Let Others Judge You

Welcome and thank you all for joining the white day period three commencement speech presentation day. Now that we are seniors we are asked 1000 questions about what we are doing after high school and what we learned from high school. I can tell you that high school sucked. High school should be known as judge me school because everyone in high school likes to be in everyone’s business. Besides my actual work and my teachers, high school really was the worst because people were always judging each other. But I did learn many things from the negative experiences that made me a better person. Here are 10 things I would not have been able to accomplish if I listened to others in high school.

First off, and probably one of the most important number one: Meeting my best friends. I really opened up to a group of girls I had known for years at dance. It took me until freshman year to really get to know them all when it was just us in a hip-hop class. It turned out that they were literally my soulmates. Most of my “friends” at the time I was forced to be friends with. Or people I thought they were my true friends just because of our small school and having to be around them 24/7. What I noticed right off was that my new friends, unlike my old, would never judge me for what I did. All along I was with the wrong kind of people and my five true best friends helped me see what friends really are.

Number two: finally passing algebra 1. As we all know math at Oak Hill is pretty horrible. Freshman year I hated math and did not want to stay after to get extra help because I did not want others to judge me for the extra help. But, when I finally got over caring about others opinions, I stayed after with Finn and was able to pass my math class. And form a great relationship with Finn!

Number three: get into the LRTC law enforcement class. One of the best high school experiences I had was at LRTC. But, this was a very hard thing to get into. Everyone judges cops, calls them names and hates them. When I told people what I wanted to do at LRTC, many people backed off and did not want to be friends with a “want-to-be cop”. If I would have listened to that and did not join LRTC my life would not be the same way it is today.

Number four: getting into NHS and NTHS. If I was never able to be myself and do what I love to do, I would have never stood out as a leader to be in NHS and NTHS.

Number five: becoming Major Miller. At LRTC I had to ignore a lot of hate on how I always tried to hard and always did too much. But ignoring them and doing my passion paid off when I was awarded the top leader of the class.

Number six: becoming the senior class president. I was nervous to become senior class president because I was nervous I would not win. But, I knew that I had worked hard and proved that I was the most deserving for the position. By working hard and ignoring the hate and jealousy of some others I ran and won! I was super happy to finally be my class president and do good things for my grade that they finally deserved.

Number seven: getting the LRTC Student of the year! Like I said before in LRTC being a try hard and always doing your best can get a lot of hate. But this year I was given an award and a scholarship for all my hard work and dedication.

Number eight: getting accepted into my dream college! I was pretty nervous to apply to college because many people have said when I was younger that I would not be caught up enough with my education to go. But, I proved them all wrong by working hard and doing well in my classes and getting accepted into 18 out of 18 schools that I applied to. Champlain was the hardest to get into and I got in with a pretty good scholarship just for how well I did in high school!

Number nine: winning scholarships. So far I have already won two scholarships that I applied too and was told that I won by a landslide. With many more to come in I realized that if I did listen to what others said in all the numbers above I wouldn’t stand out like I do today.

And lastly, number ten. I would not have been able to be walking in my graduation on June 4th. If I would have stayed the kid who was always behind, did not care about school, always listen to others opinions, or just did not allow myself to become me, I would not be where I am today. By trying my hardest to do what was best for me and what I wanted to do I was able to realize my goals and achieve them and graduate with my class in very high up honors.

To the class of 2018 if you are only going to take one lesson with you to college it should be to not let others judge you. Over the last four years in high school I have seen myself and many others progress by being who they want to be and ignoring hate from others. After years of harassment, I have come to the conclusion that when I ignore what people say and do what my heart says I end up the happier one in the long run. Listen to yourself and you can become the leader, the president, the scholar, the best friend, the major, the top student, and overall yourself. Remember this seniors when you stop listening to others you start listening to yourself.