A Little Word of Encouragement

Please bare with me as I spend these next three to five minutes most likely tripping over my words and making awkward eye contact with a few of you. Besides that point, irrelevant; Four years completed, only for us to endure another two, four, or even eight more years of sitting through lectures, staying up till 3 AM doing homework, and continuing to develop into the people we are so called trying to become.  

Some of us sitting here today can say high school was the best years of their lives, while others will say that high school was a living nightmare. Many of us have expressed our feelings of leaving this school behind, while a few will remain trying to live the same life they had during high school. With that being said, I have a little word of encouragement for you. I will be the first to admit, in high school, I was your typical student athlete. Things that came naturally for me  included shooting a basketball or hitting a softball. Things that did not come naturally for me were things such as finding the square root of x, understanding special right triangles, or remembering in chronological order the dates of every war fought in the 1900’s. Sports held such a priority to me because it was the one thing I always felt most comfortable and confident in. It was challenging to put myself in any type of situation that involved academics, because school was never something that came easy to me. For some, you may assume that academics was not difficult for me. I was an honor student and I was inducted into National Honor society as a junior.  But what you don’t know is the hours I spent getting extra help after school, or having someone look over my work or the many test corrections made to achieve the grade I desired. There were so many extra steps done behind the scene in order to convey a larger picture. In comparison to many things in life, your success often lies in how willing you are to put in extra work on your own.

I was introduced to the game of basketball after transferring from a small private school to a much bigger public middle school. Words alone can not convey the impact the game of basketball has had on my life. It started that first day at practice.  I was the new girl on the court who couldn’t even dribble. But, it became more than just a game to me. It wasn’t about points, steals and rebounds; but rather a vessel in which I relate to in so many areas of my life. Specifically, understanding that success most always comes through perserverance. In addition, with a strong work ethic anything is possible. I spent countless hours working on my game in the early mornings, late nights and long weekends and ultimately found success.  Likewise, because academics, at times, is not the easiest for me; I discovered that if I attacked it with that same drive, motivation, and extra practice outside the classroom, I always found a way to get the job done. I began to love learning new concepts, and actually enjoyed doing things that were outside my comfort zone. And before I knew it, I became more confident in the classroom, which at one point I thought would be nearly impossible. At the end of the day building my confidence was key; whether I was in the classroom solving a difficult math equation or  building relationships with new teammates. These small experiences were the stepping stones to building a foundation for the person I am trying to become.

As we begin to part ways I hope you too are finding the person you are meant to be. I hope that you all find a passion, that brings out the best version of yourself. I hope this passion encourages you to do the actions that you are not so necessarily use to. By putting yourself in situations where you are unsure, you just may surprise yourself with what you learn from it.  But more importantly, I hope you find a true passion for your life and a strong desire to make a positive impact. With this word of advice, I hope you take the leap of faith to do something you are not familiar with because it just may lead you to an unbelievable opportunity. Overall, it’s my hope that we all learned valuable lessons along this journey that will make us productive individuals willing to contribute to a greater cause. I congratulate you, class of 2019, and wish you the best through your new journey that is about to begin.

Photo on Foter.com