A Message to the Class of 2016
Gratitude Challenge - Week 45 - What You Do For Fun
"Good morning friends, family, faculty members, and the Holy Family High School Class of 2016. I would not be standing here today without the support of many people, particularly my parents and grandparents, my teachers, my brother, and my friends. I also would like to thank the Holy Family Alumni Association for their support of my education through their scholarship over the past four years. It is an honor to be able to speak to you this morning.
Since the release of High School Musical in 2006, I idealized high school, painting it to be as shiny, flashy, and picture-perfect as the movie I loved at age nine. As the class nerd with a love for singing, I sympathized with Gabriella, and I hoped Troy Bolton would come for me. Mean girls like Sharpay would be put in their place, and everyone would dance and sing in the hallways.
Now, as an 18-year-old graduating senior, my life experience has doubled since the release of High School Musical. One of my favorite religion teachers said that knowledge can be learned, but wisdom comes with age. I look back on my younger self and chuckle; it is amazing to see the dreams of a younger child via the light of an older age.
High school, unfortunately, is nothing like High School Musical. Nerds rarely date the stars of the basketball team, and mean girls sometimes get their way. Nobody sings on tables in the lunchroom. If they did, they would probably receive an hour with Mr. Vess. People often stick to the status quo, following the path of least resistance in an effort to fit in with the crowd. To my younger self, high school would be a great disappointment.
And yet, so much of high school is greater than what is portrayed in High School Musical. We may not dance on tables and proclaim our inner desires on a daily basis, but the process of self-discovery manifests in each student. The status quo exists, but it is not uncommon for popular seniors to take in an overwhelmed underclassman, or true friendships to form between two vastly different people.
In fact, it is these moments that hallmark our experience at Holy Family High School. As a class, we found that it only takes one person saying, “Let’s do this together,” to find a new friend or a new hobby. We celebrated our differences and our friendships through dance offs and dodgeball tournaments. Our teachers challenged and encouraged us to reach the very edges of our potential, believing in our power not only as a class but also as individuals. Bonds between upper and underclassmen helped us endure not only the academic challenges, but the lunches, football games, performances, and passing periods. In these Holy Family moments, I see God alive and working in our community every single day.
High school is not about finding your soulmate or your best friend or even your favorite subject. Those events can and do happen, but they are byproducts, not goals. High school, in its purest sense, allows us to find ourselves within the simple moments that made up the past four years of our lives. Holy Family High School shaped our morals and cultivated our virtues to aid the rest of our lives. Now, we must take the summation of these moments and put them into place because one moment only leads to another.
As we approach college and the moments beyond this precious high school experience, know that it is impossible to be completely immune to the pressures of the status quo. Ralph Waldo Emerson famously says, "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." The constant struggle between ourselves and our society will only increase as we venture out into the world, but we are never alone, for God stands with us through every hardship until we triumph.
To be true is a lifelong fight, but one I am determined our class can win."
What do I do for fun? I write. So when I found out that I was to give a speech at my high school's graduation as the Salutatorian, I thought it would be a painless task. Wrong. After countless drafts and many tears, I could not come up with anything to say. I stared at a blank document for hours.
Finally, I abandoned the sugarcoated nonsense, replacing it with the raw truth. I based the speech off the people who changed my life for better and for worse. In the end, four years of hardships and joy culminated in my five minute speech.
Since the release of High School Musical in 2006, I idealized high school, painting it to be as shiny, flashy, and picture-perfect as the movie I loved at age nine. As the class nerd with a love for singing, I sympathized with Gabriella, and I hoped Troy Bolton would come for me. Mean girls like Sharpay would be put in their place, and everyone would dance and sing in the hallways.
Now, as an 18-year-old graduating senior, my life experience has doubled since the release of High School Musical. One of my favorite religion teachers said that knowledge can be learned, but wisdom comes with age. I look back on my younger self and chuckle; it is amazing to see the dreams of a younger child via the light of an older age.
High school, unfortunately, is nothing like High School Musical. Nerds rarely date the stars of the basketball team, and mean girls sometimes get their way. Nobody sings on tables in the lunchroom. If they did, they would probably receive an hour with Mr. Vess. People often stick to the status quo, following the path of least resistance in an effort to fit in with the crowd. To my younger self, high school would be a great disappointment.
And yet, so much of high school is greater than what is portrayed in High School Musical. We may not dance on tables and proclaim our inner desires on a daily basis, but the process of self-discovery manifests in each student. The status quo exists, but it is not uncommon for popular seniors to take in an overwhelmed underclassman, or true friendships to form between two vastly different people.
In fact, it is these moments that hallmark our experience at Holy Family High School. As a class, we found that it only takes one person saying, “Let’s do this together,” to find a new friend or a new hobby. We celebrated our differences and our friendships through dance offs and dodgeball tournaments. Our teachers challenged and encouraged us to reach the very edges of our potential, believing in our power not only as a class but also as individuals. Bonds between upper and underclassmen helped us endure not only the academic challenges, but the lunches, football games, performances, and passing periods. In these Holy Family moments, I see God alive and working in our community every single day.
High school is not about finding your soulmate or your best friend or even your favorite subject. Those events can and do happen, but they are byproducts, not goals. High school, in its purest sense, allows us to find ourselves within the simple moments that made up the past four years of our lives. Holy Family High School shaped our morals and cultivated our virtues to aid the rest of our lives. Now, we must take the summation of these moments and put them into place because one moment only leads to another.
As we approach college and the moments beyond this precious high school experience, know that it is impossible to be completely immune to the pressures of the status quo. Ralph Waldo Emerson famously says, "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." The constant struggle between ourselves and our society will only increase as we venture out into the world, but we are never alone, for God stands with us through every hardship until we triumph.
To be true is a lifelong fight, but one I am determined our class can win."
Comments
Post a Comment