Senior Speeches

The power of the speech is unbridled. Many famous figureheads have given life altering speeches, such as FDR’s Infamy speech, Mandela’s “I am prepared to die” speech, and Queen Elizabeth the First’s “Golden Speech”. All of these speeches have something in common, they changed the tide of human development, and with something as benign and simple as human words we are able to make a huge impact. And with these speeches in the back of my mind, I feel a sort of pressure to make this speech as great as possible. With that out of the way, I would like to discuss the time I trapped myself in my room for an hour trying to change out a doorknob.

I’ve been moving around in the first two years, and I was lucky enough to move into my “home” in my ninth grade year, having Dion as my mom, Eric as my dad, and Virginia as my grandma. We’ve been through a lot, good times and hard times. We moved together and I have never thought about leaving.

What I want to leave you with is this: Everyone, whether they suffer from mental illness or not, goes through low and dark emotional points throughout their life. No matter how much it may feel like it, you are not alone. You are not alone. And it can get better.

We all have a different path, yet we all want the same thing. My path may not be the same as yours and it may not be the popular route to take but I know that I will get there. At some point, I will graduate college and I will cross that finish line.

Coming to Renaissance undoubtedly changed me for the better. I learned that most people want to be friends, and if you find enough common interests with someone in a similar situation, it can be extraordinarily easy to make friends. After coming to ren, I’ve learned I should try to be more friendly and open to my peers.

"Generally, good people, from what I’ve seen, feel better about themselves, connect to others easier, and improve the life of another person at least a little. I can’t tell you exactly how to be good in your specific situation, but there are no repercussions in trying, wherever you are and whatever you may encounter."

After the brutal 4 months, I was allowed to finally practice soccer. I was so excited to start playing soccer again. But as the days went on my skills for soccer were dumbed down. I felt hopeless. But I didn't give in, I keep my head in the game. Two years passed and and I didn't give an inch, now I am committed to University of St Katherines to play collegiate soccer, all because I didn't give up and let anything get to my head.

The takeaway from this is, whatever you do in your life, from smoking meat to investing in the stock market, stay disciplined, have patience, and take advantage of opportunities to maximize your success.

But sometimes in life, it takes hitting bottom several times to realize that you do have the ability to pick yourself back up. And when you do, you have to be able to whisper to yourself, one bad play - or even a few bad plays - doesn’t define you as a player or a person; learn from it and be better.

I hate so many aspects of myself, but I don’t hate the person who I am now. There isn’t a reason to. Often times, we focus on the things we’ve done in the past and get stuck there. I can’t change who I have been in the past, but I can make the effort to change who I’m going to be. I think this is what makes prospects of the future so appealing, yet absolutely terrifying. Anything can happen, the question is what will?