Good evening everyone— family, friends, faculty, and fellow graduates. Standing here today is an honor I never dreamed of in my younger years, and one I definitely don’t take lightly after years of work. Before I speak about the future, I want to take a moment to thank God, and the people around me who are the reason that I am standing where I am at this moment.
Starting off, I would like to thank both of my parents for strongly encouraging me to hold the utmost standards for myself, grades and life wise. Even though at some points I completely dreaded walking into the house when it was required to bring back a signed report card the next day. To my mom- thank you for your (mostly) endless support, your somewhat thin patience, random shopping trips, continuous compliments, always saying that you were proud of me and for pretending to remember my crazy schedules that you were told about the night before. To my dad- thank you for always making jokes even when they were completely unhinged and untimely, for never failing to compliment my cooking skills every time I was in the kitchen, telling me that if I ever marry he will be a lucky guy, and thank you for your undeniable strength and determination to take care of our family after having a stroke and being one of my greatest motivators of all time even though you never knew it. Without both of you, I wouldn’t be here—literally and academically.
Thank you to the teachers and staff for guiding us through every lesson, deadline, and every “Can I still turn this in?” question for an assignment that was actually due five weeks ago. Your understanding of what it was like to be our age at one point is truly appreciative, and your dedication to get students to complete their assignments made this place more than just a school—it made it a second home, even if we got the wifi taken away freshman year. Without any of y’all, I don’t know where we’d be today, but I’d hate to have to live in a world that didn’t have teachers and staff to educate the future generations.
