The Gift of Today

Good evening, superintendent Sullivan, Principal Lybert, Vice Principal Guden, Dad, school board members, faculty, family, friends, and of course the Class of 2022. Welcome, all to the class of 2022 graduation ceremony.

To start off, I would like to congratulate my class on our accomplishments.

Congrats everyone, we made it. We have reached the moment we’ve been working toward. We have been through so much together over these last 13 years.

We have learned and grown together. We have gone through a lot from elementary school all the way until today. Over the years, we have learned so much, such as how to stand in a straight line (mostly), how to tie our shoes, how to rollerblade in gym class, and we had to learn how to function without nap time or recess. We have made new and lifelong friends, we joined clubs and sports and won awards. We had to learn and be without friends or teachers when school was shut down two months early, and we had to learn how to adapt and use online school. Some challenges we have overcome this year were adjusting when we had to change English teachers three times in one year, surviving being lit on fire in welding class (Justice), and suffering through ACT videos. We have been through so much, but no matter what we have faced, we have gone through it together, and luckily, we survived to talk about it today. I am proud of us all for supporting and helping each other so we could all meet this achievement, our graduation.

Next, I would like to thank all of our friends and family that are here to support us tonight. I would like to thank them and everyone else that has helped us reach this moment. Thank you to everyone: our parents, teachers, friends, and family members, who have done so much for us, and helped us in so many ways. I know it wouldn’t be possible to be here without them. I would personally like to thank my teachers. They have helped me learn so much over the past thirteen years and have pushed me to discover new things. Thank you to all teachers for being so dedicated to helping us and keeping us on track so we will be successful in our futures. I would also like to thank my parents and family who are my inspiration and motivation to always do my best and to follow my dreams. Thank you to everyone who has helped me and my classmates get to where we are today.

This is a moment we will remember forever; it is a big step in our lives and into our futures. However, it is only the beginning. We will experience many more challenges, accomplishments, prosperities, and roadblocks, but I know that we all have the power to persevere through them. One thing I would like you all to do is to treat each day like a new day and live it to its fullest. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift, which is why it’s called the present”. So, treat each day as a new beginning to your future and follow your dreams. Have fun everyone and good luck!

— Alexis Fleegel