Dear Class of 2020 Seniors,

We will not forget how this pandemic changed the last few months of your senior year. Despite the epic challenges you faced, you all persevered—and for that, I salute you.  

I would like to tell you about the challenges others that have gone before you have faced. My great-grandfather emigrated from Poland as a toddler and later fought in the Spanish-American war. My grandparents came of age in World War I and faced the influenza pandemic of 1918. My parents grew up during the great depression and lived through World War II. My dad became a US Marine and later fought in the South Pacific.  

My wife and I were young children in the 1950’s during the polio epidemic which crippled my cousin and my next-door neighbor. We grew up in the cold war and practiced “duck and cover” at school, a frail defense óagainst nuclear weapons. We came of age during the Viet Nam War, which deeply divided and scarred our country and destroyed the people of Viet Nam. I joined the Navy in 1967 and later fought against the Soviets in a fast-attack nuclear submarine during the Cold War.

My children became adults during the Gulf wars and my oldest son and youngest daughter both served in the Navy. They saw the twin towers come down on our home soil because of a terrorist attack. We are still fighting those wars today.

Every generation faces adversity and it is the way we navigate through those challenges that shows our character.

You will find service to others is much more satisfying than avaricious behavior.

Seek and speak the truth. Challenge what you hear, read or see. Only speak the truth.

Make sure everything you say is fair to everyone.

Build goodwill and better friendships.

Make sure what you say and do will be beneficial to all concerned.

It is in the moments of uncertainty, it is the challenges and the hardships that you will face, that will define what your role in this world is meant to be. Class of 2020, it is your time to be the next generation of innovators, problem solvers, disruptors, creators and leaders. I wish you continued success, health and happiness because I am certain that the best is yet to come.

Sincerely,

Buck Crouch

SUSD Governing Board President