Hello. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Meredeth Bill and I am one of the newest members of the VVS alumni – I graduated two weeks ago today! I know that all of you are here to reminisce about your experiences at VVS, but I would like to briefly tell you about the kinds of experiences I had at VVS – the kinds of experiences that students are having RIGHT NOW.

I recently had a very powerful experience while at my college orientation. I met many people whose main interests, in their words, were “Hooking up and partying”. I heard incoming Freshmen all around me cussing, being racist, sexist and prejudiced in a number of other ways.  I am sure that if I attended any of the many university orientations occurring around the country this summer, I would come across many more individuals like those at my own orientation. The existence of such individuals in the USA is an unavoidable fact of life.

The astounding thing is not that these kinds of people exist, but that being around these people was a HUGE culture shock for me!  For the last four years I have gone to school here at VVS and lived in a utopian environment where everyone learned to not only accept, but to celebrate the differences that make us unique.  Although the students at VVS do like to have fun and they wont be the people in college who will stay home from parties all weekend, every weekend, to study, they are also driven, ambitious, and realize that without an objective and hard work they wouldn’t feel fulfilled.

At first when I realized the kinds of people I am going to be attending school with next year, I wanted to run back into the arms of my VVS family and never leave. However, I then came to see the situation in a different light. Everyone at VVS lives in this utopian environment, and experiences how human beings can treat each other with compassion, so they know that it’s possible! Just in these few weeks since school has ended I have truly realized that VVS is a unique and wonderful community that, unfortunately, does not represent the norm in our society.  In realizing this, my objective has become to spread the spirit of VVS to wherever I can in the world. I personally have experienced the reality of living peacefully and compassionately with a group of people, so as I go out into the world with the intention of spreading this experience I have the advantage of knowing that my dream is possible.

Academics at VVS have changed a lot in the past few years with the introduction of the IB program. There has been some protest against this change, and I have to admit that for a time I was afraid that the IB would drastically change the spirit of VVS and turn it into a west-coast version of a preppy east-coast boarding school. However, I have experienced for myself that this is not the reality. I went through the IB program, and I feel that my experience at VVS was every bit as real, life changing and mind shifting as each of yours. Some of my favorite VVS memories include throwing other students into a giant pit of mud next to the quad during the yearly mud pit battles, running around a bonfire in a bathing suit with a torch and presenting my favorite juniors with their senior rings during Firerun, swimming in the ocean in Mexico in a pod of 200 wild dolphins, and laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe and tears streamed down my face day after day on fieldtrips with faculty members who have become some of my best friends. The IB is giving students from VVS the tools to succeed academically and compete with students from preppy east-coast schools, so that we can get into positions where we have the power to pass on and magnify the spirit of VVS on a global scale. The spirit of VVS that you all remember, cherish and are here to reminisce about is still alive and strong!

Now, I know that you are all tired of being asked to give back to the school. I have been an alum for all of two weeks and already I have been asked to donate money. But please! If you love your memories of this school as much as I do, PLEASE give back so that the school can continue to offer the kind of experiences and preparation to make a difference that I have been privileged to enjoy here at VVS.