Commence…. Hopefully

Hello Students, family, faculty, and staff of Oak Hill High School…. And anyone else who showed up here for some reason…. Thank you for coming out tonight. I know you all want to go home because I do too, so I’ll make this quick…. But not too quick because Mr. Young said it has to be at least 3 minutes *Look at the watch for a second*

I’m Josh Starbird, or you may know me as the electrician kid, the guitar kid, thanks to Crocker’s constant announcements maybe even the video game kid…. or the kid with the crazy hair. I know you can’t see it right now but you’ll just have to take my word for it.

I never got super good grades, didn’t get awards or anything fancy like that but hey.. I graduated… I think 

I don’t have any stereotypical heartwarming stories about when we were growing up together because I only came to Oak Hill a few years ago but I’d like to think my little time here has been well spent. Pursuing music with rockband and learning the art of music and helping others grow.

I  think we all had a little bit of an impact on each other these last few years. Learning lessons, skills, friendship, tenacity, and hopefully some time management. With that being said I don’t know exactly what I could’ve taught you all… Maybe, hey… If he can do it… Anyone can! Or maybe even how not to dress?

Even though I’m SO happy. Can’t stress this enough I’m SOOOOO happy to leave I also can’t help but feel a certain sadness about it coming to an end.

When entering this new stage of my life I’m filled with anxiety and stress. Those feelings take me right back to walking into Oak Hill for the first time. Nervous, socially awkward, terrible procrastination problem…. Acne. These things are now just a memory thanks to the wonderful and welcoming staff at Oak Hill High School… As well as Accutane….. Aaaaand  Colby bullying me…. No, but seriously coming in as a new kid my stress would slowwwwly disintegrate every time I would walk into English class and hear “*clap clap clap* Well done, well done… What’s your name again?”

Speaking of stress, I wanted to especially thank the music department and passionate musically inclined staff like Mr Caswell, one of the nicest guys I know, as well as one of the best bass players I know. And Mr. Cote, he has helped me both physically with guitar and mentally, watching him be care-free and perform on stage really helped me be more confident. Thank you for helping me break out of my shell and allow kids a platform and stage to express themselves musically and perform.

And to conclude my speech I would like to offer a quote from the great Mr.Fuller “I have a dream.” No.. Just kidding… Fuller’s catchphrase, Which can be applied to anything in life is “You perform the way you practice.” and that’s exactly why this sucked. Thank you.

“GRADUATION” by BlakeRead is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.