To my fellow graduates

We, the class of 2017, have just over one week of high school left. Believe me, I'm just as ready for graduation as you are, but I'd like to share a few things with you all. 

Each of us started out as kindergarteners learning our abc’s, 123’s and Columbus sailing the great blue sea. Now, our abc’s have turned into 6 page research papers, our 123’s have turned into the tangent of theta, and now we know Columbus isn't what he was made out to be. Since five years of age our brains have obtained so much knowledge on a very large spectrum. We have experienced our first kiss, our first goal scored, our first A as well as our first F on essays. We've cried and felt embarrassed while we have also felt appreciated, needed, and important. High school especially has molded us into young adults, responsible men and women who can be assets to society. However, many times I've heard my parent or older adults wish to go back and change the way they were in high school. Fellow graduates, I ask that you never wish that same thing later in life because high school is a time of transformation, discovery, and fulfillment. Despite our mishaps, faults, and wrongdoings, the positives far outway the negatives. Every decision that we have made has directly linked us to where we are right now, and if you aren't where you want to be that's fine, because you will get there. I want to remind each of my fellow graduates that we are not done growing, learning, transforming, and discovering ourselves. Each of us have made decisions that weren't always the most appropriate; however, each day we are given a new chance to correct our faults and to be better. Just because high school is over doesn't mean that we are done; what we leave behind here can be completely transformed tomorrow. 

I want to ask each of you to take every last ounce of knowledge we have obtained over the last thirteen years, from English, history, math, science, trades, mechanics, cosmetology, foreign languages and above all, the moral lessons we were taught, and do good with them. Graduation for each of us is not the end but the very beginning of a new chapter of our lives. While I do not believe that these are the best years of our lives, I do believe that they were the most important and the most influential. The person you are the day we throw our caps to the sky may not be the person you are ten years from now, but I assure you, these past thirteen years will get you exactly where you're supposed to be. 

Whether you're attending a two or four year school, or joining the workforce, or entering the military, embrace the newness that we will receive after we graduate. Graduates, I ask that each of you not look back on our high school years and regret things that you've done, I ask that you learn from them and discover yourself through everything you have experienced. High school is not the climax of our lives; in all honesty it's merely a part of the rising actions in the story of our lives. Do not wish these years back, but do not wish them away either--use them to fulfill the rest of your life, the rest of your story. 

To the class of 2017, we did it & we will continue to do it. Fulfill the rest of your story because the next chapter begins now.