Graduation Speech : New Year, New Me

So far, all throughout high school, I have done my best in school. I strive to get the best grades I can. There are many opportunities out there, college related, that many people out of high school don’t have. I make sure I take advantage of these opportunities because all the hard work will be very rewarding in the end. During my sophomore year of high school, I had the chance to get into a four-year program that would have me take college classes while still in high school. Also, I would be able to job shadow different careers, practice interviewing skills, and get an internship. By the end of this program I would have an associate’s degree and have developed very useful skills necessary for a career. This whole program would be free.

Throughout life people go through so many adversities. Whether it be good or bad there is always something that arises out of the situation. One of the most thrilling, but yet frightening events to take place throughout someone’s life would be graduation. For many people, graduating from high school is an objective. It takes a lot of time, effort, and determination to accomplish that goal. For others graduation is the end of high school, and the beginning of a new chapter in life. When graduated people feel as if adulthood has begun. In the long run, graduating opens a lot of opportunities for people to thrive.

The journey begins knowing that my mom had some good days and some not-so-good days when it came to her health over the years. With time and circumstances surrounding her health, her health got worst. I believe that my mom knew all along that there was a possibility that she had cancer. Mom refused to go to the doctor several times prior to the actual reveal or diagnosis. Of

In the spring of 2014, I graduated as valedictorian from Klukwan High School located in the Panhandle of Alaska. During my high school career, I maintained status on the high honor roll and received the title of Student of the Month the first month of every school year for four years. In 2011 and 2012, I was selected to attend the Youth Leadership Institute in Anchorage as a student delegate for the Chatham School District. There, I met other high school students from all over Alaska. We spent our time at the conference exercising our newfound leadership skills in fun icebreaker games and group activities. We also learned about our own unique leadership styles, and how we can apply them to various situations back home or anywhere.

Going back to school when you are in your late thirty’s is a huge step. So much has

Over the last few years of high school I feel like I changed in a positive way because in the beginning of my freshmen year of high school, I didn’t really think of how much my grades would affect my chances of graduating and going to college. I didn’t think I would make it this far and it didn’t matter to me because dropping out and getting a GED seemed like an easy way out for me at the time. But I realized that life could be hard out there when all you’ll have is GED that gets you little job opportunities when you could just finish school, work on getting your diploma and maybe go to college to study for what you’d want to do for a career that can get you tons of job opportunities because of the experience you have.

At the very beginning, of when hearing about First Year Experience I was indifferent about going. I knew that if I attended FYE then I would not get my summer after my high school career. Instead, I would graduate high school and then enter school again, but sooner than others. I do wish I had a long summer before entering school again, yet living in the experience now changes my whole outlook of entering college early. There are the good times, bad times, stressful times, and the sad times. One just has to take it all in and try their best to process what happens. I, myself, has done that, and still am doing, since starting the summer program. And with every decision I make, they’re either a benefit or a toll on my body both physically and mentally.

Many students enter high school with a pessimistic mindset that is on the verge of rupturing in a total disaster. Fortunately, I was not one of those students. Ironically, I was just the opposite. I entered the walls of high school with much more than a faint feeling of trepidation. I entered, rather, with an indefinable desire to seek opportunities beyond the basics of what I was already capable of doing. The huge new school was both frightening and exciting for a 13 year old girl who was ready to make an impact on the world. That same 13 year old girl is now beyond the fears, beyond the anxiety, and beyond the anticipation. She has now surpassed 3 years of high school and is one step closer to achieving her dreams.

When I was in high school I wanted to be like everybody else. I wanted to fit in and meet some new friends. With meeting new friends I met the good ones and the bad ones. What I didn’t realize at that time was the bad ones were only going to bring me down and make me skip school.

Do you ever wonder if the students in high school are thinking about going to the next level after graduation? Its defiantly one of the best ideas to make and that’s from my own personal experience. College isn’t for everyone; we all know that saying. But what people don’t understand is how far they can grow in your dreams and careers in the future. Transitioning from high school to college is a big step forward, even though; most students aren’t ready for college but they have amazing high schools that give them everything they need so they are able to succeed in their future college lives.

Four years is such a small portion of many people’s lives, but the four years of high school can greatly impact one’s life. High school ,for many people, is a time to mature physically and mentally. Many find out who they are as a person and maybe who they want to become. High school teaches life lessons that can not be taught anywhere else and that people would not want to be taught later in life. I started high school as an anxious freshman and transformed into a confident senior in four short years.

I came into this high school believing I knew who I was, but little did I know there was a lot to discover about myself and over these 4 years I blossomed. My freshmen year was a plane white wall as I was beginning my journey in high school. My older sister who was a senior at the time and a friend from middle school helped me explore the school my first days. I began adapting to my schedule and the environment within classrooms getting along with my classmates and teachers. As days passed I began feeling comfortable not only in my academics, but socially as well. I grew distant from others, I grew closer to others, but throughout the process I began realizing that people will come and go and I needed to focus on my interests. I began joining clubs my sophomore year such as an art club and lacrosse. I felt welcomed and challenged at the same time because I had to balance academics and clubs. I learned time management and responsibility and several other important characteristics from my experiences motivating me to become more involved. My junior year was an eye opener as I realized the previous years were just a smooth ride through high school and now I have to face the challenges. It was my first year taking AP courses and I took U.S History and Calculus. History was no problem even though it’s my least favorite subject, it was an easy to understand course and I felt comfortable in the classroom. In the other hand, Calculus was the slap in the face of reality, a course

I was sure when I graduated high school I was ready for college. My senior year in high

Have you ever wondered what changed and remained the same about yourself, mentally and physically, during your high school career? Change in mentality throughout high school is such a popular topic that terms such as "senioritis" exsist in attempts to explain the change in mentality throughout the start and end of a student 's time during high school. Also, on the physical side, many people find the changes that happen to their bodies in the duration of the four years extreme. For example, some people might start Freshman year around five feet tall with little to no muscles, but they may graduate high school around six feet tall and find themselves benching 275 pounds. In high school, many things change and stay the same such as your mentality towards academics and your physical body.

It is often believed that during high school, everyone changes, wither it’s in a good way or a bad way, we all change. I was that typical high school cheerleader that didn’t care about her grades, I just wanted to have fun with friends and brush by school with C’s, but I was okay with it during those times.