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Centennial Gala Toast | | Below is the text to the Toast offered at the Regis High School Centennial Gala by Peter Labbat '83, Chair of the Regis High School Board of Trustees. |
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Sometimes, you just don't notice the miracles that are happening right before your very eyes. Welcome and good evening! I am so very delighted to see you all here on this very special night.
Oh, how times have changed! Shortly after Regis first opened its doors, Henry Ford famously said, if you want to buy an automobile, you could have it in any color you like -- any color, just so long as it's black! Today, there are almost 1 billion vehicles on the road—in various shapes and colors—and we all know today's cars can go very, very fast (especially, I hear, if you're driving with Artie Minson!)
100 years ago, the invention of the stainless steel zipper captured the popular imagination. While tonight, as we speak, a remote controlled rover is moving about the surface of Mars searching for evidence of ancient life.
It has been said that achievements such as these prove we live in an age of miracles. But I submit whoever said this never went to Regis High School.
Regis is "the little Jesuit engine that could." Today, we are the only tuition free Catholic high school in the country. Over the last century, we have graduated 10,000 alumni, many of them the sons of immigrants who might not otherwise have realized the benefits of a Catholic education. Despite charging no tuition, we have the finest faculty in the nation and we've set the academic bar so high that we are widely regarded as one of the best high schools in the country.
And the truly beautiful part of all of this: Regis always has been and continues to be a gift, freely given: from our Foundress to all of you and, in turn, through your generosity, to future generations of Regians. For a century now (and counting), men and women of good will have supported an institution whose mission is to inspire young Jesuit Catholic witnesses to make a difference in the world, to be "men for others."
I believe this makes Regis a perpetual motion machine. A miraculous work in progress. And so, on this 100th anniversary of our Alma Mater, I would like to make a toast in the form of 4 birthday wishes for Regis' future (In the interest of time I'll spare you the other 96 that I had written for the occasion)
- Here's to another century of outstanding tuition-free education
- Here's to 100 years of re-dedicated outreach to the underprivileged and the working poor in this city.
- Here's to continuing the Jesuit tradition of inspiring boys to be men of conscience and future leaders in their communities and on the world stage
- And finally, I pray we always recognize and remain grateful for the miracle of Regis in our lives.
God Bless Regis High School and God bless all of you. |
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