May Weicherts Valedictorian Adress - Graduation 2025

Welcome and good evening to all of you who have honored us with your presence at the 2025 Tyburn Academy graduation. To begin I would like to thank my Lord Jesus Christ for giving me such a beautiful opportunity for a wonderful life. I would like to thank my parents who have helped to guide the formation of my character, though it is still a work in progress, and walked alongside me all these years. I would like to thank his Excellency Bishop Matano, Father White, Father Lioi, Father Vasile, and Father Martuscello for coming to celebrate the mass and bless us as we take our next steps in life toward our futures. I would like to thank Congressman Williams, our guest speaker, who was willing to come and share his words of wisdom with the graduates. I would like to thank the Tyburn board members, all of the teachers, and our principal Mr. O’Donnell for all of the time they so charitably gave to make us well-educated and wonderful young adults. I would like to thank all my family and friends who have encouraged me throughout my life and never given up on me. Finally, I wish to thank the Saint Mary’s Choir, which has been a huge part of my journey in faith and growth in my love of music these past eight years, and for singing so beautifully for the mass as it does every Sunday.

I have been attending Tyburn Academy for six years, and as its founder Father Shamon once said, I will try my best to be brief, be blunt, and be gone. Since I am one of the few graduating, the last part won't be too hard. Over the years I learned to grow and become who I truly am meant to be. Classmates came and went, but they did not fade away. Their memory remains as clear as ever in my head as I see the imprint that they left in my life and how they changed me. This small but wonderful group of graduates you see before me has also changed me. I will never forget you all. The weird debates in the hallway and the crazy fun-filled government classes will always be with me. I will always remember what seemed to be the weight of a thousand essays forced upon our shoulders and how we always complained but somehow always managed to turn them in on time. I will never forget the strange things that happened and every hilarious joke that made us laugh until we thought we would pop. But I also will remember you have grown in all things true, good, and beautiful and have taken me along for the ride. 

My fellow graduates, I wish to share with you what a very wise woman once said to me. She said, “littleness is greatness, and love is surrender.” For most people, this is just another quote said by another person to get people to live a morally good life. For me, this quote means the whole world and then some because it has radically changed my view of my life, other people, and the world. Every day I struggle to be humble. I hope I’m not the only one here who struggles with pride. But when I think that I’m the cream of the crop or that the world revolves around me, I remember this quote and I am ashamed to have put myself before others. Yes, I wished for this speech to be some great testament to my education and my fellow graduates, but as I kept thinking about the speech, one thought always circled back into my head, littleness is greatness and love is surrender. 

Now, what does this quote mean for your lives? I realized as this year flew by, that it not only changed me, but I could see the change in you because of it. As I approached the end of the school year I began to see the truth of what she said, and it lived in you my dear fellow graduates. She did not mean the kind of greatness that we see on the headlines or the famous people that we constantly talk about. No, she meant the greatness of humility, of smallness of self, and charity toward others. She meant actions that change other people who see them. She meant for us to be so little and humble that we touched others’ lives in ways we would think were impossible. She meant agape, the charitable and unconditional love that Christ showed mankind through His passion and death.

I began to see this great littleness in the people around me. In Rosa I saw a littleness that smiled at everyone every day and was always joyful. In Acheron, I saw a littleness of respect and kind actions. In Julia, I saw a littleness of encouragement for others and strength of character. In Mary, I saw a littleness of leadership, even when things seemed impossible. When I saw all of this, I reminded myself every day to become humble and little so that I could be worthy to be among such people. And I see all of this now as I stand before you, my fellow graduates. I am honored to speak before you because you have changed other people through the actions in your lives and lifted them up higher than yourselves without thought of gain or honor.

As I thought about this agape, this unconditional love, I realized that this was the love of surrender. This too, I saw in you, my fellow graduates, as you continually gave all things to Christ and trusted in Him. We may not know what the future holds or where we are going, but we have surrendered our lives to Christ because we love Him, so everything will be all right. Wherever we go, this unconditional, charitable, and selfless love shines bright to the world. My dear graduates, don’t let the world snuff out this light, don’t let it take your true love and make you bitter. You have all shown me kindness, love, strength, piety, wisdom, joy, and humility. Because of you I am a better person, never let the world take that away from us. Never forget that your lives have changed and will impact others because you, my fellow graduates, are true images of Christ and I have seen His love in each and every one of you.

Finally my friends, always remember that Christ is the light in the world, but a candle is blown out in the wind. We are the next generation of lanterns. We are the vessels that protect the beauty of the light from the wind. We are the vessels through which the light shines and illuminates the world. My fellow graduates, continue to protect that light and let it guide your footsteps. You may experience darkness in your life, but in the light, all things will be possible. I hope and pray that you succeed in all your endeavors and never lose your light. May we all become so small in our humility that we become great. May we all love Christ and surrender everything to Him, but may we never surrender to the world. For to surrender who we are and live without belief is a fate worse than dying, but with Christ we will truly live.