Graduation Speech

Hello, everyone. Good evening, parents, teachers, siblings, friends, administrators and most importantly the Class of 2018.

3200 days ago, on Tuesday the 25th of August 2009 at 8:30 in the morning, amid all the commotion, we walked in two lines by each class into Hynes Elementary School for the very first time as kindergarteners. We waved goodbye to our parents and siblings as if we'd never see them again. 

Since that day, we've matured (some of us) and grown in knowledge and in size and our scholastic careers have amassed into great ones with many memories to remember for years to come. 

Back in second grade, we were given frogs that we'd studied and nursed to adulthood from tadpoles. My frogs were eaten by each other, and Isar's dad killed theirs. In fifth grade, we were all obsessed with the "21" joke and we deliberately pushed chairs to the ground and screamed, "A CHAIR FELL!" in class. In sixth grade, Mrs. S was furious with the four-foot-two Jethro because he wouldn't sit down. He's sadly not with us anymore as he was consumed by the income tax-free land of Texas. In seventh grade, Mr. Gilman dabbed after landing a water bottle flip, much to the amusement of our class that proceeded to scream at the top of our lungs. And in eighth grade, the J.K. Rowling joke from Mrs. Joyner to Mia on the first day of this year, learning about doing our mortgages in Mr. Carro's math class and the Annie Jr. play, a bittersweet time.

I'd like to thank all the teachers for teaching me to be more well rounded and the knowledgeable person that I am now. Any success that I have in life will be accredited to you. I'd also like to thank my classmates and dear friends who were there to help me through all the hard times during these nine years. And lastly, my parents for helping me with everything from my math homework and taking me to morning volleyball practice at 0700 three days a week.

Finally, I'd like, now, to congratulate my 71 classmates on this day. We've persevered through everything from the PARCC test to the dreaded proficiency test and all our final exams last week. Now, we are off to a higher stage Niles North. We Cardinals have strengthened and grown into Vikings. We are now all more than adequately prepared to hit high school in the head and put the hammer down.

We may think of today as the close of a chapter of our lives, but a new one is beginning. That new chapter is high school. I wish you all the best of luck in high school.

457 weeks
276 million, 434 thousand and one hundred seconds
4 million, 607 thousand, 235 minutes
76 thousand, 787 and a quarter hours later, I stand before you, signing off forever,

If you need me, you can find me in Colorado.

Thank you.