"Pieces of the Puzzle" by Honor Essayist Mimi Borkan (MHS '13)

The following is a copy of the essay read by Mimi Borkan, regarding opportunities Medfield has provided to the Class of 2013, as they graduated from Medfield High School on Sunday, June 2, 2013.

Pieces of the Puzzle, by Honor Essayist Mimi Borkan (MHS '13)

My fellow classmates, distinguished teachers and administrators, friends, and family members:

Opportunity is like opening a puzzle box and seeing all the pieces, but having no idea how they fit together. You have no one to sit there and tell you how to put them together, you just have to figure it out on your own. That first day we walked through the doors of Medfield High School, we were each given our own pieces of the puzzle and it was up to us to find out how to put them all together.

Six years ago, I thought I knew exactly how my puzzle would come together. As a naive sixth grader with dreams of playing college hockey, I applied to private school because I thought my greatest opportunities lay somewhere other than in Medfield. Looking back, I realize that I couldn’t have been more wrong. The opportunities I would have missed out on by not being a part of this graduating class or this high school community are endless. I could not be more grateful that I created a different puzzle: one that has allowed me to stand here with all of you today. 

Medfield High School is bursting with opportunity. One of the amazing attributes of MHS is that there isn’t just one characteristic that puts us on the map. It’s not just our athletics, or music, or drama, or student council, or academics that make us stand out. It’s everything. It’s all of those things combined, like the interlocking pieces that have shaped our puzzle, which allow us to succeed as a whole. I look around at each one of my peers today and can name at least one contribution that person has made to this community over the past four years. 

So you might ask, what is it that we have actually done? The hard part about answering that question is merely deciding where to start. Our student council received the gold council of excellence award at the MASC conference in March. Our drama club never fails to wow this community with fantastic productions like the most recent Seussical. Our community service projects impact not only our local community, but the entire world around us. Our music programs have performed on some of the biggest and best stages and continually excel at the MICCA competition.  Our various clubs have given students opportunities to pursue the things that they love, allowing individuals to find their own niche within the high school and beyond. Athletically, we have completed unbelievable feats, both in the Tri-Valley League and at the state level, winning 8 state championships across multiple sports in our four years. And last, in the world of academics we have not only succeeded by state and national standards on the MCAS and SAT’s, but we have learned crucial life skills such as how to work in groups and manage our time.

The crazy thing to think about is that what we have done is no match for what we will do. Our accomplishments at MHS are only the tip of the iceberg for what we, as a class, will continue to do as we move forward. Although we may not be together in the future, we will all find our own paths and definitions of success. No matter where each path leads, we will all represent Medfield High School with tremendous pride. When we gather again at our 50^th reunion, I believe that if we add up all that we have achieved individually, as one class from Medfield High School, we will have changed the world dramatically. Our potential is endless and I truly have faith that the wide range of talents of this graduating class will not go unnoticed.

My mom is a graduate of Medfield High school and she always reminds me how things have changed since she was a student here herself. She brought my siblings and I to this town because she knew it was a great place to raise and educate a family, but always says she couldn’t have dreamt of the new opportunities we would have that she didn’t. As a freshman I brushed her off with a typical teenage, “yeah, yeah whatever mom,” but now as I’m looking back on high school, I understand what she was trying to tell me. I couldn’t imagine growing up in a better town and attending a more outstanding high school than MHS. I truly hope that for generations to come, this place just continues improving, making us proud to say it was our school once upon a time.

So what does all of this mean and why does it matter? Why does it matter that MHS gave us those puzzle pieces and said “okay, now go”? Well, Herb Brooks, the legendary coach of the 1980 US Olympic Hockey team once said, “Great moments are born from great opportunity.” I think it is safe to say that as a class we have experienced a lot of great moments at MHS. Those moments would not be possible without the incredible opportunities provided to us. They gave us the pieces of the puzzle that we needed to grow, learn, and become the people we are today. What we didn’t know about those pieces that they gave us back in September, 2009 was that they would not only complete our individual puzzles, but would connect together to make one big puzzle. While we each wrote our own story and crafted our own experiences, we came together as a class to leave an impressive legacy at MHS. Over the course of four years, we may not have expected some of the connections we’ve made, but now that we are looking back it is incredible to see our puzzle, all put together, and metaphorically lining the halls of our school for years to come. 

I want to thank all of the people who helped us put this puzzle together. Without our teachers, administrators, and coaches guiding us through these extraordinary four years, we never would have been able to connect our puzzle. To our loving families, your unwavering support and guidance will never be taken for granted. I am truly blessed to have been part of the legacy that the class of 2013 will leave here in Medfield. I wish the best of luck to everyone next year. Congratulations class of 2013, we made it!

Related Stories:

• Congratulations Medfield Class of 2013
• "Lucky 13" by Honor Essayist Gregory Lyons
• MHS Student Scholarships Awarded on May 30
• MHS Class Day Awards Given on May 31
• Graduation Advice: Wear Sunscreen and More