Welcome, members of the school board, Dr. Prenevost, Mr. Hart, family and friends. And welcome especially to the class of 2004. I want to thank the faculty for the privilege of standing before you today. It is truly an honor. Twelve years, nine months ago, we started our journey. Ask anyone – kindergarten was the best. I found this book, most of you probably know it: “All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten” by Robert Fulghum. His 16 basic tools for the real world were taught to us by our kindergarten teachers. The first six kindergarten rules are wondering, sharing, playing fair, flushing, cleaning up our own messes, and when we go out into the real world, we need to hold hands and stick together. These are things we are still working on.
At the elementary level, our teachers reinforced being aware of wonder. When we planted the seed in the Styrofoam cups the roots went down and the stem went up. No one really understood why at that stage, but we began to wonder. On the playground we learned to share everything and we were instructed to take turns. Swinging for two minutes then standing in line, swinging for two minutes, standing in line. We are still improving on having patience.
As the years progressed each rule we learned in kindergarten has been applied to everyday adult experiences. Middle school was a time where we were told to wash our hands before we ate. When several sixth graders went camping together at Camp Casey I’m sure there was little washing of the hands. Even today we continue to remind ourselves to wash. The lunch tables at junior high were a place of re-instruction, the basic concept of cleaning up our own mess is still a work in progress.
While sitting in third period and counting down the minutes until lunch begins, time couldn’t pass any slower when you smell fresh cookies baking. One the contrary, Fulghum declared that warm cookies and milk are good for you, especially the anticipation.
By the time we left the junior high, one concept we had mastered was flushing. As we entered into the high school, technology took over and we didn’t have to flush. It was automatically done for us. After high school, this skill may need to be reviewed.
As we enter into the real world, Fulghum states that we should watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. We have shared good times and difficult times here at Monroe High School. The most difficult times were shared as a class due to the loss of our fellow classmates. I’ll bet we would give up anything to allow Jolene Falstich, Rory Urness, and Collin David-Spain to celebrate this occasion with us.
We may also remember our freshman year, when we had to deal with a potential catastrophe. We were sitting in our classrooms and the ground started shaking – earthquake. We all were indecisive as to what we should do, so we turned to each other for advice and comfort and crawled under the desks.
As Fulghum stated we need to hold hands. This lesson became a reality at the beginning of our sophomore year. Where were you when you heard the news of 9/11? Every TV in every classroom was turned on, 30 pairs of eyes glued to the news. The bells rang and we walked to the next class just hoping nothing happened in the five minutes we were gone. Remember, almost every car had a flag plastered to is? Remember the trucks that had the huge flags? Remember how we held hands and joined together. Not only did our high school have to hold hands, but our country.
Junior year was time to look forward. The search for what to do after high school brought abut our future. Some hesitant students were frantically filling out applications, others were preparing for the workforce, and some will wait to see what the future holds.
Senior year has gone by so fast. It seems like just yesterday we were participating in the homecoming week events. Through good times and well, not so good times, we’ve held hands and united as a class. The real world will bring upon us new adventures, and having friends by our sides will help better our experiences. There has never been a more critical time to stick together than what we are approaching.
My advice to you is to wonder and look at everything around you. Also to slow down this summer and not rush into the real world. This is our last summer to be kids. Congratulations to our class of 2004. We have made it!!! Best of luck to you. Thank you. And remember to flush.
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