A Senior Year Like No Other: Stories that Matter

Violet Binczewski ’26 took the podium on a sun-drenched morning to address her classmates, their families, and the Mount community. Her words—carefully chosen, powerfully delivered—reflected the voice of a young woman who understands the profound responsibility of telling stories that matter.

Binczewski has spent her Mount years as a storyteller in every sense. As Co-Editor-In-Chief of both the Campanile and the Muse during her junior and senior years, she covered politics, mental health, social media, and beauty standards—issues that matter deeply to her generation. Beyond journalism, she co-captained Reading Olympics and co-founded Mount Poets Society, establishing herself as a leader who lifts up the voices of others.

But Violet’s impact extends far beyond the Mount community. She is an emerging writer from North Wales, Pennsylvania, who has already published a collection of poetry, The Ocean and Her Shadows, with Pegasus Elliot Mackenzie Publishers. Her second collection, Lower Valley Road, is forthcoming. Her work has appeared in Notre Dame Prep’s the Hampton Review, the America Library of Congress, Moonstone Press, and Philadelphia Stories Junior. This fall, she will carry her passion for storytelling to Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Communications, where she will study journalism and writing.

Standing in the light, Violet spoke to her classmates about the power of narrative—not just in words, but in how we live our lives. Her message was one of courage, possibility, and unwavering belief in the stories each young woman in the Class of 2026 is about to write.

Valedictory Address

Good morning administration, Board of Directors, faculty and staff, parents, friends, and of course to the class of 2026. I feel deeply honored to be standing here today representing this phenomenal group of young women, and I am beyond proud to be one of you. I would like to extend an utmost thank you to the teachers who taught us, who pushed us, who guided us into who we are today, as well as to the parents and friends that supported us through our past four years at this incredible school.

Our class was able to have an unforgettable experience at the Mount. We learned what it meant to be a part of a sisterhood that transformed us from young girls into young women, laced together in a union that we will carry with us forever. We tried on varied activities, subjects, identities, and we fostered our passions. But despite the different trajectories of our experiences, we all have something in common extending beyond the sisterhood of the Mount. We are all writers. We experience and create our narratives uniquely, with distinct handwritings inscribing the pages of where we have been and where we are going. Each of us is writing our own story, writing our own lives, and most of all, learning who we are when we create our ever-fluctuating futures.

The Mount has not only taught us to be writers of essays and research papers, but writers of life. We write every day, not just in the words we jot down, but in the actions we take. We write our own dialogue in the way we speak, and we choose our characters through the people we surround ourselves with. Writing is more than words; it extends into the experiences and stories we create for ourselves and for the world. When we learn who we are as both the narrator and the author of our lives, we write through action and experience. And as we come together today, about to close the Mount chapter of our stories, we look back with gratitude and pride at what we have experienced in those pages.

When we entered the Mount as young freshmen, we truly didn’t understand what kind of chapter we were about to write. We were still learning who we were and what we were meant to add to our own stories. But as we started to scribble down a few words, we soon found our pen flying across the page. We made early memories through the freshmen Disney trip, our first Founder’s Day, and of course, the bee incident on our freshmen retreat. We were starting to find our sisters and were learning what it meant to be a writer not only in our stories, but as young women realizing our fullest potential. And even as we continued to turn the pages of high school, coming across challenges like AP exams, writing the infamous Canterbury Tales paper, and beginning to think of our futures, we kept on moving our pens even when we weren’t exactly sure what we were about to write next. Just as in any good story, those challenges only made us stronger in ourselves and developed us as characters. The Mount has trained us to keep our eyes open and ears attentive, but to also hold our pens steady even when our hands quiver. You don’t need the best words or literary technique to write a great story. You can live it.

As we are about to write the last few sentences of our Mount chapter and begin writing the next, I would like to remind you that you are a writer, even if you don’t consider yourself to be. Your story is only beginning, and you will pen incredible chapters as your narrative continues to evolve. As you leave the halls of the Mount and step onto college campuses, I want every single young woman standing before me to know that she is intelligent, courageous, and ready to set the world on fire with her words. You can write a story hot off the press, feeding a world hungry for stories that matter. Lean into the unknown, the scary, the uncertain. Because your words contain a light that can brighten even the darkest of chapters. It is okay if you stare down at the page and are uncertain of what to write next, if you find yourself at a loss for words. Because the Mount has taught us to never stop writing, even through trials and tribulations. Even when you may feel as though you are running out of ink, that you have the worst case of writer’s block, that you will never write another meaningful word again. That you don’t know where your story is going. You may question if you are even a writer at all. But you know that stories do not just end. They evolve, just as we do. And it can be tempting to take the easy path in the story, the path that many have taken before. But oftentimes, that can make us stray from not only our characters, but who we are as writers. Trailblaze with your words and your grit. Stories make us, and the Mount story has made us, and now we are ready to make our own story. So pick up a pen and remember your passions. Start living your incredible story, a story that is rooted in the education, sisterhood, and the pages of the Mount. And class of 2026, you are going to write truly phenomenal stories. Remember that you are incredible leaders, founders, and writers. No one can write the way you do, so start jotting down what matters. Leave the mark of your pen on the world’s page. And above all, never stop writing.

Thank you, and congratulations.