"I’ve been contemplating the perfect way to begin the perfect speech–to be eloquent in my words and concise in my message–but I’ve also been confronted with the reality that there’s really no perfect way to begin the perfect speech, and I think... that accurately describes my class’s high school experience: not perfect. Since March 13, 2020, our lives have never been the same or even close to normal.
I can confidently say, and I think my classmates would all agree, that our experience has been a unique one. Yes, the classes of ‘20 and ‘21 can empathize, and my heart goes out to them, but it’s this class that gave up almost all of our high school years.
There’s always that threat of being quarantined in a moment’s notice or seeing our best friend be pulled out of class and told to go home. I barely even remembered what the smiles of my friends looked like behind their masks! But this was all necessary to keep America safe. We made that sacrifice: we gave up a normal high school experience in order to protect our parents, our grandparents, our friends, and even strangers, and that’s something we should be proud of as a community. That’s something that can’t be taken away from us.
We came together as a class to put our differences aside and we did what was right: we wore our masks and we got vaccinated, and now we finally see America beginning to recover from this pandemic.
Who are we?
We are the class that persevered through a global pandemic!
I mean, I believe my high school experience would be quite boring if we all agreed on everything and got along perfectly!
These three things unite us all. These three concepts are what each and every American is guaranteed. My class is finally able to see these abstract terms come to fruition as we take our first steps into the professional world.
Thank you.
Class president Skylar Shields offered the audience a welcome titled "Coming Together as One."
Salutatorian and class treasurer Halle Plowman spoke about "New Beginnings" and valedictorian and class vice president Rosalynne Ferraro delivered the closing speech(above) on "Reconnecting with Reality."
In between all the remarks, music was provided by seniors Khloe Adams, Noah Taylor (class secretary), and Grace Turk. The Madrigal singers opened up the ceremony prior to procession and sang the national anthem.
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