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Graduation
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Four short years ago, we, the Class of 2012, first entered the doors of Brookville High School anxiously waiting for the next chapter of our lives to begin. We were stereotypical freshmen; loudly crowding hallways, participating in just about every club or activity the school had to offer, and maintaining a level of energy greater than any amount of caffeine could sustain. As freshman, we were taking our first steps on one of the most life-changing journeys that we had ever yet to face, and we were just beginning to discover who we were as individuals and where we belonged at Brookville High School. The next fall we returned as sophomores, and although we valued this new title with great pride, we still had a ways to climb before finally obtaining the respect that we believed we deserved. Our highest priority became obtaining our driver’s licenses, and we quickly learned that the thrill of owning our own car meant sacrificing our pay checks to our gas tanks. Now that we could drive to school, sit on the upperclassmen side of the gym during pep rallies, and take a greater variety of electives in our schedule; we knew absolutely everything there was to know about Brookville, or so we thought. As juniors, we became confident upperclassmen; comfortable with where we were and who we were becoming. The reality of college was starting to set in as our time was consumed with taking tours of universities, and studying -or rather cramming- for SATs and ACTs, as we were faced with the daunting task of deciding where we would continue our education after graduation. Before we knew it, the Class of 2011 had thrown their caps, and we were finally seniors. A year of academic change, Friday night football games, awards assemblies, late night cramming, and a collective reliance on unhealthy amounts of caffeine was ahead of us, and we embraced it with open arms. Our last year of high school had finally arrived, and although we faced challenges and circumstances beyond our immediate control, we overcame them, not just as a class, but as a family. Together we created four of the most memorable years of our lives, and together we left our mark on Brookville High School. For many of us, graduation is our much anticipated opportunity to venture out of this community in which we were raised to go on to college, the workplace, and the military as independent young adults. It is an undertaking of new opportunities, change, and immense responsibility. For years we have been running from the present, eager to see what lies ahead, and although it is difficult for us to identify what it is that we have been running from, we’re running as fast as we can. As teenagers, we have a natural desire to leave and take chances, and a natural tendency to make mistakes. We become so eager to start the next chapter in our lives that we often forget to enjoy the moment we have, blinding ourselves from the hidden blessings that accompany every challenge we’re faced with. For years now, the Brookville community has been both our family and our home. Today, thousands of people join us here to celebrate one of the most important milestones in our life, the same people who stood by us when tragedy struck, the same people who supported us as we stormed the field of Liberty University with the state football title, the same people who will forever welcome us back home; lean on them, depend on them, and trust them. They have been with us from the beginning, and have given us the privilege to call Lynchburg our home. The traditional commencement address is about looking forward; this one is about looking back. Lynchburg, though relatively small in size, is full of memories, full of traditions, and full of life. In a couple of months we will venture out on our own, but we will always be able to return home to a community where maroon and gold always go together, a community as religious about Friday night football as they are about church on Sunday mornings. Never forget the memories you have made here, because in time they will be some of your greatest. Know that although we are each parting our separate ways, we will always have this family to return to, and in ten years, we are given an excuse to make a party of it. While graduation is most certainly a time to anticipate the promise of our futures, it is also an opportunity to recognize those who have brought us to where we are today, and reflect on the memories we have made and lessons we have learned. While all endings are inevitable, they bring us together one last time to say goodbye to everything that was once comfortable and familiar. They give us an opportunity to stop running, a chance to slow down and remind ourselves of not what we are leaving, but what we are taking with us. Don’t run from that, embrace it, knowing that no matter the distance that will come to separate us, here, we are home, and here “Bees We Are and Bees We Will Always Be.”
Thank you. |