Graduation speech working draft

     “Hello, I’m Mr. Rossi and I am from the Academy of Arts, Careers and Technology.” 15 simple words that were meaningless to nearly all, but to us, these words started a journey, to applying, the interview and finally being accepted into the academy. Four years ago, we began a journey in an unproven system, and look, we proved it. Through four years, we all formed our own little cliques and made unforgettable memories, but we still remained close nonetheless, through the culture of our school. Everyone knows that nobody cares about my opinion Mrs. Mahr, but please, let me finish. Life happens, hits us all at the most unexpected times, but academics and striving to achieve stood together as the priority. Through this, a unique tradition and culture was established at AACT; class of 2013 worked their tails off, handed the reins to us, and once again we are one of the only five star schools in the district, pretty impressive for the terrified group of kids that walked through those doors nearly four years ago. That’s the thing with this group though, not only do we go above general expectations, we have done so with consistency, whether it be in Moonbuggy, CTSO’s, or being a National Merit Scholar semi-finalist, this group really has done it all.

     Four years ago, we walked through those front doors and made a commitment to graduate, and now our commitment comes to light. Through all the tough times, the late nights spent wishing that we didn’t wait until the last minute to start Mr. Burge’s assignment (just kidding), loss of sleep, cursing ourselves for taking so many AP classes,  all of our work the past four years has led up to this moment, our moment. That moment we’ve heard about, dreaded, thought would never come, that time, that moment, is now. I don’t think any senior realized this until that day, sitting in Mr. Burge’s class, as he told us that next year, AACT is no longer for us, which made many break down on the spot. It is true, about four years ago we made this school our home, even helped build the foundation and credibility for future generations, but now we are graduating; now, we all have our own paths that we plan to go down, and eventually we will all go our separate ways. How do we know how it’s going to turn out though? We don’t, but success is guaranteed in all our futures; simply because we have already proven it. Unlike most high school students, we took a leap of faith, just as we will in all our life choices, and have broken the standard and continue to set a new one each day. This is your moment Class of 2014, go prove it is.