This time last year, Kate Rice ’25 passed the Editorials Editor torch off to me. A valuable piece of advice she left? Listen to the “Hamilton” soundtrack before you start writing, and you’ll achieve a generational lock-in. So, in true “Hamilton” fashion, below is my take on George Washington’s farewell address. Enjoy.
Friends and fellow Knights,
The start of a new editor to administer the editorials section of The Vanguard being not far distant, it appears to me necessary, especially as we devote to the underclassmen this campus, that I should inform you of what I hope emerges within this beacon of education as we move forth to the stage of graduation.
The matter deserving of the most concern is that of a simple hope, one in which I hope to see Gerry’s Landing blanketed in an air of unadulterated merriment in our future. A grin is a rare delight in these halls, even amongst close acquaintances, and we fail to realize how a slight upturned lip is enough to drastically alter the trajectory of one’s day, thus why I hope to see growth in such delighted expressions between friends and colleagues. In similar circumstances, I do beg that we learn to dance with increased frequency, just as the Spanish educators, arts classes and proms so encourage, as a giddy sway to the hip can bring the utmost joy!
Perhaps from such delightment, the most electrifying student section will evolve, an active Knight Section and a body united by clothing being the most pertinent of effects. We would benefit tremendously from a heightened level of spirit, CommuKNIGHTY and alternate puns of increased peculiarity finding themselves replaced by a newfound intensity of school spirit.
An additional matter I wish to bring to your attention, one of which I have spoken in prior works, yet one that remains of the utmost relevance, is the domination of one voice over another, as stated by the stellar EcoBash speaker, which, parenthetically, was a salutary and delightful success. We must encourage an education in which we do not tamp down nor diffuse the beliefs of a neighbor, and in a nation where the external surroundings seem to do the opposite, we must value civil discourse and discourage such heated rivalry when not the subject of a television program.
Thus, I leave in your hands the following: Smile, dance, cheer and listen. Although rather straightforward, they leave me with a caliber of enthusiastic outlook that I have not previously held.
I thank you for entrusting me with your beliefs, voice and values throughout the course of the past twelve months, as this role has been the primary joy of my four years of higher learning. I do hold the most endearment for our institution — the ever favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual smiles, dances and cheers.
—Sonja Peetz-Larsen ’26
