Commencement Speech

Fellow Classmates, Friends, and Teachers:

As graduation approaches, I find myself reminiscing about all the experiences I have had over the past four years; the good, the bad, and the worst; all of the memories that I am sure to remember and a few that I am trying my hardest to forget; all the friendships that I have made and some that I have lost.  At the end of my time here at Oak Hill High School, I will graduate knowing that my experience has been what I made of it. Experiences had, lessons learned, and missed opportunities were all my choices. For any of you who do not know me very well, that is about to change. For the next few moments I am going to share with you my “Top 10” from high school; “Top 5 Things I Will Not Miss” and “Top 5 Greatest Memories”.

Things I Will Not Miss:

Coming in at Number 5:  Dissecting Creatures in Biology.  This has to be one of the most disgusting things I have ever done!  Thankfully I had a great lab partner who did all the dirty work, while I watched on; gagging from a distance!  Unfortunately, I learned that this will not be the only time I have to play doctor. College Science classes require you to do it as well.

Number 4:  The Big Yellow Bus!  Oh, how I hated riding that thing.  To think back to when I was in grade school and used to ask my parents, who both worked at my school at the time, if I could ride the bus instead of riding with them.  What was I thinking! Besides, I had to get up an entire half hour earlier when I took the bus. You all know how those extra minutes of sleep in the morning make all the difference in the world.

Number 3:  Sophomore Speech; need I say more!  I do not know many teenagers that like standing up in front of a bunch of people and speaking.  By the way, thank you Mr. Young for giving me that pleasure again today and making me do this once again.  I have come to the conclusion that public speaking is as enjoyable as going to the dentist. It is one of those things that you dread doing, but when your done you have this great feeling of relief.

Number 2:  School Lunch!  I am just going to leave it at that!

And Finally, Number 1; the absolute, most annoying thing I will not miss about high school…FORMATIVES!  I cannot even tell you the amount of time I lost to formatives. And of course, redoing formatives. Apparently, I enjoyed doing them so much that on several occasions I decided to do the same ones over again!  

Now, on to the good stuff!  My Top 5 Greatest Memories:

Number 5:  Having had the ability to have played Varsity level sports my freshman year.  I was the number two player on the Varsity Golf Team. Talk about pressure. I also had the opportunity to play in a few Varsity Basketball games; didn’t really do much, but got some minutes.  During baseball season, I was asked to step up and fill a needed spot on the Varsity team. It may have only been as a pinch runner, but I managed to score a pretty important run on a passed ball against Wiscasset to help my team win.

Number 4:  Woodworking & Welding: Some of my favorite classes I have taken during high school have been Woodworking and Welding, not only because they are classes I chose, but because of the teacher.  Mr. Mac is an all around awesome guy. He is down to earth and never gives up on his students. He has helped me to build some pretty amazing projects and has taught me skills I will continue to use long after I leave his classroom.

Number 3:  I never thought I would say this, but I am really going to miss some of the connections I have made with some of my teachers.  I feel like a few have truly taken the time to get to know me; the real me. I can see myself wanting to stay in touch with some of them after I leave school.

Number 2:  My basketball team making playoffs my junior year.  Some people may think it is just a basketball game. For me it was so much more.  For our team to have such success that year was something I will never forget. I got to play at the Portland Expo and again at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.  The best part was that I got to play alongside my teammates that I have played with since the third grade.

And now, for my greatest memory of my four years of high school; the friendships I have made.  When I started school, I attended Wales Central and had eighteen kids in my class. When it closed and we all came together at Carrie Ricker, all of the sudden I went from having eighteen kids in my class to having something like one hundred kids in my class.  Even though the first few weeks were kind of weird, I made some great friends. Coming into high school I continued to have those friendships and I hope to continue those friendship after we leave high school.

The past four years have been a crazy ride and have come and gone as fast as lightning.  Although there are a few things I will not miss about my time here at Oak Hill, there are many that I will.  As I said earlier, our experiences in life are what we make of them. Whether we make lemonade out of lemons or strive above and beyond our greatest accomplishments, our lives will be what we make of them.  Congratulations Class of 2018, we did it!

Photo by <a href=”https://foter.com/author/3856ed”>West Chester University</a> on <a href=”https://foter.com/re/793ddb”>Foter.com</a> / <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>CC BY-NC-ND</a>

Photo by West Chester University on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND