Grads move into another time of change
High school graduation is something my classmates and I have been looking forward to for a long time.
To us, it means one more step toward independence. Receiving that diploma will mean that we are done getting up at 6:30 in the morning so we can go sit in different classrooms for six hours. To quote the song: “No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher’s dirty looks.”
We realize that graduation signifies a major change in our lives and that it means we must leave some of the things we love behind forever, but I think for the most part everyone is excited to see what’s around the next bend.
Even though this will be a point of change in our lives, I can’t help but think that the past four years have held just as much change as the next ones will. When I compare my classmates and myself as we are now to what we were as freshmen, it is obvious that we have all changed quite a bit.
The change has been so gradual that I don’t think any of us realized it was happening. Every day we came to class and saw the same people and went through the same routine and didn’t really think anything about it.
Yet somehow during the daily routine of lessons, tests, homework, sports, after-school activities and all the other things a high school student is involved in, we grew as individuals.
The friendships we made were an important part of the process. Going to a small high school meant many of us had known one another since kindergarten.
Friendships that were already strong grew stronger as we found out more about ourselves. I think saying goodbye to each other will be the most difficult part of graduation
I hope the next four years bring about the same kind of changes that the past four have. I hope we will all continue to grow and that each of us will give our best to whatever we decide to pursue.
Most of all, I hope we will find the kind of true friends that make life worth so much more.
We cannot be certain what the future will bring. We all want to be successful and live full lives, but there will be challenges, and there is no guarantee of success. That is why I encourage all graduating seniors to work hard and never give less than what they are capable of.
We each have unique gifts and talents that will help us contribute to the world if we use them wisely. So I encourage every graduating senior to go out and show the world exactly what you are made of.
One of my friends likes to quote Pope John Paul II: “If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world ablaze!”
I hope we all become what we should be so we can set the world ablaze, and I wish all the graduating seniors of 2005 the very best.