First off I must say, happy puppies, and now that you have the image of playful little pups, this can be a little more enjoyable. Second I must thank all of you for coming. Thirdly, I am going to stop counting the statements I am making.
Wow. It has definitely been a ride worth the price of admission. Between each of you as individuals there is so much variance yet so much interconnectedness; it is just so hard to find a place to start. So let’s go to the beginning, ½ score and around 3 years ago is pretty close. That was when most of us were just entering our first of many years of schooling. We were so smart then, and do you know why? Because we didn’t have worries about the future, the only things we cared about were painting pictures with our fingers and learning the alphabet. From then on things only got more difficult and more advanced, and before long we were learning addition and subtraction, forming sentences, and beginning to read Dr. Seuss books. This would be around the time of early elementary school, when things changed, and not what we were learning, but the people whom we associated with. Those early elementary years were when we felt like we knew everything, and to this day we have never lost that feeling, have we? Elementary was when we formed groups, it was mostly just two groups, the “cool” and “uncool” kids. With all this distortion of importance though, came the all powerful fix-it sheet and the conflict managers, and with those, we were perfectly fine, not really though, but close enough. Elementary was not just the age of stupidity for us though, we had our share of bright spots, we were getting smarter, and by the fifth grade, we were exercising our creativity in writing, cruising with our mad minute math, learning about the world in science, mastering the all-important cursive, and rocking our recorders in music.
Then came the move to sixth grade, we felt like we were getting old and wise, but we weren’t the oldest kids in the school anymore. We also had to begin thinking. And while our schooling was becoming more and more in depth, we were growing closer, as a class, groups were dispersing. We were not completely united yet though, because before long, we had a shipload of newcomers all the way from Crucifixion. It was fun to have new people in our school, and before long most people were getting along quite nicely. But in order to keep up with increased social points, there came points of higher education, not all bad though, because even though there was a lot of math, a lot of science, a lot of English, and a lot of social studies throughout middle school, we had one of our greatest moments in the eighth grade, not because we were one year away from high school, not because we were again the elders, but because we could choose to have a study hall, we could choose. Wasn’t that such an empowering moment? To be able to choose to not have a class, but instead to take school time to do your homework, that was nice. Or even better yet *(*NOD TO COPP*)* choose to stay in band, or perhaps you rather enjoyed your singing, then you could have stayed in choir. Then came those high school packets, then we were able to plan our future, from what classes we would take, to the ones we wouldn’t.
High school, it has been, how should I say this, how about, it has been boss. We have had so much control of our future since our freshmen year, it is incredible. But all the more incredible is how close we have become a class, or rather how close we have become as a family. Just remember what we have endured through together, things like a child for a president, a bomb scare, LOST ending, alien attacks on school buses, alien assaults on buses, teachers leaving every year after we moved to the next grade since the fifth grade, Scott Micheels, Cheese, ground mustard, ketchup, milk... well those last few may have just been items off the grocery list, but you get the point. We have also been part of some other interesting things such as the Thundercatz, the A-Team, our elite mathematics team, the cardiac kids, the splendor of our basketball team, and taking over the reigns as the leaders of La Crescent High School. And now, we are coming close to pass on that leadership, and take over leadership in other avenues.
With all the time we have been together, it is impossible to sum up everything in a speech, but we have had time for reflection, now is the time for the future. We are about to enter a period in our life where we make all the decisions, just think of it as the greatest commons you have ever had. We have had choices to make before, but now we have some of the biggest choices of our life and instead of our grades being on the line, it is our future. Think of it as a porous friend of mine would say, “This isn’t your average darkness, this is advanced darkness.” The only problem with the future is that we are not quite as smart as we used to be, and do you know why? Because now we have things to worry about, it is no longer finger painting, it is no longer 2 + 2, it is no longer Green Eggs and Ham, and it is certainly no longer nap time. But, we have also gained wisdom and intelligence, and as long as you know these things three you might be fine: What is your name, what is your quest, and what is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow. Oh, and I would also like to tell you to be afraid to fail, otherwise what is there pushing you to succeed, but upon successfully failing, don’t worry about it, just keep going with your life, because truly it isn’t a big deal in the grand scheme. It is now time to wake up and take our grand steps into life; it is time to dispense all of our great wisdom and knowledge onto the world. And whether you have chosen to further your education or you have chosen to dive right in, there is so much to keep in mind. Our future will not be like our past, or as John Cleese would say, “And now for something completely different.” But that is not a reason to neglect your past, life will have its ups and its downs, and as long as we always look on the bright side of life we will make it, and the rest of the world will walk the way of us, the class of 2010, and the world will like it.
Shawn Davis
No comments:
Post a Comment