Mirabai's Speech

Mirabai Ari - Graduation Address - June 10, 2020

It was the last month before 7th grade. The veil of summer had just been lifted from my eyes, revealing large billboards advertising back to school shopping. I was expecting a second year at my new school, but just as we had finished collecting my pens and folders, an email arrived. Instead of hailing in the new year, it delivered an awful message, my school was closing its doors leaving all of us stunned. How were we going to find a place as kind and as welcoming in just a few months? We all scrambled to set up last-minute school tours and find the best options. Things seem to have a funny way of working out, because just as we were settling into the reality of being without a school, Brandeis welcomed us into the incoming 7th-grade class.

It would be the second year in a row that I would be a new kid, something that I was dreading, but it couldn’t have been an easier transition. On the first day, I was clueless. We were all in a big circle, and I was lost and confused. I had never met my class before so I didn’t know what I was looking for. Suddenly a 7th-grade mother came over to me. She led me to the 7th graders and introduced some of the kids. They all seemed so willing to invite me into their class. That’s when I knew I was exactly where I belonged. 

A few months ago I got to go to Israel for the first time with my class. I'm usually homesick when I leave my parents. Even a night away is hard. But for the two weeks I was in Israel I wasn't homesick once. It didn't feel like a foreign country, it felt like home. That’s all thanks to my peers. This year We also got to mentor kindergarten buddies. It has been such a joy to know we are making a difference in our Brandeis buddy's experience. I think Tyler has taught me more than I have shown him. He makes me laugh even if I’m sad and I always look forward to playing with him.

I’m so grateful to have found Brandeis. It might have been an accident but I couldn't have asked for a better middle school experience. From dance parties with Mr.Friedman, to frisbee on the beach in Israel, you are all so willing to have fun. You’ve shown me that even in the harder times you stay positive. When the fires happened last year, during highschool application stress, and of course now when we are all so separated I still feel so close to all of you. I hope we can continue to make memories in the next phase of our life. Thank you!