Mesa Tales: Inspiring an Act of Presence
May 29, 2026
By Alex Lockett, Head of School
I’m still processing the powerful storytelling that emerged from commencement weekend. If you were here on the Mesa or watched the ceremony livestreamed, I can assure you that you needed a box of tissues nearby to soak up the tears. Tears of joy. Tears of admiration. And tears of gratitude for inspiring us to be present and listen.
Andrew Peng ‘26. Nika Iverson ‘26. Dimash Anuarbek ‘26. These talented graduates inspired an act of presence in their speeches, and I’m grateful to have witnessed it in a world with so many distractions.
We all know that it is important to be present. Be here right now. Are you with me? Are you still reading this? Good.
And that is why, when I heard Dimash’s story, it struck me as a perfect example of how presence of mind can change your life’s trajectory.
In Dimash’s Baccalaureate speech, which you can watch here, he opened by observing that every person present was the living sequel to a story that began long ago. I reread that line a couple of times myself!
Dimash then turned to his grandmother’s story, which began in Russia in 1948. She was 16 years old, and her future had already been decided for her. Dimash’s grandmother was to have an arranged marriage. Her mother pressed money into her hands and sent her to buy a wedding dress. Instead, she walked to the train station, found her best friend, and stood on the platform staring at the money. They flipped a coin. Russia or Kazakhstan. They chose Kazakhstan.
“They did what you would do when the future stretches out blank and terrifying, and any direction is better than standing still,” Dimash said.
That single act of defiance by Dimash’s grandmother, changed the trajectory of her life, on her own terms.
She eventually built a life and a family, doing whatever jobs she could find, raised her children largely on her own, and became a “woman of iron,” in Dimash’s words.
In 2024, Dimash’s grandmother passed away from cancer. This happened while I was on the same trip with Dimash to the Kern River. All of us were having a good time, enjoying the end of an epic trip, and Dimash learned his grandmother had passed away soon after he boarded the bus ride home.
While everyone was all smiles as the bus slowly banked through each turn, Dimash was at a crossroads, quietly overwhelmed by grief, trying to figure out which way to go.
Nearly two years later, Dimash is graduating, honoring our Baccalaureate ceremony with beautiful words and honoring his grandmother’s legacy, her presence forever in his heart.
“I’m carrying a girl from Russia, a girl who stood on the train platform with money meant for a wedding dress, who looked at the coin in her hand and understood that some choices only come once. A girl who flipped the coin, who watched it fall, who chose freedom over everything familiar so that one day her grandson could stand here and tell her story to the world,” Dimash said.