CROSS RIVER, N.Y. - Before the John Jay Class of 2026 received their diplomas, salutatorian Casey Leff offered some words of encouragement to her classmates:
"Good afternoon, friends, family, faculty, and my fellow graduates.
Before I get into my speech, I would like to acknowledge the people who helped me get to where I am today. Thank you to my two big sisters, Jess and Ali, for being my favorite role models and forever best friends. Thank you to my mom for always being my loudest cheerleader, as well as for staying up with me until 1 a.m. to help me study for tests that I probably should not have put off until the night before. Thank you to my dad for your endless dad jokes and for being my everyday hero. Thank you to the entire John Jay faculty and all of the families and loved ones who provided constant support to the Class of 2026. And finally, thank you to my classmates for memories that will last a lifetime.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but ever since freshman year, I could not wait to graduate. Now, I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy my time in high school (although I could have done without having to walk halfway across the school to find an unlocked bathroom), but looking up to my sisters, who were both thriving in college at the time, I eagerly awaited the day that I would be in their shoes. I wanted so badly to press the fast-forward button to, well, today.
But what my freshman self did not realize was that high school was so much more than just a step toward the next milestone. As these four years come to a bittersweet end, we have learned the importance of appreciating what we have in the moment before time passes and we are left appreciating what we had. To me, high school ended up being about the journey: the new experiences we gained, the friendships we formed, and, most importantly, the choices we made.
As I reflect on our time at John Jay, I realize that the importance of making good choices has been on our minds for years. Every single day of middle school, we heard the same morning announcement. And to clarify, by “every single day of middle school,” I mean the select few days we were actually in school and not at home with Zoom on one half of our iPad screen and an intense game of Geometry Dash on the other.
These daily morning announcements always ended with the statement, “Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours.” I believe these words truly reflect the way we ended up approaching our high school years. No matter how many tests we had to study for or essays we had to write, it was up to us to make the choice to “make it a great day.”
At the beginning of this year, it felt like disaster had struck: we learned that phones would no longer be allowed during the school day. Our generation has gotten so used to having our phones on us at all times that the thought of going through an entire school day without them seemed impossible. We could have spent the year frustrated by our inability to text friends, check Instagram, or capture every moment on camera. Instead, we chose to make the most of it.
As it turns out, putting our phones away gave us something valuable. We spent less time looking down at screens and more time looking up at each other. Lunch became filled with conversations, games of Imposter, and the 10 different hacky sack circles that appeared across the front lawn. We built stronger friendships and created memories that didn't need to be documented to be meaningful.
This experience taught us an important lesson: even when circumstances aren't what we hope for, we can choose how we respond. Optimism isn't about ignoring challenges—it's about finding opportunities within them and making the choice to, as we've heard so often at John Jay, “make it a great day.”
It became especially challenging to make it a great day this fall, when many of us were trying to balance schoolwork and extracurricular activities while spending countless hours working on college applications. Our anxiety about the future was at an all-time high.
What if the admissions counselors don't like my essays? Why does every school promote having an undecided major but then insist that you write an essay about your chosen field of study?
But through this time, we realized that agonizing over things that are out of our control is pointless. We learned to focus on the things we can control, like making sure we had the most perfect, elaborate outfits for each day of Spirit Week. With cowboy hats and gray wigs, we made it a priority to enjoy our senior Spirit Week without letting the stress of our futures ruin it. We made the choice to live in the present and make each day great instead of worrying about a future we cannot fully control.
As we leave John Jay and begin the next chapter of our lives, we will face bigger challenges, new opportunities, and more uncertainty than ever before. We won't always be able to control the situations we face, but we can control how we respond.
Years from now, we won’t remember every grade we received, every homework assignment we may or may not have completed, or every college essay we drafted over and over in search of perfection. Instead, we'll remember the memories and moments that made John Jay feel like home: pep rallies and Jay Fest, community circles, and those insanely good chocolate chip cookies from the cafeteria.
As we move on to colleges, careers, and wherever life takes us next, I hope we carry with us the lesson we've been hearing since middle school: “Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours.”
Congratulations, Class of 2026!"
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