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Tuesday, May 18, 2004


No Longer in High School
I have my diploma. I gave my speech, and it went much better than I thought. Here it is, close to how I said it:

Hello family, friends, faculty, honored guests, and most importantly, fellow graduates of the class of 2004. Thank you all for coming to this ceremony in celebration of finishing a thirteen-year-long educational career. Thirteen years, from napping in kindergarten to napping in first block. It’s been a trying experience. Now we have finally reached the goal we’ve been working for since we were five years old. All that time and effort on just one sheet of paper. It’s almost a bit anti-climatic.

Today, we are no longer high school students. We no longer have to wake up early just to go somewhere and work for hours without even being paid. Instead, some of us are going to college, where we’ll wake up early just to go somewhere and work for hours and pay for it. Others will go out and get jobs. Some may even join the military. There is an endless amount of possibilities for our futures. Throughout our lives, we’ve been learning, not just through books and schoolwork, but also through the experiences we’ve had and the examples others have set for us. We now have to use all that we’ve learned to choose the right path for ourselves. It will be hard, incredibly hard. Still, it is possible. Being in the International Baccalaureate program for the last four years has taught me that incredibly hard work is possible, especially with last-minute panic as a motivator.

Being in IB has kept me separated from many of my fellow graduates. Well, that and my tendency to keep to myself. Most of my classes have been with the same ten people for my entire high school career, and I am proud of that. I am happy to have known the other ten IB seniors and to have had some small influence on their lives. As for the many of you I don’t know as well or at all, I’ll leave you with this quotation that a friend of mine has been requesting quite adamantly that I use. It’s from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The quotation is “I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.” I don’t know many of you as well as I’d like to, but I do know that we all hope for a good future that is all our own. In ten years, we can talk about how we’re getting that future at the reunion. Until then, good luck fellow graduates of the class of 2004. May each and every one of your goals be as bright as the North Star to lead you to even brighter futures. Congratulations and thank you all.


People actually laughed at some of the funny parts. It was good. I enjoyed it, other than more than enough embarrassment. Afterwards, my family and I ate at Santa Fe. I wasn't too hungry, so I brought some home. I'm glad not to be wearing my dress clothes or gown and cap or all the awards.

We all needed tickets to get in, even us graduates. I left mine in there after practice, and if a guy didn't go out the door a few minutes after me so that I could go get them, I wouldn't have even been there. I was sure lucky that guy was coming out when he did.

Also, when walking outside, my valedictorian medal fell off the strap it was on. Luckily, some lady called me back and gave it to me. Otherwise, I would have lost it. I put it on another strap with another medal. 3 medals, 2 cords, 2 stolls (sp?) and a special tassle. Those, with my black cap and gown, made me stand out.

Well, the speech is over. The ceremony is over. The diploma is in the plaque. Thank you all for your comments. Now, I'll let you comment here too. Thanks.

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