We finally made it. Sure, I know that saying is way overused, but in this case it's the honest truth. With a class of less than a hundred and fifty kids, we have been with each other since elementary school. That's fourteen years together. It's definitely a really long time, but yet it flew by. We didn't know that though. We kept counting down the days and it seemed like graduating was a lifetime away. However, we are recent graduates. We are now part of a different society. We are viewed as older and more mature and if we looked back on our past we would honestly say the same about ourselves.
We made it through elementary school, where everyone was the very best of friends. Then we went on to survive those awkward pre teen years of middle school. When we left middle school and moved on to high school, we thought we were big and bad. We thought that we were older and more experienced now that we were high schoolers. Then the years started passing again and with each year we looked at the freshman and thought, "wow, were we that small and obnoxious". And the answer to that is of course we were. Through the years, we grew each day as individuals, finally figuring out who we really were. We walked through the halls each year getting more excited about the thought of leaving that school. I don't know how many times I said "I'm so done with this town, I just want to graduate and get out of here." Yet here we are, finally done and quite frankly I don't think I'm as ready as I thought. As my classmate said in a speech, back then we were little and scared. Now we are big and scared.
We are now completely finished with the necessary education needed to be released into the world. The people that we grew up with aren't the people we will see everyday anymore. Whether it be college, military, or even straight into work, we are all going in separate directions. I have made some unforgettable friends over the years and to each one of you - thank you for blessing me with your presence.
High school is finally over, we've walked across that stage and accepted our diplomas with pride. All the laughter, stupid arguments, severe senioritis and endless tears over AP chemistry are now in the past. It's all just memories now. A very wise man named Dr. Seuss once said, "you never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory". That one quote is the perfect description of our years together. So thank you for all the memories and good luck with the rest of your lives. We finally made it.
