Senior Speeches 2019-2020

"Sometimes my life feels like a film with too many subtitles that interfere with the story. The subtitles seem to be either too far ahead or too far behind the story. I need to line them up, my thoughts and the subtitles; I need to be fully present in the moment."

"Though you can’t always make things turn out the way you want them to, you’ll always be able to choose how you react to them, and that’s all that really matters. You can either make yourself miserable by focusing on the negatives or you can make the most of it, by trying to learn from it and grow as a person."

My learning challenges are part of who I am. I am not ashamed or embarrassed of them.   Self-Advocacy has helped me navigate my educational journey. The tools I have acquired throughout my years of managing my learning issues serves me extremely well. I have spent many years feeling insecure about my learning differences, but I now know my learning difference do not define me but are a part of who I am.

There is always a lesson hidden behind decisions, good or bad. It just takes a little more examining to do. I could have chosen to keep looking at my decisions negatively. I could have wallowed in my pool of regret and stopped endeavoring. But in the face of the decision of how to see life, I intentionally viewed them in a more positive light.

A quote from my favorite movie, Chasing Mavericks, has touched me to my core and I would like to share it with you. “We all come from the sea, but we are not all OF the sea.  Those of us who are, we children of the tides, must return to it again and again, until the day we don’t come back, leaving behind only that which was touched along the way.”

My service-learning experiences have fueled my interest in becoming a teacher. I advise you to take advantage of the travel opportunities you are given because they can help you develop your passions and even your future career.

At one point, I was convinced by Ms. Morris, Ms. Tadeo, and Coach Knigin to join the basketball team. The girls on the team were very supportive and very motivating to be around and they have always been easy to talk to. My experience with the basketball team has been excellent.

Softball has contributed greatly to shaping my values by reinforcing that building community is a worthy pursuit; I have learned in a deeper way to be compassionate, friendly, and self- sacrificial. As a result, I have made life-long friends, and have been given an opportunity to discover my own strengths and weaknesses in relationship-building.

Whether you believe in God or not, there is always someone looking out for you and helping you find the path you are intended to take.  So remember when times get rough, because they inevitably do, there is always something better waiting for you in the future.

Be yourself- I always compared myself to other people, and it only made me feel worse about myself. You are perfect just the way you are.