Graduation Speech

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
VALEDICTORY ADDRESS

Friends, classmates, dear teachers and parents, school administration, good afternoon. As I stand before you today, I and my fellow graduates look back at the many years of struggling for learning and immersing ourselves in individual changes and development – emotionally, physically, and mentally. Getting through graduation day is not a walk in the park. Not only is it a challenge mentally but the growing pains of transitioning into teenhood is another big hurdle. We transitioned from pig tails, Barney and Sesame Street, and Dora the Explorer just to name a few, to our first day in school and Iearning our “official” first words and ABC’s, looking forward to recess, semestral breaks, and summer

We commence our journey not only to high school but towards our teenage years and eventually to adulthood. Today marks an important step in our adult life for we leave the old things behind, putting them in the shelf but not necessarily forgetting them for everything in our life has a reason for being so. Our experiences in past will mold us into the person and adult we will be in the future. Today also brings us to the most difficult part of saying “goodbye and farewell” but till we meet again. For though all of us are excited to our life in high school, a part of us longs to stay with familiar places and faces. With tearful gazes we look upon each other hoping that somewhere in the future we will see each other again. So with a tearful smile I bid farewell to you. I wish to congratulate my fellow graduates for reaching this moment with me. With a grateful heart, I bid my parents and every parent and teacher present here today a big “thank you”. Thank you for letting me be a part of your life. Thank you for giving me a friend in your child. Thank you to all my teachers for helping and molding me in what I am today. And most of all, thank you to my parents, my brother, and my aunt for loving me, molding me, supporting me in every endeavor I undertake. And for your patience in instilling in me the value of learning and education. I wouldn’t have made it without all of