Brendan Francis Kozak
President of the Yard, Class of 2026
Father Van Dyke, Mr. Glennon, Dr. McGinnis, faculty, staff, family, friends, and Georgetown Prep’s class of 2026: Good Morning.
I would first like to give a special shout-out to all the siblings in attendance today. I have two older brothers and one older sister, so I’ve endured my fair share of high school and college graduations. They never get any shorter.
As I sat down to write this speech, I sought out one of Georgetown Prep’s finest, Mr. Barry, who I imagine taught some of the siblings--and parents--in attendance today. If you have never had the privilege of taking a class with Mr. Barry, I would describe him as the Dumbledore of Georgetown Prep, an old-school English teacher who loves to give the surprise essay to keep his students on their toes. I asked him for his insight into how to write a speech. He gave me the Mr. Barry look. So I waited, until he softly pronounced Who, Why, What?
So Who are we?
The class of 2026 comprises 129 brothers representing 5 continents, 12 countries, and 11 US states. We range in height from Sinan, standing at 7 foot to Tyler Butler, who secretly has been working as an elf at the North Pole every Christmas. We span in age from Tom Tang, who still can’t drive a car, to Joe Perry, whom I’m pretty sure can legally rent a car. We vary from Cole Hedequist, who shaves twice a day to me, who has yet to buy my first bottle of shaving cream.
But our class is more than these physical attributes. In our trophy case sit 20 IAC championships from our four years, 8 in the last year, and 4 in the last month. 48 of us led retreats and acted as big brothers to freshmen as members of Love in Action. Seated among us today are 28 Southwell Scholars. And men like Ethan Shaw, who took the lessons learned in freshman theology to the veteran communities in DC. Men like Constantine Polis, who leads Prep’s Best Buddies chapter; under him Georgetown Prep became the largest donor to Best Buddies in Maryland. And Johnny Hughes, who, during his summers as a lifeguard, has saved 43 lives off the coast of Ocean City, New Jersey.
We are a class of many achievements.
Of course, we would not have accomplished these feats without the help of our strongest advocates, our parents, who day in and day out have supported us through our successes and failures. Suffering through beltway traffic every morning and afternoon, waking up early on weekends in the winter to get our service hours, and supporting us through an injury or failed assignment. You believe in us when we don’t believe in ourselves. And to the parents of our resident students: There were days when it was hard to come back from classes or practice and not see your face or hear your voice. Thank you for being present even when you were many miles away. Thank you for the text message before a game or show and the check-in--even though we might only ask for doordash or gas money.
To the other set of parents, the dorm parents, thank you for hearing our complaints about school, study hall, and all the phone rules we deemed unfair. Though we gave you a million reasons to live off campus, you chose love and showed it by attending our performances and games while also providing a shoulder to cry on. It is hard to go through high school away from our parents, but you made it possible by being a second set of parents and making Prep a second home.
Prep is full of parents of one kind or another: Teachers and staff in the classroom, in the South Room, on the corridors, and on the fields are all a part of our journey, each adding his or her parental touch to our experience.
It takes a village to raise a child, and all these actions little and big by the Prep staff and faculty have had a tremendous impact on us and have shaped us into the men who will walk across the stage today.
We thank you.
Now for the second question: Why are we here?
Why we are here starts with how we got here. It could be your fathers or grandfathers, brothers or cousins that attended Prep. Maybe you--or your parents--understood the benefits of Jesuit education or the all-boys experience. My reason is that my grandpa, the son of Irish immigrants, was lucky enough to attend Regis High School, a Jesuit all-boys high school in New York City. Over the course of his life he has repeatedly recounted his appreciation for the lessons he learned at Regis. He moved in with my family in 2017, so over the last few years I have heard more of these stories and memories. Even after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, when you mention the words Jesuit or Regis his eyes light up and he recounts those core memories instilled from his Jesuit experience.
When I think about the core memories of our class I think about…
Open House that early fall morning in October 2022. As always, it’s a perfect fall day, and the campus looks exactly as it does on the website. The whole school community gathers to present Prep to not just the DMV, but to the globe. The Freshman Ensemble performs music from “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Andrew Partridge previews his reign as ping-pong champion in front of a circle of 7th and 8th graders. We tour families around campus, proud of our ability to navigate the buildings and grounds of our school and excited to show off our house. In fact, our collective enthusiasm led Headmaster Glennon to declare that Monday a holiday. We had been students for just over a month, yet the brotherhood felt present on that first day we were ambassadors for Prep.
Another core memory occurred on the same day.
When the visitors left, we moved into what has become the centerpiece of our campus and home for 124 of us. We’ve moved under one roof, and the sense of family is palpable. It is an intense board game with Mr. Smith. It’s sledding down the hills of the golf course on a snow day. It’s rolling out with bedhead for the 11:15 Sunday mass. Freshmen mingle with upperclassmen; there are faculty families with children of all ages and dogs of all types. We celebrate our diverse cultures with Lunar New Year festivities and Taste of Japan and Taste of Africa dinners (You might know already that boys are eager to celebrate food!). Our collective home away from home hosts Jazz Band concerts and Super Bowl parties and movie nights. It’s comfortable and fun and sometimes a little messy--like home. Prep intended the new dorm as a hub where the friendships between Day and Resident students would grow, and it does just that.
Of course, the primary reason our parents sent us to Prep is the Jesuit education, and the classrooms in which we spent the bulk of our days are engrained in our memories.
After all, this is where we made our first friends at Prep, where we learned each other's names and how to pronounce Ikuemesi and found out that Manny has the most contagious laugh.The classroom is the cornerstone of the friendships we will have for our lifetime. And we didn't just learn about each other in the classroom; we learned about ourselves. Mr. Gigot’s precalc class made us reassess our math skills, and senior theology’s Scattergram made us rethink our conceptions of ourselves. We also discovered that getting an A on a paper in English is one of the most rewarding (and rare) feelings. The classroom is where we first engaged with each other through daily Latin 1 quizzes, like-clockwork E day math tests, and, eventually, Dr. Ochs’s Sunday classes. I would be shocked if anyone in the class found these moments enjoyable at the time, but this is where we became us, where the bonds began to grow and intertwine. Where our teachers guided us year by year to a deeper understanding of the world and ourselves.
These bonds formed in the classroom were enhanced in the theater and stadium. Who will forget Brett Cotton’s double-overtime goal against Landon? Or Michael Rose belting out a song in a porta potty in Twelfth Night? Noah Han at Prep Idol? The bonds that we formed in the classroom were reciprocated by the sports fields and stages on which we performed and practiced over the course of our four years.
So now for the third question: So what?
The places of these memories are the background of our time together on this beautiful campus. What mattered--what still matters--are the people. Jesuit schools teach us to find God in all things, and we have found over the past four years God in each other. The relationships we have formed are real and lasting. I think of this graduation morning like the final day of Kairos: Saddened that the experience has passed, but excited to present our new selves to the world.
Cherish the moments of the last four years as you cherished those days of your retreat.
This is the last time our whole class will be together. But the 4th day lasts forever. We are leaving this place, not each other. The memories and what we have learned will go with us.
Our experience here has shaped us into the men we are: men for and with others, and we will continue to grow in that vision. I see us living out these values each day of our lives. We are ready.
The people in a home make it special. As I look at the 128 of you, I cannot express enough how grateful I am for the family we have formed over these four years.
Thank you.
