SPEECH: Class Speaker, Sage Ford

Good morning, fellow graduates. First, I would like to thank the administration, teachers, parents, and students who are here today. Without you all, none of us would’ve survived four years of high school.

As we sit in this arena, anticipating our diplomas, it’s important to think about how we’ll change the world in the future. Big or small, everyone here is capable of making an impact. But some of us may need a sense of direction. I would like to turn your attention to the future, and to the generation after us.

I’ve had the opportunity to go to many schools and see the state of the children. I often wonder to myself how they’ll survive once they grow up, especially in a cut throat environment like high school. Or, even college.

I wondered the same thing when I entered high school. How can I handle the new workload? How will I make friends? How will I survive? The answer was my teachers, my upperclassmen, and my friends. What I didn’t know was that the answer also included my parents, people fighting for the school to be safer and for education to be more thorough, especially after COVID.

This may not matter to you, but it should. Because as we move forward from high school, we need to ensure that the legacy we’ve left behind is preserved and lives on. We are students, we are workers, and we are people. We are stubborn, we are defiant, and we are human. It is our duty to help the younger generations reach our level, so that they may survive in what some may call a bleak future.

So how do we go about this? As you go through your post-high school lives, you’ll realize the opportunities you have now that you’re an adult. The ability to influence on social media, the ability to drive to protests and rallies, the ability to vote. Your voice matters, especially if you’re loud enough.

Ten years from now, the world may be the same. But it is my hope that our work spurs on a new generation of doctors, teachers, electricians, artists, and more. I can see a myriad of professions in today’s children, potential that we can cultivate. Just as the upperclassmen and adults in our lives helped to cultivate us, it is our responsibility to give the students after us a chance at life.

So remember what it took to get here, who helped you, as you walk to the stage. Think about the present as you receive your diploma, and that high school is finally over. And look to the future as you walk out of this arena, and the impact you can make on the world. Thank you.