Alumni Graduation Speakers: Riley Clarke '18 and Athalia Esty '18
Athalia Esty, Gretchen Forsyth, and Riley Clark
Alumni speakers are a treasured and impactful annual tradition at GUS graduation. Alumni speakers are always selected from the class that graduated when the current eighth grade class was in Kindergarten. They return as recent college graduates to speak and share words of wisdom and advice with the graduating class. This year’s alumni speakers were Riley Clarke ’18, who recently graduated from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and Athalia Esty ’18, who recently graduated from Bowdoin College with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Government + Legal Studies.
Please enjoy their remarks below.
Riley Clarke ’18
Hi everyone!
I’d like to thank Ms. Forsyth for inviting me to speak today. It’s so special to be back here at GUS celebrating this milestone with all of you and such an honor for me to be back here today.
If you had told me 8 years ago when I was sitting where you are now, that I’d be giving a graduation speech at GUS, I wouldn’t have believed you. I’d have just survived evening with the graduates. Fortunately, 8 years is more than enough time to recover from public speaking.
Congratulations class of 2026 on graduating! This has been a huge year filled with major milestones, right up through last night’s speeches. I saw your play a few weeks back on night 2. From the energy, to the songs, to the very impressive set changes, I loved it. I hope you’re proud of yourselves and all that you’ve accomplished. As you celebrate, take time to thank the people who encouraged you, made this possible, and supported you along the way.
It’s hard to believe I’m standing up here today, speaking to all of you as a recent college graduate. What makes this moment especially meaningful is that I get to share it with my best friend from GUS, Athalia. If there had been a competition for who spent the most time at GUS, I think we would have been tied for first place.
GUS was, and still is, a huge part of my life. From arriving 15 minutes early to before school in Braemar each morning, to staying late for sports and after school activities, this campus became the backdrop for so much of my childhood. Many long days ended in my mom's 7th grade classroom while she finished meetings or worked with students. After enough afternoons waiting there, I started to feel less like a student and more like a very short, but informed unpaid member of the faculty.
GUS was way more than just a school to me, it was a second home.
As you head into high school and prepare for your next chapter, I want to leave you with two pieces of advice GUS taught me that I carry with me to this day.
First: Make friends with your teachers.
One of the many things that makes GUS special is that your faculty know you.
Whether you realize it or not, your teachers here at GUS have invested deeply in you, not just as students, but as people. They know your parents by name. Many of them have taught your siblings. They pull you aside to celebrate your successes, and sometimes they hunt you down on the way back from recess to ask about the assignment you still haven't turned in.
All of that comes from the same place: your teachers care about you. It's a pretty remarkable thing, because relationships like that are rare.
When you get to high school, you have a whole new faculty to connect with. But because you’re older, it’s your job to make the first move. This is when it becomes tempting to blend into the crowd, and figure out school yourself. My advice: don't disappear just because you can.
Introduce yourself to your teacher. Stop by after class. Ask about something they mentioned earlier, and before leaving, ask them what they did that summer. Now I’m not giving you a crash course on sucking up to a teacher 101. I’m saying speak from a genuine place and make a connection. It will only take those thirty seconds to become a real person to them instead of just a name on a roster.
The students who get the most out of school aren't always the smartest or the most talented. They're often the ones who build relationships. School feels a lot smaller, and a lot less intimidating, when there's an adult in the building who knows you and is rooting for you. Those connections make it easier to ask for help, bounce back from a bad grade, seek advice, or take a risk.
The second piece of advice is simple: BE KIND. AKA don’t be a jerk.
As you move on to high school, you'll meet a lot more people and have a lot more freedom to decide who you spend your time with. It can be easy to get caught up in what's popular, what's impressive, and where you fit in.
But some of the people who have had the biggest impact on my life are people I never would have met if I had only stuck to what was familiar. Years from now, your classmates won't remember your GPA, your stats, or what table you sat at during lunch. They'll remember how you treated people. They'll remember who included others, who went out of their way to say hello first, making them feel like they belonged.
You'll meet plenty of people who think being cool means acting like you don't care. I've found the opposite is true. Being kind is one of the coolest things you can be.
So that’s it: Make Friends with Teachers & be kind. You’ve got it.
You are all ready for what's next. Enjoy your summer. Have fun. Be proud of yourselves. You did it!
Congratulations, Class of 2026. I’m rooting for you.
Athalia Esty ’18
Good morning and congratulations GUS graduates, faculty, staff, families, and friends. I am so honored to have the opportunity to come back to Glen Urquhart and reflect on my nine formative years here. I recall fond memories of class projects like building a model lighthouse, the wax museum (I think I was one of the Wright brothers with a fake mustache?), and our eighth grade class’s map of the United States. I also smile as I think back to my experiential learning on field trips like Mystic Seaport and New York City. But what stands out the most to me in these memories—and so many others—is the sense of community that I learned to embrace and cherish during my time at GUS. This is a value that I have continued to prioritize ever since.
At GUS, I learned to see the best in everyone and to appreciate maintaining a diverse range of friendships. My classmates and I all had different interests, backgrounds, and talents, but our shared love of this school and this community brought us together. I talked about swimming with Shea, horses with Zoe, technology with Liam and David, and movies with Aleah. Riley and I talked about—and sang—Taylor Swift, probably too much for most others’ liking. Our different strengths became evident as we worked together in the musical, chariot races, or Boar Cup. We grew up together, finding friendship and lots of laughter along the way. Throughout our time at GUS, we learned how to communicate through disagreements, how to lean on teachers who were pillars of support, and, as we got older, how to mentor younger students. These lessons, learned
both in and out of the classroom, were the unique product of a small, tightknit GUS community.
I carried this search for community with me to high school, where I found several mentorship roles through which I could build relationships with a wide range of peers. At a boarding school with a diverse student body, my excitement to seek out these opportunities generated a new, eclectic set of friends. Again, I found that just by entering these spaces with an open mind, I was met with others who did the same, and we gained lifelong friendships as a result.
When it came time for my college search, I reflected on my values and how I wanted them reflected in my next school. I chose Bowdoin College, with a student body of 1800, for its academic rigor, the opportunity to play soccer, and the school’s emphasis on fostering a tight-knit community. Still, in the weeks leading up to move-in day, I found myself anxious about attending such a small college. Would I find friends who shared my interests? How would I make those friends? In these waves of nervousness, I should have grounded myself in what I had already learned at GUS.
Of course, my fears were unfounded. In many ways, my college was a lot like Glen Urquhart. The students embraced the small-school environment and entered conversations with curiosity and compassion. The Bowdoin Hello—a tradition of greeting each peer you cross paths with on a walk through campus—is more than a custom; it’s an expectation. Carrying the values I learned to cherish at GUS, I forged a wide range of friendships in dorms, classrooms, dining halls, and of course, on the soccer field. I found professors who were eager to help me learn and classmates who wanted
each other to succeed. At graduation, I found myself cheering for nearly every name called. Once again, when I bought into the culture of inclusion and connection, I left with a deep sense of belonging and gratitude.
My advice to you, graduates, is to cherish the relationships you've built here and to enter your next communities with an open mind and a willingness to learn from others. GUS taught us how to forge friendships with humility, empathy, and trust. Embrace diversity in backgrounds, interests, and opinions, and recognize shared experiences and goals. As the world grows increasingly online, these human connections will become even more important. Be proud of all that you have learned during your time at GUS, and all of the friends and mentors you made along the way. If you feel nervous about your next chapters, you are not alone—but you are prepared. You are ready to join new communities and to make every room you enter a more inclusive and exciting space. Trust and go forward.
Thank you.