Commencement Speech
Commencement Speech
Abraham Castellano
Salesianum School 2026
Good evening. Before I begin, I would like to share a message with you all from someone in this room. It was quite a motivational message and I just felt the need to share. The message reads, “Abe. It is my last graduation. If you don’t do a good job with your speech, my 16 years at Sallies will be a failure. No pressure.” The exact words from our very own principal, Father Beretta. Thank you Father for such kind and supportive words, I will try and do my best.
Tonight, I’m standing here in front of you all – not as Student Council President, but as one of 210 brothers. Because the most important times in life are when titles, honor, and glory don’t matter, and you’re just part of something special.
I want to start tonight with a question. What made all the time we spent at Salesianum worth it?
Last spring, when I was elected, I wanted to accomplish so much. And I thought that meant I needed to be perfect. I put a lot of pressure on myself for an impossible standard. I had a lot of responsibilities, making sure I wasn’t late to a meeting, running PREP, preparing for events, oh and the best one missing several classes a week, just kidding teachers, they were for valid reasons, for the most part. Looking back, I became so focused on my responsibilities that I sometimes forgot the most important Salesianum lesson of all, which I want to take you back to right now.
My grandmother, my Abita, who is from Ecuador, was someone who helped raise me. When I was a kid, my father traveled a lot as a jockey and my grandmother would come from Ecuador to visit for six months out of the year, every single year. I looked forward to her visits as I wouldn’t have time to tell her about my work at school or on Student Council. That is when I realized I had it completely wrong the whole time. You see, when my grandmother passed away, I lost myself. I was regretting never taking that short minute in the morning on my way to school to call her. I quickly realized that the achievements I was chasing weren’t worth more than the one person who was always there for me, who cheered me on no matter what I did. The one person who believed in me 100% of the time.
That is when I came to know that at Sallies the title of president or an academic award isn’t the most important thing, it is the people you share it with. It was Father Brian immediately pulling me to the side to see if I needed anything, it was my closest friends just saying the words “I’m here for you,” it was my brothers around me that picked me up when I was at my lowest. To me, that Brotherhood was there when I needed it the most.
This Salesianum Brotherhood means we have each other.. We can win or lose but we always come back to each other.
As St. Francis de Sales wrote, “Hearts that can bend will never be broken.” We get through it together. And that’s what makes Salesianum, Salesianum. Look around the room. What would this all mean, these four years of Sallies, this graduation, if we didn’t have each other to share it with? What could be more priceless than walking out together in a few minutes, and hugging the people that got us here, our moms, our dads, our grandmas, and our grandpas -- and of course, the brothers who have been through this together.
God did not create us to be alone, but to be relational and social - to share our lives and our stories with one another out of love. That is why we speak of, TENUI (ten—oo—e) NEC DIMITTAM, taking hold and never letting go, because this brotherhood is the very thing that will last through the rest of our lives. And I think that the three Oblates who founded this school in 1903 somehow knew how powerful this brotherhood would be in our lives, even 123 years later. When you’ve been given a great gift, the only human response is gratitude… but so often we forget to thank God, and to thank those in our lives who made it possible.
So, this is the challenge to be lived after we leave Broom Street tonight. When we have finished college and are well into our careers, or starting a family, will we remember who helped to get us there? Will we remember to make that phone call? Because if there is anything that my family has taught me, that my faith has taught me, these four years and Abita have taught me, is that the greatest accomplishment is being there for and with each other. Not tomorrow, not when we have time, but in every present moment, for those who have shared with us our wins, and who have stayed by our side when we fail, and that is worth the world. For being with each other to share our journey, no matter where it takes us, is what life is about, is what we are about. And taking those steps together is what has made Salesianum so special, a gift to hold onto forever. And that is why nobody has it better than us.
Thank you all. And thank you, Salesianum.
I love you all. Claim the Name. Live Jesus.