GHS Class of ’25: “Be bold, take detours, take risks and always have room for Van Leeuwen Ice Cream”

Tuesday’s Greenwich High School class of 2025 graduation was full of cheers and laughter, as well as memories and advice.

Commencement speaker Ben Van Leeuwen, a graduate of the GHS class of 2002, described a circuitous path that led to his successful company, Van Leeuwen Ice Cream.

He was introduced by class of 2025 vice president Chloe Rabinowitz who noted, “Ben never imagined that his high school summer job would inspire the business he would soon build beside his brother Pete and their friend Laura O’Neill.”

“I had an instinct that was, maybe if I followed what I actually liked doing, rather than what sounded impressive or what I was supposed to do, I might find my way,” Van Leeuwen recalled.

He recalled working two summers driving a Good Humor truck in Greenwich. Using his saved earnings he traveled during a break from college to countries including Italy, Vietnam, Thailand, Spain and France where he said good food wasn’t special, but rather the norm.

After finishing college, Van Leeuwen described an unsuccessful search for a real estate or finance job, not having stood out with his GPA, internships or extracurriculars.

He remembered his a-ha moment.

“I was in the city on a job interview and I saw a Mister Softee truck and I said, ‘I’m going to do that. I’m going to build a truck and make ice cream with the best possible ingredients I can find.”

From there, he and his brother and Ms O’Neill raised $60,000 from friends and family to get started.

In a converted former US Postal Service truck painted yellow, they sold scoops on the streets of New York City in 2008.

The mission has remained steady to this day: to make good ice cream, from good ingredients, that make people feel good.

“We’re not trained MBAs and we didn’t have any experience running a business,” he said. “Success doesn’t often come from brilliance or genius, but it comes from showing up, making the decision and weathering the storms.”

He shared that back in December 2015 he realized the company was on the brink of running out of money.

In what he described as a dark, scary time, he borrowed money at 40% interest from a loan shark.

“It was just a decision to keep going,” he recalled.

Today, 18 years since getting started,  Van Leeuwen has nearly 100 corporate owned scoop shops in the US, and the ice cream brand is sold in about 15,000 grocery stores.

Van Leeuwen shared three useful lessons with the class of 2025.

First he urged graduates to follow their passion.

“Your passion doesn’t have to make sense to other people,” he said. “It just has to make sense to you. Trust your gut. Follow what feels good, not what looks good on paper.”

Second he said, “Success is not a straight line. You’ll fall on your face. You’ll face so many challenges. You’ll probably question everything. I question everything still. That doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong. It means you’re in it and that’s where the learning is.”

Third he advised, “Surround yourself with good people.”

“You don’t have to have it all figured out today. If you do, I’m jealous of you,” he said. You need curiosity and to nurture that curiosity and listen to it.”

His final words were, “Be bold, take detours, take the risks and always save room for Van Leeuwen Ice Cream.

GPS superintendent Dr. Toni Jones said graduation was her favorite event of the year, and Tuesday was her sixth graduation.

Dr. Jones talked about pursuing big dreams while balancing work and family.

Contrasting GHS to her high school in Oklahoma, where there were fewer residents in the entire town than the enrollment of GHS, she said. “I stand here today leading Greenwich Public Schools because of the many people who believed in me in my little town in Oklahoma.”

“Your success after tonight will not be defined by the courses you took or did not take in high school, or your high school grades, or the cost of the home where you grew up.”

“It will be determined by you. Go get what you want, for you. You don’t need to be the smartest person in the room, but you need to take every opportunity to learn from those around you. Every new person you meet is an opportunity for your personal growth.”

Jones’ parting comment about balancing work and family included a plea to to graduates to remember to call (not text) home at least once a week.

The families in the bleachers cheered loudly in response!

GHS principal Ralph Mayo talked about the importance of work ethic, which he said would matter more than luck and talent.

“People will say you need to be lucky in life – and sure, sometimes luck plays a part,” he said. “If you work hard, prepare and take care of the little things, the big things have a way of working out.  It may look like you’re lucky, but in reality you just set the table for luck to find you.”

Mayo said his parents modeled work ethic.

“They worked hard through the Great Depression and World War II. Then, brick by brick, they built a home here in Greenwich. Some say they were lucky, but no, they worked. They sacrificed. They saved,” Mayo said. “As a kid, I watched my parents get up every single day and go to work. My father drove a fuel truck, and in the winter he’d pull a heavy hose through the snow to deliver home heating oil. In the summer he drove a gasoline truck with so many gears he could barely lift his arm by the time he got home.”

“He never complained. He walked to work and sometimes if he was lucky, a co-worker might give him a ride home,” Mayo recalled. “People told him he was lucky, but it wasn’t luck; it was work.”

Mayo said he felt fortunate to be the principal of GHS, but looking back, he recalled it was the result of late nights, early mornings, 24-hour call and relentless effort.

“Think about how you want to live your life. Do you want to put in the work and succeed? Or do you want to do as little as possible and then say you were unlucky when things didn’t go your way?”

“Class of 2025, build on your successes. Work hard, be prepared, and yes, wish for a little luck – but earn it,” Mayo said.

BOE chair Karen Hirsh said while high school comes with a road map, clear objectives, built in support systems and a ready made community, but the future will feature forks in the road.

“You don’t need to have it all figured out now. Some of you are going off to college, some are jumping into the workforce, some are taking a gap year,” she said. “The reality is most of you are unsure which is perfectly okay.”

“It’s okay not to have a plan and it is okay to fail,” she said, adding failure is unavoidable. ”

See also:

Greenwich High School Class of 2025 Is All Smiles at Graduation

GHS Class of 1975 Plans 50th Reunion; Swaps Stories with Class of 2025

GHS Class of ’25 Valedictorian, Justin Bernstein: Follow Your Passions, Enjoy the Learning