Graduation Speech: We Rule the World :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

We did it! We started from essentially nothing, a cold, boring piece of school district land and built it into a high school. Not just any high school, but our high school. Without standards and traditions to follow or be guided by, we shaped the halls of Private High School into something special. Now I'm sure that every senior class from Oshkosh, Wisconsin to Boring, Oregon to Fairbanks, Alaska to Beverly Hills, California feels that they really make a difference. And granted I'm sure many of them did. But I challenge any of them to start from what we did and build one of the most highly regarded high schools in the state. We've played for the President of the United States, we've stopped 51-game winning streaks, and we've built a robot. We have broken into post season play, won numerous debate awards, and ventured to the studios of Hollywood. We have gained respect by earning it. The administration, teachers, and other classes contributed immensely to this respectability, but no one has gone through what the Senior Class of 2012 has. We didn't think anything was different when teachers were handing out detentions, aka pink slips, like candy. We had just come from Junior High and didn't know anything different. When there were no wins and subsequently no spirit, we didn't realize that wasn't high school. Yet something told us that there had to be more. When we traveled to schools such as Cascade and Blanchet and saw what high school was "supposed" to be, a glimpse into what we might became was gained. And still what it was "supposed" to be wasn't what it ought to be, and definitely not what we wanted it to be. By growing from our innocent beginnings, everyone from the typical "computer nerd" to the all American "jock," albeit many unknowingly and others certainly unadmittingly, share a common bond. A unique feeling of care for one another that will never diminish. It is truly amazing that in such a large group of individuals there is a oneness, a love, for each other that can never be broken. It is a wonderful feeling that you've got a friend. It is this feeling, this love, that we now must take into a world of chaos. A world where wages are low and prices are high. There is more crime, more hatred, and more lethal weapons than ever before. We have nuclear, chemical, water, and air pollutions of all kinds.