By Bryce Jackson
Good evening everyone. Before I begin, I would like to thank a few people. First, thank you to all of the faculty and staff that put together this wonderful event. Also, I would like to thank all of our friends, parents, grandparents, and relatives that came out tonight in support of this great accomplishment.
In just a few moments, Class of 2019, you will be receiving a diploma that marks the end of our high school career and the beginning of a new life.
Basically, congrats you finished.
After many long hours spent listening to lectures, grinding out homework, and waiting till the last 30 minutes to complete the work that we were assigned, we have finally finished high school and are getting a diploma.
It seems like just yesterday that we walked through the doors of the freshman academy. We wandered around the school, trying to find class numbers that had no sense of consistency at all – I mean why did it go 900, 100, 200 and then like 400?
By sophomore year, we were a little more confident, and began to venture out of the 900 block.
We built friend groups and probably got in plenty of arguments over the U.S. Election Cycle and whether we thought Drake or Kanye’s new album was better.
By junior year, we were fully confident and ready for senior year. As we waited on the new school, we watched Netflix shows like Stranger Things and movies like Black Panther and whether or not you want to admit it now, played a lot of Fortnite.
Finally senior year arrived.
In the new school, we had to quickly adapt, so we didn’t look like lost freshmen on our first day of senior year.
As we battled mild to severe cases of seniorities, we finished out our high school careers bringing us finally to today. Today marks the ending of one chapter of our lives and the beginning of another, but graduation should not only focus on looking ahead, but a day where we turn back and trace our steps to see how we ended up where we are.
This means assessing how we got here. A common cliché recited at graduations is that you accomplished all of this on your own. While you played a large part in this, the cliché as a whole is somewhat of a lie.
See, you sitting here today is not merely a product of your individual determination and hard work, but rather the vested interest of a huge group of people that wanted you to succeed.
Valedictorial Bryce Jackson’s VHS graduation speech 2019
For each person, this group is different. It may have been your coach or a teacher that took the time to pull you aside when they knew you were having a bad day or when they challenged you to excel in your academia or athletics.
Maybe it was a friend that stuck by you through thick and thin throughout high school – or maybe its people like Floyd and Deangelo that always found a way to make you laugh at lunch, even when you were having a bad day.
It could be your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins who took the time out of their busy schedule to drive 13-14 hours to come sit in the hot sun and celebrate your achievements with you.
These are the people that helped you get to where you are and helped motivate you to be successful.
So the point that I would like to leave with you today is surround yourself with people that want you to succeed, and you will be successful. There is no such thing as self-made. While individual work and determination is a good step in the right direction, eventually, you will need someone.
Today we all have a unique opportunity to reflect on who those people are. I would encourage all of you to take the time today to thank the people who got you here. These people care about your success and it is important to let them know how much you care about them while you still can.
