Valedictory Speech

First off I would like to congratulate everyone for making it this far. I would like to thank my classmates, my friends, and my family. I especially want to thank our teachers, for always supporting and encouraging us. If it weren’t for the people who support us daily, we would not be where we are today. I would like everyone to turn to their families, and teachers to thank them for all that they have done for us.

Dear administrators, teachers, parents, beloved friends, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 8th grade graduation. It’s a pleasure to be standing in front of you today on this beautiful day to express the happiness we all feel.

I have the distinct pleasure of welcoming all of you into the National Honor Society, a group built off of high standards of achievement, not only in the area of academics but also in character and leadership. I congratulate each of you and your parents.

“You don’t change the world with the ideas in your mind, but with the conviction in your heart.”

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “We are not makers of history. We are made of history.”

Have you ever been driving and on a side of the road you see a plaque or a building with a plaque in front of it? Those are called memorials. Today I’m going to tell you a little about memorials and why they are important. Lets just say there are a lot of really cool memorials such as the Gateway Arch in St.Louis, Missouri, Steilneset Memorial to victims of the witch trials in Norway, or the Pentagon memorial in

“Everyone has a moment in history which belongs particularly to him. It is the moment when his emotions achieve their most powerful sway over him, and afterward when you say to this person "the world today" or "life" or "reality" he will assume that you mean this moment, even if it is fifty years past. The world, through his unleashed emotions, imprinted itself upon him, and he carries the stamp of that passing moment forever.” This quote established the knowledge of one’ route of life, how one simple moment can change the lives of many for the good or for the bad.

“A man is loved not for how tall he stands, but for how often he bends to help, comfort, and teach.” (Anonymous) This is quote sits on my dad’s nightstand in a brown, oak frame. It pictures a little boy and his dad kneeling to help tie his son’s shoes. I remember when my dad knelt to help me also tie my shoes, but through the years my dad has fulfilled this quote. He has helped me, comforted me, and taught me. That is why today I would like to tell you about his impact on my values, faith, work ethic, and goal setting.

“History, I am convinced, is not just something to be left to the historians.” - Warren Susman

“We don't have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can change the world”

Memorials some people like them and some don’t but i'm here to tell you that memorials aren’t what they seem and that we should keep them. You wouldn’t want someone to remove your grandma's headstone would you (assuming that she had died). Memorials are so valuable, these are examples and reasons why they are so meaningful.

"We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. "

“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work

Today is the day that I have been both eagerly and anxiously awaiting since the first day of freshman year: my valedictorian speech. I am sitting among hundreds of other students who are equally as prepared to receive their diploma and start their college careers as I. I am well aware that the last thing over four hundred teenage students want to do on a scorching summer day is sit and listen to my fifteen minute speech. I soon hear my queue from Mr. Joven, the principle, and begin to head towards the stage. Within the thirty seconds that it takes to rise from my seat and pass through the twenty other students in my row to the end of the aisle, a sensation of panic consumes my body. I feel my pulse bounding at every possible location, my hands sweating, and my legs trembling. Nothing is scarier than feeling that you are going to pass out. In this moment, it is difficult for me to decipher whether this panic attack is due to my enormous fear of public speaking, the heat, or a combination of both. I decide that it is a combination of both, but continue heading towards the stage as there is nothing I can do to escape. In an effort not to fall, I slowly walk up the five steps to the stage while tightly gripping onto the handlebar. I finally get onto the stage and walk towards the podium where I lay my speech. I look out to the audience, which from the stage looks more like a pool of a million dots, than it does people.

English class seemed to be the most dreadful to take within school. Writing essays for most of my grade in a class is not what I was looking forward too. When I entered college I knew that it would be one of many challenging classes I would have to take. Starting from the lowest English class to moving on up, the writing assignments became longer and more thought out. The time came when I got into this class that I knew more work was going to have to be put into essays and thus brought out what I had not seen before in my work progress.