2004 Commencement Guest Address
Given on May 29, 2004

by Diana E.E. Kleiner P'04
Dunham Professor of the History of Art and Classics, Yale University

"This Perfect Place, This Eden of Education that Boyden Built"

Headmaster Widmer, Trustees, Faculty, Graduates of the Class of 2004 and other Deerfield students, Alumni, Fellow Parents...

As you see me up here, you must all be thinking: "You're no George W. Bush!" About that, you are right.

I am sure the President wishes he could be here today to participate in the graduation of his cousin, Sam Bush, and to urge the members of Deerfield's Great Class of 2004 to use their abundant intellectual and personal talents to confront the difficult challenges that lie ahead for this country and the world.

But, I am getting ahead of myself. At this moment in time, we are all here, in this place, a location so perfect that there are few like it anywhere. John Quincy Adams described the setting of Deerfield as "Not excelled by anything I have seen, not excepting the Bay of Naples." As someone who has spent a great deal of time on the Bay of Naples, I agree with President Adams, and Deerfield has one distinct advantage over Naples. Deerfield's Rock is not an active volcano.

Yet the town of Deerfield is, in a sense, an American Pompeii, hauntingly divulging its living history through the sheer power of a place where momentous things happened. Like Pompeii, Deerfield has suffered near catastrophic disaster. The brutal massacre of 1704 forever seared Deerfield's earth. As the settlement was renewed, signs and symbols of what occurred remained as lasting memorials. This very lawn is scattered with reminiscences compellingly narrated in simple stark language. The inscription on one stone celebrates the Indian House that had long stood on this site, so solid that its "stout door" not only kept the French and Indians at bay but survived the carnage so that its "hatchet-hewn-face still tells the tale of that fateful night." It and others here recount the horrors that befell the Sheldons and the Stebbinses, how John Sheldon's wife and one child were killed and four other children whisked away to Canada, reaching their destination only after trekking to Montreal by foot.

And what of the Academy itself, born in 1797 not long after the foundation of a new American republic but threatened with near extinction in 1902. Then, out of nearly nowhere came an unlikely hero, the hard-working Plugger Bill, who along with a local farm boy named Tom, and a plain but highly intelligent native Deerfield girl called Helen took charge, refused to leave, and over 66 years turned a dilapidated school building into a campus of exceptional beauty and academic and athletic distinction. There are few better examples of how a single individual, clever enough to surround himself with equally talented colleagues and benefactors, can truly change a world.

Members of the Class of 2004, you have been fortunate to study and live at Deerfield Academy. Whether you have been here for as little as one year or for as many as four, you have been on perpetual "Deerfield time," a dizzying whirl of courses, athletics, community service, and extracurricular activities. Like your remarkable teachers, you are triple threats and much more than that. You, urged on by devoted parents, have been preparing for this great moment all your lives Each of you stands on a heady pinnacle. Yet now that you are there, well-meaning college deans and savvy journalists are offering unsolicited advice. You, one of the best educated and most accomplished generations in history, are being told to "lighten up!"

This advice is suddenly coming from all over. William Fitzsimmons, Dean of Admissions at Harvard College, encourages you to take a year off in an essay entitled "Time Out or Burn Out For the Next Generation." Craig Bradley, Dean of Student Affairs at Bowdoin College, hopes that students will stop worrying about their grades and career and take up surfing or become a member of a knitting club. Journalist Sara Rimer amusingly describes the ends some colleges and universities are now going to provide students with stress free zones during exam time, complete with soothing music and chair massages.

And yet these well-intentioned messages couldn't be more mixed. While University administrators are publicly touting "learning for learning's sake," rather than careerism, they continue to favor for admission those students who have racked up the highest grades and SATs, and the longest list of extra activities.

What is this all about? And are they speaking to you?

Well, if they think they are speaking to you, they will quickly find out that every member of Deerfield's Class of 2004 already has the answer. The answer is that very special essence of Deerfield called "Boyden Basics." Mr. Boyden articulated the brilliant Boyden Code in a simple and direct way: "Work 'em hard, play 'em hard, feed 'em up to the nines, and send 'em to bed so tired they are asleep before their heads are on the pillow." In other words, maintain a natural balance in your life by embracing your work, mixing that work with a strong dose of play, enjoying life's pleasures, and at the end of the day refreshing yourself with the reward of deep and rejuvenating sleep.

Mr. Boyden also recognized the importance of a school community that had the family as its model--a community in which the Headmaster partnered with the students by encouraging them to take ownership of their school. In 1902, Mr. Boyden addressed the student body: "I believe we can make this the best school in Franklin County. It will be your school and nobody else's if you do."

The genius of Mr. Boyden was that he recognized that learning and life are not only intertwined but also intrinsically fun. Mr. Boyden said that: "Education requires faith, hope, charity, and most of all a sense of humor" and he avidly sponsored athletics, parties, and dances, even though he reportedly abhorred dancing himself, games, the narration of stories, and singing around the fireplace. About the Friday night parties he routinely held, Mr. Boyden said: "There is something about it that draws them together and that makes for school spirit and loyalty that seems almost impossible to get in any other way." In other words, Mr. Boyden's parties, and above all his philosophy, were fully committed to the necessity and joy of "lightening up."

And yet, that was then and this is now. Right now we are here in this perfect place, this Eden of education that Boyden built. And yet even at this special moment, we are all too well aware that this ideal place is an oasis in a deeply troubled world. Outside this pastoral paradise of teaching and learning, civilizations clash, man is inhumane to man, and soldiers and civilians alike make what is daily described as "the ultimate sacrifice."

On the 15th of April 2004, the New York Times ran an article on the 64 Americans who had died in Iraq the previous week. A single page presented their pictures, their ages, where they lived, and their military title. Most of them were young, around your age: 18, 19, 20, 21. People who knew and loved them described their patriotism and their idealism-the idealism of youth-and their defense of freedom in a far off land. Many of these brave young people chose military service in order to finance their college education. Had they lived, they might have been your college classmates.

The sad truth is that you are losing valued members of your age cohort, not only in this country but in other countries as well, and this incredible loss needs to be addressed by those of you in their generation who will be its future leaders--in business, law, medicine, education, journalism, the arts, and politics. You will run the corporations, write and uphold the laws, find the cure for AIDS and Alzheimer's, develop new sources of energy, wrestle with environmental challenges, educate the next generation, deliver and even shape the news, push the creative boundaries by introducing new forms of art or media, design Deerfield's next great building, and lead this nation or other nations. Your future and our future-indeed the world's future--are in your capable hands.

When so doing, I know you will be guided by the principles that are the bedrock of your Deerfield education. You will find a way to live Deerfield's mission by making a commitment to some form of public service and you will display a strong moral character and high ethical standards in all that you do.

A few weeks ago, during spring Parent's Weekend, I sought inspiration at Deerfield for this Commencement speech. My muses were the Boydens. My attempted communion with these guides may sound a bit "new age," a kind of Hillary Clintonesque conversation with Eleanor Roosevelt. In fact as he listens to this, I can just hear my son Alex say to me as he occasionally does: "Mom, sometimes you are so weird!"

But an art historian can gain a lot of insight by deconstructing paintings, so I headed for the Caswell Library. Like Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu in The Da Vinci Code, thoughtfully analyzing the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, and other masterpieces by Leonardo, I looked to the painted icons of Frank and Helen for clues into the Deerfield Academy symbology.

The background of Mr. Boyden's Caswell Library portrait, painted in 1939 by M.J. Kellogg, is very dark and the Headmaster is situated in front of the Deerfield Doors in the John Williams House. Mr. Boyden appears small in stature, which he was, but in the midst of the muddy brown milieu, his bright white collar and cuffs glow, as does the sharp intelligence behind his eyes. Tina Cohen, who helped me decipher these paintings by sharing her archival expertise, noted that Mr. Boyden's double-breasted suit is painted as more tailored and elegant than the rumpled attire he usually wore. For any of you contemplating taking an art history course in college, let this be a warning that art is rarely truth.

Mr. Kellogg painted the companion portrait of Mrs. Boyden a year later, in 1940. The murky background of Mr. Boyden's picture, with its solid Academy landmark, has "lightened up," replaced by an airy milieu that is barely defined, save for a small table with a bowl of irises and a wooden captain's chair. The location may be her home, the Ephraim Williams House. While Mrs. Boyden's face was not beautified for this painting, her clothing, like her husband's, is more elegant than was her custom. She wears a tasteful black silk dress with a daring sheer neckline but the piece de resistance detail is her beige brocaded jacket. Unbuttoned, it jauntily flutters open, a sign of Mrs. B's intellectual and personal feistiness.

Whatever the subliminal messages of these paired portraits of the Boydens, the incomparable couple spoke to me in early May and they continue to speak to this community and, as they gaze down upon us, they remind us to look hard at the familiar in order to discover the new.

In that spirit, as you leave this familiar place and go off to discover a new one, let me try to offer some guidance.

Since you are on the threshold of what I have devoted almost 30 years of my life to-the education of college students-perhaps I have the qualifications to offer some helpful college advice.

Let's call this advice Kleiner's College Counsel with a reverential nod to "Boyden Basics":

1. Discover something that really excites you and be determined to choose it
2. Learn by chance as well as by choice
3. Maintain flexibility so that you can reinvent yourself more than once
4. Find the uniqueness within yourself and use that quality to make a distinctive contribution
5. Embrace learning for its own sake in college and lifelong
6. Refine your ability to think, write, and articulate your ideas
7. Seek teachers who have a contagious love of their subject, whatever it is
8. Get involved and take advantage of the abundant resources your college offers
9. Network like mad; keep all your Deerfield friends, make lots of new ones, and mix and match
10. Keep up athletics and a fitness routine for a sound body as well as mind
11. Start strong and stay motivated and focused in freshman year and beyond
12. Stay disciplined and retain your multitasking skills
13. Continue to embrace and revolutionize the new technology
14. Have a global outlook
15. Have Fun with a capital F in all that you do
16. Take the lead from Helen Childs Boyden and continue to study science and math along with the social sciences, humanities, and arts
17. Follow Tom Ashley and be an entrepreneur through an overarching vision and marketing savoir faire
18. With Frank Boyden's guidance, take charge and be a leader
19. Draw on "Boyden Basics" to maintain balance in your life
20. Most important of all: be your best self but better

Mr. Boyden urged generations of Deerfield students to be their best selves. He said: "Be yourself with everyone you meet, but be your best self, for you can be sure that before you have lived out your life you are going to meet again."

And perhaps even after life because there is little doubt that one of the five people each and every Deerfield graduate will meet in heaven is Mr. Boyden.

I know you will also leave Deerfield Academy enriched by the vision and humanity of Mr. Widmer and Ms. Viz, your own inimitable and very modern power couple in the Boyden mold, and so much more than that. They continue to lead Deerfield with foresight and vigor into a global world in which Deerfield has become a true international educational force. And know that the intelligence, devotion, and compassion of your many extraordinary teachers and coaches are already deeply embedded in your minds and hearts and will be there for you whenever you wish to call on them.

Above all, cherish the way this Academy has brought you all together in this place and at this time. Treasure the friendships you have made here and keep them and build on them so that you remain united as the Great Class of 2004.

As my remarks come to a close, I wonder if I have not dwelled too much on this place. And yet, in one of Mr. Boyden's letters, he writes:

"Thank you very much for your cordial invitation to speak…. Unfortunately, I have only ONE talk, which is the story of the development of Deerfield Academy in general and Tom Ashley in particular. If you wish me to give that and then answer any questions which may be asked… I shall be glad to do so."

So, perhaps after channeling the Boydens on spring Parent's Weekend, this is the ONLY speech I could have given.

In conclusion, as someone who studies the ancient past, I can attest that, as far as Deerfield Academy is concerned, your graduation today officially declares that you ARE history. But you are now part of Deerfield's history and Deerfield is part of your history. As graduates of Deerfield Academy, you are now entitled to a piece of this very special place. I urge the Great Class of 2004 to embrace the power of this place, to hold Deerfield in your mind, your heart, and your soul, to look to the hills, to continue to sing in unison by supporting Deerfield in word and deed, to be worthy of your heritage. In return, everything that happened in this evocative, magical, and perfect place will forever light your lives.