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I am extremely proud to be given the opportunity to address you all during this wonderful and momentous celebration. Each and every one of you deserves the greatest congratulations. You have paid a price to be here; put sweat, frustration, anger, effort, tears, blood and now triumph into your years at Napier High School. You all should be incredibly proud of yourselves. You know that you make your life whatever you want. And what you put in, you get out. Like the cross country girls' motto: "Where you find success you find sacrifice," if you give, you shall receive. But don't expect results right away. Some things take time. And don't expect your goals to come easily. Life is filled with adversity; expect obstacles at every corner. Why? Because chances are they're going to be there. But it's not what happens when you are faced with adversity, it's how you react to it. Be classy through triumph and failure and if you get knocked down or stepped on. Get up, brush yourself off and start running again - no wait, that's another story. Nevertheless, you will face obstacles; the key to movi...
To the County High School Class of 2012: As you sit in front of me, I know what most of you are thinking at the moment. There are those who are already pondering about what life without high school will be like; those who are debating whether or not to tell your crush tonight about your whispers of adoration you’ve secretly held for four years; some simply want to get out of that ungodly chair, get that thing that isn’t really a diploma but only tells you when to pick up the thing, and then be the first one on the green bus to the grad party — you know who you are. And the rest, well, the rest aren’t even paying attention, you’re thinking, “Great, here comes one of the valedictorian speakers. Next up: a boring speech straight out of the pits of scholarly hell.” And it’s OK, I don’t mind — that sort of thing comes with the territory. But tonight, I ask that you give me a chance to break that stereotype so that I may address you in the full splendor that you deserve after 13 grueling years of work. I do not want to be known as your “valedictorian” as I stand here, c’mon guys, there is no time left to place labels on people anymore, instead I ask that you accept me as one of your peers — and as a man who will enjoy becoming a graduate alongside you.
When I was in elementary school, I loved to read. I was a total nerd back then ... okay maybe I still am, but one thing has changed. Now I don't so much like reading. My favorite poet was Shel Silverstein, who wrote "Where the Sidewalk Ends." He seemed like he was a total hippie, but that's cool because I like hippies. My grandma is a recovering hippie. I like her too. Anyway, Shel Silverstein wrote about the coolest things. He wrote about magical erasers, eating whales and a boy with long hair flying away from people who were taunting him. He captured all of the things that I loved without knowing that I actually loved them. Now you may ask, how does this hippie relate to our graduation? Well, he wrote a poem entitled "Traffic Light" and this is how it goes:
Good evening. Some of you out there may not realize this but those of you who attended Suntime Middle School have been with this guy for the last seven years. I would like to ask you all, not just Suntime Middle School grads and who all else, to join me in thanking Mr. Weather for his patience and dedication to the success of our education over the years. We are the Class of 2000. The first graduating class of the new millennium. The past four years have been pretty wild. We started out as a bunch of rats in a small cage, but as time went by we learned and matured and became big rats in a new small cage, but in any case, the cage door is now opening; the handlers turning us wild things loose. As we leave "Where the Wild Things Are," home to some of the best cat fights, fist fights and food fights this side of the Cascades, I have a little surprise for all of you sitting in front of me here tonight in your caps and gowns … we ain’t seen nothing yet!
Over the past four years, we have grown from insecure, immature freshmen to successful, focused and confident young adults. This incredible transformation has been the result of our entire high school experience. Everything from that first homecoming game, to late night cramming, to the last dance at prom. These experiences have pulled us together as a class and we have learned to love and respect our fellow classmates.
South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote, "You are a very special person - become what you are." These words encourage us, the graduating class of 2012, to recognize the goodness and potential in each and every one of us and to go out and excel in the world. We are a diverse group of different aspirations and backgrounds, bound for different corners of the earth to carve out our won individual niches. Before we leave behind Lee Falls High School and each other, we must ask ourselves how we have become who we are.
... and be proud of all you have accomplished here at McNeil. Sure it’s long, sure we have tons of kids in our class, but stare at everyone’s shoes or something. Laugh it up at the kid who is wearing flip flops. Chuckle at the girl who is only 4’11” and takes 5 strides for each of your 2. Er, wait, that’s me. Enjoy this moment. Don’t rush through these motions. This is a significant event. It does deserve grins, laughter, and an optimistic attitude.
When I was chosen to speak tonight, I thought that as a track athlete it would be appropriate to compare life to a race. Life is a race, a race to each milestone in our lives.
Henry Adams once wrote "A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops." This is so true, every teacher here has taught us much more than the textbook curriculum. Every teacher here tonight has given us students something we will use or remember for the rest of our lives. I really don't think people understand or appreciate the time and effort our teachers have put into us. So tonight I'm not going to give everyone advice on the future, I'm not going to tell you how life is a journey we've just begun, and I'm not going to brag about how great the class of 2006 is. Since we have eight outstanding Valedictorians this year, I'm sure all of those bases are already covered. So instead, I'm going to take a few minutes here to thank some of the teachers and staff that have made a difference in my own life, and by doing so I hope that everybody present tonight will see how important each and every teacher and staff member is at Amos High School.
Today, as we graduate, with degree nearly in hand, I challenge each of you to make a difference in whatever you do. Remember that life didn't end when we re-entered school. Life continued throughout our program. Even when stretched to the limit, life only got more challenging. And now, graduating, life only changes pace. Our degree completion is not really an ending as much as a new beginning as we re-enter our lives of work and home. We thank all of our family, friends, instructors and co-workers who helped see us through this process. Thank you for this opportunity and good luck to you all.
It is probably a mistake that I am standing here giving a speech for graduation. In fact it is probably a mistake that I am even graduating from this school at all -- believe me, just as most people in this class I have tested the limits of attendance, of sleeplessness, and of procrastination. At the beginning of my high schooling, I was even testing dropping out ... and if that wasn't a mistake, I don't know what was. After four years of Starr altering our minds, it seemed most fitting for me to spend my four minutes talking about mistakes. Thank goodness for them, by the way -- it is only when we truly screw up big time that we are ever stopped in our tracks -- stopped, briefly, to learn lessons of worth.
First of all, I'd like to welcome all the parents, relatives and friends, on behalf of the senior class. It has been a long, hard road to graduation and I know your presence here is greatly appreciated. My job as salutatorian is to reminisce on our past here at County High, a past that reads like a script of a soap opera.
Good evening parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and friends. I would like to thank you all for coming to this very special day. I know how proud you must be. As we have grown over the years, there are many stages we all have gone through. From learning our shapes and colors, to getting our first kiss in middle school, or how about explaining to our parents why we skipped school because the principal called home. As we remember these days, things that we've done will be with us forever. But this is only the start of our journey. The day has come where we say goodbye to the big yellow buses, assemblies, assigned seating, and attendance policies. Are you really gonna miss it? For some of us maybe not right away. But eventually we will so for us to be here it is not necessarily an achievement, but a privilege. All of us have been in school over half our lives. To graduate is one more step we've taken in our lives.
For the past 13 years of our education we have been on a journey - a journey full of experiences, challenges and accomplishments. We have made it through elementary, middle and high school. It hasn't always been what we expected and certainly not easy, but as we progressed down the road, we stretched ourselves to reach across barriers and found ourselves in new and expanding roles. We were given the opportunity to explore our interests and discover what really excites us. We have become more independent and complete individuals. Our growth and self-discovery has placed us here tonight.
Valedictorian Speech Good evening fellow graduates, teachers, family members, friends, and distinguished guests. It is a tremendous honor to be the valedictorian of our graduating class. My job is to somehow be the voice of the entire graduating class, and take five minutes to say a few words on behalf of all 539 of us. Like most valedictorians, writing this speech was not an easy task for me. Not because I did not have anything to say, but because I was overwhelmed by how much I wanted to share with you all on this day. Tonight, we have one common purpose, to celebrate. We are here to congratulate, to look towards what the future holds for us, to wish each other well, and to, most importantly look back on our time spent here. So, I would like to start by saying 'well done' to my fellow graduates, who have all worked hard during the past several years to reach this milestone. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to the graduating class for selecting me to speak here tonight. Ever since the news broke, many people, some who've I've never really met before, have come up to me and have wished me well. Perhaps this speech would be incomplete if I don’t say something to the teachers. On the behalf of my entire class, I would like to thank all my teachers: thank you. Thank you for teaching us, for leading us, for building us up as adults. I know that we have not given back to you the respect you deserve. I know that we have not told you how much we appreciate you taking time out of your schedules to help us. And I know that we have not said thank you for giving us a wonderful education. So, I hope that as I say thanks, you can forget our shortcomings and remember us for who we are and not from the mistakes we have made. ...
Let me begin by saying that I am very honored to be addressing the County High School Class of 2012 as students of this institution for the last time. We've spent these last four years creating some serious memories: four years of chieftain power, leaking roofs, questionable Homecoming skits, and musical principals. Four years of good teachers, bad teachers, new teachers, old teachers. Four years of youth, music, growing up and breaking free. Four rubber chickens, four yearbooks, four ASB presidents and four chubby bunnies.