A New Mexico High School Commencement Speaker’s Message About Freedom

For years, Xavier Visage supported MAS Charter School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in ways that many students experienced but never really witnessed because it was masked by the steady rhythm of daily life.

He taught in its classrooms as a second- and sixth-grade reading teacher and as a kindergarten through third-grade music teacher. As the Purchasing Specialist in MAS’ operations division, Mr. Visage kept close track of supplies, schedules, records, reports and the operational details that allow a school of MAS’ size and scope to properly function. 

He also worked within an Albuquerque public charter school that insisted on close adult attention — the kind of place where someone notices when a student is absent, when a deadline is approaching, when a form is missing, or when a young person needs one more reminder to keep going.

So when Mr. Visage stood before the Class of 2026 at its recent commencement ceremonies, he spoke as an educator and administrator with a deep connection to the school and its students, a place where he helped maintain the structure the graduates were now preparing to carry forward in new ways.

“My point is, even when you didn’t feel like showing up,” he told them, “there’s been someone else who expected you to.”

That expectation, he said, would soon take a different shape.

Mr. Visage, who is launching a post-secondary trade school in Albuquerque, delivered a commencement address that was centered on freedom and the discipline required to use it well. The graduates, he said, were stepping out of an environment where they were enthusiastically assisted by others to stay on track. These included parents and guardians, teachers, college and career readiness counselors, school leaders, operations staff, and instructional coaches and mentors. However, he said that what lies ahead for them is a new chapter defined by personal ownership.

“The next phase of your life comes with a kind of freedom that sounds exciting,” he told the graduates and their invited guests gathered at the Grand Ballroom of the Student Union Building at The University of New Mexico.

“But it comes with a cost. And that cost is going to be self-discipline.”

The message carried particular meaning at MAS, a school whose academic and administrative model depends on structure, high expectations (aka, zero excuses), and intensive support for students in Albuquerque. The school’s promise is that students graduate knowing who they are, what they want to do, and are prepared for college, the military or a trade, with an post-secondary success agreement about what comes after high school.

Mr. Visage’s address focused on how graduates can carry that preparation into the years ahead.

He described self-discipline through the small, ordinary decisions that shape adult life. These include putting the phone away, going to bed at a reasonable time, waking up early, studying, setting priorities, eating lunch, drinking water throughout the day, and showing up when no one is calling home to ask why you did not.

“It’s not going to be you against the world,” he told the graduates. “It’s you against yourself.”

Mr. Visage had earned the authority to make that argument. He joined the staff team at MAS in 2017 as a second-grade writing teacher, later taught sixth-grade reading, music for kindergarten through third-grade students, and third-grade science. After returning to the school during the 2022-23 school year, he moved into operations, becoming the school’s purchasing specialist.

In that role, he worked at the center of MAS Chatter School’s behind-the-scenes machinery: purchasing, vendor research, order tracking, fixed assets, documentation, student records, master schedules, report cards, state reporting and classroom supplies. It was work defined by consistent precision and follow through.

His former colleagues have described him as steady and meticulous, as well as willing to serve wherever he was needed.

JoAnn Mitchell, Ed.S., founder and CEO of MAS Charter School, said Mr. Visage was chosen because his natural pursuit of excellence at MAS had crossed several parts of the school, and because he was preparing to start his own business using much of what he had learned there.

“He exemplifies our core values of passion, work ethic, and willingness to learn and grow, which made him an excellent choice as a graduation speaker,” Ms. Mitchell said. “Many of our students know him personally. He taught some of them, and they have seen him at the school for years. He understands MAS, and he understood the magnitude of what it means to be a MAS graduate.”

A biography like that gave the speech a clear sense of continuity. A former staff member who had helped sustain systems of accountability around students was now urging graduates to build accountability within themselves.

“You are now responsible for your future,” he said. “Not sometimes. Not once in a while. Every. Single. Day.”

His commencement address was organized around possibilities and choices. Graduates could choose gratitude, discipline, creativity, responsibility, and persistence. They could choose thoughts that empowered them. They could choose a direction and move with intention. They could choose to create opportunity.

“You can choose to focus on what’s not working, or you can choose to focus on what’s possible. You can choose to say, ‘Well, I can’t because of X, Y, Z,’” he told them, “or you can choose to say, ‘I can, and if not, I’ll figure out how.’”

Suffice it to say that for MAS, that distinction really does matter. The school’s expectations for student outcomes rest on the belief that students can meet demanding challenges when the right systems and supports are built around them. Mr. Visage’s speech pointed to the next stage of that philosophy: Support prepares students to carry with them the discipline, judgment, compassion, and resilience necessary as their lives expand beyond high school.

He distilled charge into three pieces of advice.

The first was to “tend your garden.” Thoughts, he said, are seeds. Environment is soil. Negative habits and toxic relationships are weeds. What students choose to plant, nurture or neglect will determine what grows.

“If you constantly plant thoughts of anger, fear or helplessness,” he said, the result will be “more things to be angry about, more problems and lots of suffering.” Thoughts rooted in empowerment, optimism and appreciation, he said, can lead to stronger relationships, better outcomes and more reasons to be grateful.

The second piece of advice was to take responsibility.

When a garden does not produce what one hoped, he said, the first question should be what can be done differently.

“Don’t curse the soil,” he said. “Don’t raise your fist at the weather. Don’t blame your neighbor.”

This was among his clearest statements about agency. Mr. Visage pressed graduates to locate their power in their own response, their own effort and their own willingness to act.

“Only when you take responsibility for some of it,” he said, “do you have the power to change any of it.”

His third piece of advice was the simplest: Keep going.

Here, the commencement speech became especially insistent. Graduates, he said, would be hearing the word “No.” They would be told they were too young, too old, inexperienced, overqualified or underqualified. They would meet resistance. They would feel discouraged. They would be tempted to quit.

“Most people stop when things get hard,” he said. “They get so close to their goal, feel a little resistance, then walk away or change course entirely.”

Persistence, he said, is what separates “the dreamers from the doers.”

Mr. Visage is now entering a new phase of his own. After years at MAS, he is preparing to open The Visage Institute of Beauty & Excellence in Albuquerque, a private post-secondary trade school focused on cosmetology, esthiology, makeup artistry, and instructor training.

This new chapter in his life added resonance to his commencement message. He was telling graduates to choose a direction, take responsibility, and create opportunity as he prepared to do the same. His own path reflects one of MAS’ central ideas: that post-secondary success can take multiple forms, including college, military service, skilled trades, and entrepreneurship.

The address became a handoff. MAS Charter School had provided structure, expectations, and social and emotional support. Mr. Visage was telling graduates how to carry those things into the next season of their lives.

“All of you have the freedom to choose what you plant,” he said. “All of you have the capacity to hold yourself accountable. And all of you have the strength needed to keep going.”

And then he returned to the word “possibility.” 

“This is your moment,” he told the Class of 2026. “Not because everything is certain. But because everything is possible.”