Graduation Speech

Tonight marks the end of an era. Years of books, plays, dances and sports have all led to this gratifying moment. As we, the graduation class of 2006, sit here watching as the last of our high school careers fade into twilight and nervously awaiting what new adventure tomorrow will bring, it is important that we share a moment to reflect and appreciate the enormity of our fine accomplishment. For tonight's graduation marks not only our passage from the halls of Bears High School, but is also a declaration of our commitment and effort.

This last year has been a tragic one for American high schools. With incidents such as the mindless shootings at Columbine, it often seems as though todays' youth are no longer capable of positively participating in and shaping the world. Media hype and the neat label of Generation X has branded us as incapable of achieving. We should be lazy and incompetent.

Tonight we sit here as proof of hope for the future. We are the businessmen, the teachers and the parents of tomorrow. By our own dedication to our success in high school having qualified us to lead the future, tonight we rise above and shed those labels. For tonight's graduation is the culmination of our commitment, from efforts from that first day of kindergarten to now as we await the satisfaction of diplomas in our hands. While at times it may have been easy to have been drawn into the negative aspects of school, we have chosen to pursue and to accomplish. Worthy of pride, this is why I congratulate you.

With the support of our parents, our teachers and our friends we made it to this day and to the beginning of a new stage of our lives. Where we go from here and what new frontiers we are meant to discover may remain unseen, but as we step out those doors tonight and stare into the first lights of what is to come and what is to be, always remember tonight's victory.