My High School Valedictorian Speech

Hello, and welcome to all of the faculty, staff, family, friends, and my fellow members of the Class of 2022. I am honored, excited, grateful, and maybe a little nervous to be up here today.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the chance to ask many of my senior peers what they’re most proud of with their four years here at Huron High School and have reflected on many of their stories. As the year wraps up, I’ve come to realize how incredibly important self-introspection is, despite the daunting task of being asked to sum up your whole high school experience in a few sentences. But, my classmates and friends were able to tell me some inspiring and heartwarming stories.

My freshman year English classmate is proud of learning what works for her to overcome stressful time periods of schoolwork. My first band friend is proud of the friendships and lifelong bonds she’s made, as well as her ability to make anyone feel welcome. My neighbor and school bus buddy is proud of going outside of their comfort zone to take challenging classes in the DP program and making a community of supportive friends. My best friend, who I met in my Math class our freshman year, is proud of gaining the courage to put herself out there and be unafraid of failures. My AP Physics classmate is proud of what the school has done for us, especially Mr. Carter, whose, as I quote, morning announcements “always gave her an extra serotonin boost to go through her day.”

Personally, hearing these responses put me to shame. I mean, if you asked me what I was most proud of in these last four years, you know what I’d say? Not collapsing to the ground every time I walked up the stairs to the third floor.

Yet, today is the day to celebrate all [hand out] of these stories and victories, whether big or small, as they’ve made us into who we are right now. Yes, they may not be as flashy as external measures of achievement, like grades or awards, but whether it’s making a new friend in class or running a successful club event, we have succeeded and grown in our time here. From our post-high school plans, to the cords we proudly wear, and even to the things we’ll tell our kids in the future about how we may have peaked in high school, we find pride in our successes.

Speaking of pride, take our football team, for example. Fall of 2020 marked the monumental first win against Pioneer in over 17 years. This year, we may have failed in our loss to Belleville in the playoffs, but at least we beat Pioneer again. Does anyone remember the score? Oh yeah, 34-0!

But, I find it equally important to recognize the failures along the way that carried just as much weight in shaping who we are today. The not-so-shiny stuff, things you’ll never be able to wear around your neck or hang up in your room or hear broadcasted over the school intercom. The tests we’ve bombed, the sports and club rejections, the features we’ve gotten on Instagram for bad parking.

As Charles Dickens put it in Great Expectations, shoutout to Mrs. Horwitz for the rec, “The success is not mine, the failure is not mine, but the two together make me.” Today may be a beautiful, glorious milestone of our successes, the cap we wear to celebrate four years of living, growing, and working hard, but I’d like us all to take the time to celebrate our failures and all that has gone wrong in order to bring us here today.

This year was the year we were finally able to return from a long period of isolation and online school, a year where our situations greatly changed and we were forced to confront the setbacks associated with it. I won’t say that it wasn’t rough — we learned to push past the virtual days in hopes for a brighter future, we readjusted to the struggles of in-person learning and assessments away from our devices, and we learned to embrace the uncomfortable.

Even though in-person classes were hard to adjust to, the benefits of learning in the classroom allowed us to interact and engage. Our music department had to perform in the Solo and Ensemble festival virtually, but we still had the most entries across the state and rose above the occasion. There’s more that can be commended. Despite some hokey virtual regional conferences, clubs like BPA and HOSA did get to attend state conferences in person and even have Huron students advance to Nationals. Principal Carter created a Schoology group to help keep us connected and bring us out of the fugue state the pandemic put us in. After holding virtual plays last year, the Huron Players put on several hit in-person shows like Cinderella and The Crucible. After getting their Scotland trip canceled last year, the Huron Bands took a trip to New York this year and played at Carnegie Hall. Despite less funding and mentorship to navigate through, our students found achievements in our Robotics team, the Invention Convention, Ethics Bowl, and the SkillsUSA Carpentry competition. Lastly, in these times of uncertainty and awkward moments, our nationally ranked newspaper – the Huron Emery – continued to keep us updated and connected. Can we take a moment to recognize all the silver linings we’ve found amidst the dark clouds?

I see you all thinking — where is she going with this? Trust me when I say — these last four years and the learnings from them shouldn’t be undermined. It could be next month, next week, or even tomorrow when we are asked to do things way out of our comfort zones, as difficult, and awkward, and frustrating as they can be. But, the obstacles we’ve faced thus far have prepared us to be ready for these next steps. Recall Michael Scott, the world’s best boss, and Wayne Gretzky, some lesser-known guy, who both once said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” One of the most valuable things my Huron experiences have taught me is to put myself out there and take chances, even when things might not work out. To keep dreaming big but failing often. To welcome new opportunities that terrify me and push through even when things feel impossible.

So I implore you — and I’m speaking to myself as well — take. those. shots. Tomorrow, next week, or even next month. And keep taking them. We’ve spent the last few years in a rigorous environment dedicated to achieving conventional success. The challenge for each and every one of you is to look beyond your current measures of success, beyond the flashy, attractive things, and expand your belief system to encompass what you would like to celebrate.

Oh, and don’t carry your mistakes as a burden, recite them from memory, or inscribe them on your grad caps or Twitter bios. Instead, celebrate these failures and messy parts of your life because they deserve it just as much as the good parts. These invaluable learning opportunities from your past have helped you grow and move toward your future. These have brought you here today and molded you into this version of you sitting here in your green and gold cap and gown.

Thank you for being yourself, and I sincerely hope you are nothing less than proud of who you’ve become at Huron High School. Because in the end, as Taylor Swift says,

“Everything will be alright if we just keep dancing like we’re ‘22.”

So Class of ‘22, congratulations to all of you! I wish you the best of luck in your next steps on this journey!