NORTH SALEM, N.Y. - Before the Class of 2026 received their diplomas on June 15, Valedictorian Emma Gautier reflected on her classmates and her years at North Salem High School:
"Good evening everyone. I am Emma Gautier, and I am extremely grateful to be this year’s North Salem valedictorian. Standing up here, I know I’m supposed to say something wise and inspire everyone to do something… or am I supposed to make you think something? I don’t know. I guess I’m still trying to figure that part out.
But anyway, here’s the problem: I’ve always known that wisdom comes with age, from living life and going through all kinds of experiences, good and bad. But I’ve only lived for 18 years, 1 month, and 26 days—if we want to be specific—so maybe someone else should be giving this speech today.
Looking out into the audience right now, I see a lot of people who know a whole lot more than me—doctors, engineers, teachers, scientists, administrators—and they probably could inspire you the way I am expected to right now. But the truth is, I’m not up here because I have all the answers. I’m up here to represent the North Salem graduating class of 2026, and together we’ve lived 69 completely different lives, adding up to about 1,350 years or 492,750 days. Just think for a second about how much time that is. (pause) And through all that time, no two of us lived these years the same way. No minute of your life was identical to anyone else’s.
Every person sitting in a cap and gown tonight has a story unique to only them. That’s what makes our grade so well-rounded and gives us a perspective that no single person could ever have on their own. So when you think about it, together, the North Salem graduating class of 2026 may be pretty wise after all. It didn’t happen overnight, and surely being on this stage today isn’t what defines us as wise. Instead, it’s the thousands of ordinary and not-so-ordinary days that we will look back on in the years to come.
Throughout those many days and years—and I am not going to try to say those big numbers again, by the way—while living our own individual lives, we managed to learn a good deal of lessons along the way. This became especially apparent last Tuesday—and yes, I was still writing this speech that close to today—when our whole class took the time to write down some words of wisdom for the incoming 6th grade class.
So here are the words of my class. A few students shared a similar message. One wrote, “Get to know everyone.” Another encouraged incoming students to “smile at everyone in the hallway,” and a third reminded them to “surround yourself with people you can be yourself around.”
A couple of other students took a more sentimental approach. The first wrote, “Your childhood will fly by, so enjoy being a kid,” and the second followed with, “Believe people when they say it goes fast. Make the most of it.”
Multiple people also wrote some version of “don’t be late” and “go to class every day.” Lastly, two more students decided to take a more lighthearted approach, reminding the 6th graders to shower every day and wear deodorant. Wise words coming from a wise class.
Taken together, those notes said a lot about who we are as a class, and reading through them, I noticed something interesting. Nobody wrote about having the perfect GPA. Nobody wrote about striving for popularity or winning every game, getting every lead role, or never making mistakes. Instead, people wrote about friendships, about trying new things, about working hard, about enjoying the time you have, about not being afraid to be yourself, and, most notably, about showing up.
It turns out that after all these years, the lessons we valued most weren’t really about success. They were about the people we share those successes with.
If these years have taught me anything, it’s that wisdom doesn’t belong to one person—it belongs to a community. Together, we’ve experienced achievements and setbacks, laughter and tears, moments of doubt and moments of triumph. But somehow, we grew together.
We watched each other get first jobs, set personal goals, apply, visit, and then later commit to college, and earn our driver’s licenses—although some of you should really consider staying off the roads. Through the years, we saw each other at our best and sometimes at our worst, but we also changed a lot. The person you are today is very different from the person you were when you first walked into North Salem, especially since many of you have been in North Salem since elementary school or even before that.
While all these changes were occurring, I had the privilege of witnessing each of your stories unfold in real time. That’s a rare thing, and it’s something I hope we never take for granted.
I’m sure many of you have heard the common saying that you are who you surround yourself with. In our case, this includes the friends who stayed up late studying with us, the classmates who pushed us to compete harder—in my case, that was mostly Joey—the teachers who believed in us when we needed it most, the teammates who became like family, the lab partners, and the smiling faces we crossed every day in the halls.
Looking back, I don’t think any of us became who we are today on our own. We became who we are because of the people around us.
When people look back on high school, they often remember the big moments: championships, performances, awards, and graduation. And even though I would love for you to walk out of here remembering this very interesting speech I am giving tonight, I hope you also remember the little, everyday moments that made up your days here at North Salem—the conversations before class, the lunches, random moments in the hallway, and the inside jokes that somehow lasted all four years.
I didn’t realize it while they were happening, but those little moments will be what I miss the most: the routine and the comfort of being so well understood by my community. Although these memories may have seemed insignificant at the time, they are the ultimate proof of the connections we built and how we made the school building a place where we all belonged. Those are the moments that turned a group of students into a community.
You are who you surround yourself with, and looking at this class, I think we’ve surrounded ourselves with resilience, ambition, kindness, courage, and a whole lot of humor.
Eight of us were a part of the volleyball team that brought home a sectional title for the first time in 15 years.
Eleven of us won not one, but two soccer state championships.
Three of us went to states for cross country.
A few of us were nominated for Metro Awards after fabulous musical and dance performances.
Some of us earned academic honors we once thought were out of reach.
Some of us balanced jobs, family responsibilities, practices, rehearsals, and still showed up every day—or most days—until a disease started spreading across the grade. You’ve probably had it yourself or at least heard about it. It’s called senioritis.
Some of us also fought battles no one else could see—and kept going anyway.
That’s who we sat next to in class. That’s who we grew up with. That’s who shaped us. And that is who is graduating tonight, and who this speech is all about.
In the end, wherever we go, we’ll carry pieces of this community with us. We’ll carry the lessons we learned from one another, the memories we’ve made, and the people who helped us become who we are.
Because wisdom isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about listening, learning, and recognizing that every person you meet has something to teach you.
As we all go our separate ways at the end of the summer, I hope you remember this idea and take your own advice by surrounding yourselves with the right people. Life outside of high school—whether that be college, the workforce, trade school, or anywhere else—is full of all kinds of people. I urge you to find your place among the crowd, and I will be the first to say that I can’t wait to meet my people’s new people.
Thank you, and congratulations, Class of 2026."
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