a little bit more about our basic needs trust fund and we have with us today, Mr. Brandon Antoine, the Deputy Project Manager from the St. Lucia Social Development Fund, SFDF. Welcome to the program. Thank you, Mr. Eugene. When we hear the word basic, we often attribute it to bottom, barrel, level. That's not the case at all. When we add now needs and the trust fund to it, what should one be thinking about? Okay. The basic needs trust fund is the principle poverty reduction program of the Caribbean Development Bank. Okay. It started since 1979 and the objective of this program is, it's get towards poverty reduction by improving the socioeconomic conditions of persons within the nine borrowing member countries as within the Caribbean, improving the lives of persons. And it is done through various sectors. We're looking at the water and sanitation sector, the access and drainage and also the educational and human resource development sector, which includes livelihoods and skills training. So this program has been in existence for quite some time, over 40 or 40 years, if you will. And it is the flagship program of the St. Louis Social Development Fund. So when we hear the two basic needs, it has nothing to do with you being the bottom of the barrel. It's basically coming into assist people who are in poverty. Yes. Essentially, it is a community driven model that is being used with the BNTF program where the sub projects that we implement are normally emanate from the communities. The communities decide and they submit proposals to the St. Louis Social Development Fund and we review, we do our evaluations, our analysis, have our various stakeholder meetings to determine whether these sub projects are feasible and will help to alleviate poverty within those communities. Now when we speak about alleviating poverty, what exactly does that mean? What are you trying to accomplish or what are you trying to, what is the ultimate goal in the alleviation of poverty? So basically, it is to improve lives. We normally do baseline assessments to determine where persons are. So for instance, if we implement, if we implement, we construct a public facility in a community, let's say, Marsha, we have to determine the poverty level, whether there are needs, an appropriate needs assessment, a community needs assessment to determine the needs of those persons within the community and develop the intervention to address those needs to improve the sanitary situation, perhaps in that community. So it is, we more or less develop a strategic and scientific approach to help persons to get out of poverty. As you would expect, you cannot alleviate poverty in one go, you know, for all the country, by one intervention. So it's a process, but over the years, since 1979, and this is the 10th BNTR cycle, and we have implemented projects for other length and breadth of St. Lucia, get towards poverty alleviation. We've done early childhood centers under the education and human resource development sector. We've done water projects, improved health centers, and we've done quite a number of skills training projects, and also livelihood projects where persons through various organizations like the National Skills Development Center, where persons are trained, provided with a skill, and they can use that skill to find work, to find employment, which will in the end help them to improve their lives. So over the years, since the inception of the program in 1979, these are some of the benefits you could, both to or point to, yes, we have done this, we have implemented all of these programs within the communities. Everything is community-based, I'm getting the feeling that you think community-first before moving with any project, is that correct? Yes, we do our community needs assessment. We prioritize, look at what's a priority in a particular community. We do various assessments, develop our sector portfolio of projects, and do our profiles and so on, to determine whether this is the right project, whether this project would help solve the problems that the community faces. How do we go about selecting which community needs intervention? Must a proposal be written up and brought to the FSDF? Yes, so we accept project proposals from various stakeholders. So you will have parliamentary representatives, community leaders, church leaders, community organizations, schools, the Ministry of Education, which is a significant partner for us in the BNTF program. They will submit, they normally submit proposals. We have our technical team, our engineers, for the Civil Works projects. Our technical team would do the evaluation, we'd look at the estimates, the prepared drawings, et cetera. And then we determine the feasibility. We do what we call prioritization of projects through a prioritization tool that we have. So this will help us determine whether the project is suitable for an intervention. And it will be based on various socioeconomic indicators or factors that we take into consideration. So poverty levels, et cetera, would be key for us. That would be. The focus area of the BNTF, of course, you just mentioned that you're in the 10th cycle, let's talk about the sub-project that would be implemented under the cycle. What are we looking at? So we're looking at, like I mentioned earlier, the water and sanitation sector, access and drainage and education and human resource development. Under the water and sanitation sector, we are currently, we've just signed a contract with WASCO to install a $100,000 water tank in the Victoria community, that's in Chuzel. And this project is particularly important because over the years, the residents of the communities, the surrounding communities, I believe, about 15 communities will benefit from this project. They are currently receiving water once per week. So we are hoping with this intervention that they can receive portable water, a continuous supply of portable water for at least four or five days a week, or perhaps the entire week. But what we are looking at is we installed a tank. Currently, there is a 40,000 gallon rubble wall water tank which is leaking. It has some serious deteriorating really badly. So this 100,000 gallon gas fuse tank will replace this tank so that they could do repairs. It will be alongside the tank. We'll install it alongside the tank. It will be a compliment. Yeah, it will be a compliment to the tank. WASCO will repair the existing tank. So basically, so it's their choice whether they want to use both tanks because there is an issue with supply. That's one issue and there's also an issue with the intake for that water tank. And the current intake is the Fonserjac intake. So what WASCO is doing, they are looking at the possibilities of having another intake in Zeno. So with that new intake, communities that are on the Fonserjac intake will be transferred to the Zeno intake and the Fonserjac intake will only supply the Victoria water tank. Okay, let's take a quick break. I will come back and chat some more about the alleviation of poverty, which is, I guess, your mandate with the social development fund, social development fund, and of course, the BNTF. This is issues and answers. I am Kenod Eugene. We'll be back right after this. Everyone say counseling, counseling, counseling. I don't have a chance. I've never done a PS1 counseling before. But, Glacia, just yesterday, you asked me advice about your husband and we spent over an hour on the cell. That's counseling. I don't want to do that. Just think about it, Glacia. When you have been difficult to use someone, you ask your friends for advice to help you to deal with your problems. But wouldn't you prefer getting advice from a professional counselor?  Hmm. When you're in a situation like this, you don't need professional counseling, but you need advice on the condition of a doctor's visit. Mm-hmm. Don't you know the Ministry of the Public Service has an employee assistance program they call EAP, which is offering six free counseling sessions for government employees? Hey, Glacia, why don't you take advantage of it? Really? It's free? Let me often let me call the EAP unit ASAP because I want professionals, did you say free? Free counseling. Well, Glacia, why not? Who is the counselinger? Call the EAP unit at 468-2269. EAP works, let it work for you. So I'll go into the other projects. Welcome back. We are here with Mr. Brandon Antwon from the Philucia Social Development Fund. He is the Deputy Project Manager. Of course, we're discussing the basic needs trust fund, a major part of the SSBF's mandate to assist and alleviate poverty within the island. And we were speaking about a water project that is ongoing, looking to, of course, bring some form of relief to communities. And you mentioned what community? That's Victoria Schrozer. I mean, she was a lovely, lovely community, if you have not been. Definitely. So how long would a project like that would it take to impact the community? Because you mentioned that you would have issues with. So how long would it take before? Yeah. So we are looking at the completion of this project to be within three to four months, providing that we deal with the intake issues, do the installation of the water tank. We should see, based on the forecast of Wasco, we should see some immediate relief for persons within that community. And like I said, this project is very opportune and it's needed at this time to improve the lives of residents. Because like you said earlier, water is life. And in 2023, I believe we should work as assiduously as we can to try to provide water for communities across St. Lucia. But the BNTF program, we have implemented a number of water projects. Well, that's not the problem with that. So like you said, it is life and you know how we would be on the last course full line if our water intake was cut off for only two minutes. So let's talk a little bit about the projects implemented, especially the water projects. So currently, we are implementing the BNTF 10 cycles. So we've had nine cycles before that. We've installed 100,000 gallon water tank at Buto, which is now improving the lives of persons and now within that community, I receive in water on a continuous basis as we speak. We've done installation of water tanks in Paseas, in Viesicui, La Quamengo. I could go on and on. But over the years, we have in La Bon as well, we installed some water mains in La Bon under the BNTF 9 program. Yes, so throughout the various cycles of the BNTF program, we have been able to implement water projects to improve the lives of persons. And that's the principle of the BNTF. Yes. We're all coming into that on the air. Definitely. And moving on to the access and drainage sector. Under the BNTF cycle, we will be constructing a road in Goodlands, road and drain. And also, we will be installing a four inch main and doing some household connections in the same community under this project in collaboration with Water School. We'll also be constructing a road in Crown Lands, that's in Bexon. So this is another project under the access and drainage sector. Under the education and human resource development sector, which I said it includes livelihoods, we have a number of projects to be implemented under this sector. So we rehabilitate in the Food and Nutrition Lab at the Viewport Comprehensive Secondary School. We also rehabilitate in a block of the Suffer Primary School. And we are also rehabilitating or retrofitting a pre-K class in the Babono Primary School, the Lapo-Amingo, and also the Bishop Gashi Primary School. And not too far from the Bishop Gashi Primary School, we are rehabilitating the Antripo Early Childhood Development Center, which is in close proximity. Yes, it's in Marshall. Yes. And under the livelihoods sector or livelihoods portfolio, we will implement a goal project in collaboration with NSDC, which is geared towards improving the skills of young farmers in agro-processing and crop production. And we're also looking at the possibility of constructing an agro-processing lab at the NSDC farms in Mikud, that's in Monropo, Mikud. We are also working with the Cultural Development Foundation to do some training for, we call it the Arts Business Training, in collaboration with Sa'afalis Community College and the Cultural Development Foundation, whereby artisans, creatives, musicians, and musicians will be trained in marketing their business, in production, et cetera. So this will be done under the BNTL cycle, and we will also construct a multi-purpose performance stage at the Cultural Development Foundation grounds, which is, and this one is... When are we looking for that one? Because I know a lot of our artisans will be jumping for joy when they hear that. Yes, so this will be implemented, this will be constructed this year. We are currently working with our engineers, our consultant engineers, to develop the designs and also prepare the estimates for this particular project. The idea is for there to be a performance stage, an open area, you know, so that persons, instead of conducting performances in the cultural center, they can perform outside open air. On the outside open air, you will have a nice sitting arrangement, stage, canopy, with changing rooms as well. Okay, will that be an end to the Cultural Center if we know it, or do we have added complement? An added complement to the Cultural Center. It will just provide for more of an open air kind of setting compared to, you know, the close-up type setting at the Cultural Center. Yes, overlooking the castries harbor and so on. So, like I said, we're working on the designs and so on, but the objective is to ensure that the musicians, the artists and so on, they have a place to perform and perhaps make some money as well. So that's important because the livelihoods component of the education and human resource development sector is geared towards improving lives through economic activity, that type of thing. Okay, I recently read that in the document. Okay, go ahead. Without cutting in shots, Kali. And the last one is the music studio. I think you might be interested in this. Hold that thought. Let's take a break because that one might be a little bit lengthy if you're going to be talking about the music studio. There's issues and answers of production of the government information service and the national television network. I am your host, Kendall Eugene. We'll be back in a few. Your old child, she's driving me crazy. I just don't know what to do. All that I need is some good leaks to wake up. Alice, ignore the counseling Francis gave it. Government employees have free access to professional counseling services under the employee assistance program known as EAP. EAP? EAP? What's that? Not me that telling people my business. Listen to me, Alice. I was struggling with my child. I made an appointment to see an EAP counselor and I was very satisfied with the service that I received. And you know what? Up to a day like today, my information remains confidential. Cox, how come nobody in the office knew anything about your counseling? Ah, that's because EAP counselors, they work on the strict clauses of confidentiality. I know you know what confidential means. EAP providing professional counseling services? How much is it? Girl, the counseling is free. Free for you, free for your child. And you know what? Your information remains confidential. Call the EAP unit at the ministry of the public service. Telephone number 468-2269 for more information. EAP Works, let it work for you. Welcome back to Issues and Answers. My guest with me is Mr. Brandon Antoine, the deputy project manager from the Celusia Social Development Fund. This afternoon we're chatting about the basic needs trust fund and we've learned quite a bit on the projects that have been taken by your committee. But you mentioned something before we went into the break that will pique the interest of many young Saint Lucians listening and watching the show. And that is the construction of a music studio or a recording studio. Tell us a little bit about that. So under the BNTF 7 and 8 cycle, and I know that will interest you, Scottie, this is your film, your background. So under the BNTF 7 and 8 cycle, we did, we provided training to about 50 young musicians in collaboration with the Saint Lucia School of Music. So they received training in sound engineering and so forth. And under the BNTF 9 cycle, we constructed the studio, the music studio at the Grossly Human Resource Development Center. So under the BNTF 10 cycle, we will complete the studio because we also purchase equipment, music equipment, on the BNTF 7 and 8 cycle, and also the BNTF 9 cycle. So under the BNTF 10, we will complete the studio. They do the installation of the equipment, looking at the acoustics, and we are working in collaboration with the Cultural Development Foundation. They are spearheading this effort. Excellent. And also the Grossly Town Council, who is responsible for the Grossly Human Resource Development Center. So this is a collaborative approach that we are embarking on. And the objective is to provide this space for musicians. We are particularly targeting those musicians that are, you know, I wouldn't say poor, but, you know, they don't have the means to pay to you pay $5,000 to $2,000. Yes, for recordings. So we are targeting those persons. They will pay a nominal fee to the Cultural Development Foundation, because I'm sure they'll appreciate the maintenance and. Yeah, I think when you go to a basketball or a football field, you pay a small fee for the lights and whatnot. You might be able to do the same for the studio. Yes, understood. Will that studio be available to every finger of the ocean or just the community of Grossly? Um, we generally said that the same. Yeah, everybody. Excellent. I mean, it's in the community of Grossly, but we are, you know, we're hoping that persons would come over and do their recordings. Yes. All right, excellent. Um, the BNTF collaboration with WAFQ, let's talk about that a little bit. You recently signed an agreement and to install that $10,000 water tank in Grossly. Now, we all said that water is life, but apart from Victoria Schubert, are you expecting to see any other communities benefit from projects like that? Currently, currently, under the BNTF 10 cycle, we only have one water project. Okay. But going forward, you know, under the BNTF 11 cycle, we expect to receive proposals for various water projects. In fact, under the BNT, we have a pipeline of projects that, under the BNTF 10 program, that, you know, we couldn't, because of the funding that we received, we couldn't, you know, we were not able to provide funds to all communities or to implement all projects, right? So that's the reason why we have to prioritize, because the funding we receive is a grant from the Caribbean Development Bank and also the government of San Bushok contributes to it. So it's 95% from the funding from the Caribbean Development Bank for a grant and 5% normally through government contribution. Are we expecting any other communities to be targeted? Do you have any means you can tell us? For water? Or any other project you would like? Yeah, well, under the BNTF 10 cycle, we are, under the BNTF 11 cycle in fact, we are already receiving proposals and requests for various projects. I mean, I don't want to go into them now because we would have to do the analysis and have the stakeholder discussions to ensure that at the end of the day, we have a pipeline of projects that we will implement. We have the necessary, the required funding to implement those projects. So moving forward, the BNTF program, like I said, is a flagship program for the San Lucia Social Development Fund and also for the Caribbean Development Bank since 1979. This year, for the nine borrowing member countries, the BNTF, the Basic Nigs Trust Fund, will implement, I think, 40 million US worth of projects across those nine borrowing member countries. So we are, San Lucia received 13 million out of that, 14 million EC, out of that PUS. So we have to ensure that when we develop the sector portfolio, that the projects that are being finalized are projects that, first of all, will improve the lives of persons with youth poverty and help the socioeconomic conditions of our people. And it must be feasible. Yeah, it must be feasible. And it's the reason we have our technical team, we have our social analysts, and our project officers, they will, together with the other staff, will do the various analysis to ensure that we are targeting those communities. And when we do the evaluation of the projects, we can determine that, yeah, we made an impact. And here are the results of the interventions that we made, and we can see an improvement in the lives of persons. Excellent. Well, Mr. Antoine, let me say a big thank you for joining us on Issues and Answers today. I am sure that with all the projects that will be implemented, we will see an alleviation of poverty in various communities around St. Lucia. This has been Issues and Answers, a production of the Government Information Service and the National Television Network. I've been your host, Kenneth Eugene. Thanks for joining.