The Herald is publishing some of the speeches being given by local graduating seniors at high school commencement ceremonies. See more speeches and photos here.
Eva Waltz
Make it a Great Day
“Make it a great day, Grizzlies!” Those are the words we have heard countless times throughout our high school career. The announcements each day didn’t end with “hopefully today will be good for you” because great days do not just happen. Great days happen when one is willing, when someone has the ambition to make them that way. I know exactly when I am going to have a good day. That day is today, that day is tomorrow, and that day is any day that I want it to be. Hearing this line for the first time freshman year shaped the way I lived the rest of high school because I realized that the only difference between good and bad days depends on one thing—my mindset. We all have the power to make each day great because life is not good or bad; life is simply what we make of it.
We have the power to choose love, to choose to say a compliment instead of hurtful words. We think that to change someone’s life consists of doing elaborate and over the top actions, but in reality changing someone’s life consists of small acts of love.
One of my biggest moments, was ironically with a small creature. One night I noticed an odd shape on the floor, something that almost looked like a jumble of wires. Curiously, I turned on the lights to inspect what the unknown figure was. The wires were, in fact, not wires at all —but a spider about the size of a baseball. The lights had startled the creature, and before I had any time to process that a spider that large was in my house, it came crawling towards me. I panicked. I picked up a shoe for self-defense and proceeded to move it closer to the spider. I was an inch away from taking the spider’s life when I realized the action I was about to make. I was going to deprive this spider of the rest of its life, so that a few seconds of mine would be at ease. Not only was I holding the shoe—I was holding the future of that spider’s life in my hands. After wondering how I would feel if I were in that spider’s place, I chose to love the spider and put the shoe back where I found it.
As terrified as I was of the spider, I know what it’s like to feel small. I am one student out of a class of almost four hundred. We are just four hundred students out of an audience of thousands. The thousands of us are just a minute number compared to the billions of humans on this planet. In a lot of ways, I am the spider. I am little in comparison to a school as big as Glacier Peak, and even smaller in comparison to the world. Just like I held the spider’s life in my hands, Glacier Peak has held the possibility for great days. The small acts of kindness I have experienced at Glacier Peak have had a profound effect on me, to the extent where I feel inspired to save spiders.
At Glacier Peak I have felt the rawest, truest, most genuine form of love—a love that I had no idea existed, but I am so lucky that it does. I know that our school colors are blue and white but I do not remember a day that hasn’t felt yellow. Each and every one of you is capable of doing amazing things, of impacting someone’s life in the most profound way possible. Hold open the doors, smile at a stranger, be brave and tell someone that they have a beautiful smile. You may not know it in that moment, but you are changing their life. Senior year has been full of a lot of “lasts”, but it has also been full of a lot of “firsts”. Today is the first day of the rest of our lives. We have the power to make the upcoming days anything that we want them to be. So make it a great life, Grizzlies.
Hayden Call
Stop Dreaming; Start Doing
Hello faculty, parents, and the esteemed class of 2016. I have been given the privilege of speaking to you today. Some of you may be wondering why I am speaking with you today. The graduation speaker selection is actually quite a simple process. Earlier this spring, after several meetings, a verdict was reached and Mr. Dean chose the smartest of all the students to speak. Surprisingly enough this student declined. Puzzled, Mr. Dean called another meeting together and there it was decided that the most outgoing student would be the best option. Once again, the student declined the invitation. Frustrated and confused, Mr. Dean decided to just choose the most attractive student to speak, figuring if the paper had a picture of the speakers, Glacier Peak would at least look good. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I didn’t have the heart to decline a third time, which brings me here today.
But, in all seriousness, I am truly thankful for the opportunity to speak today. Four years of hard work and effort have brought each of these graduates here today and will lead them into their future. The future. That something that terrifies all of us sitting here. What will the future hold? I find wisdom is Roger Goodell’s commencement address at Umass Lowell in 2010. He said that
“It is very common … to tell graduates: dream and dream big … [But] [w]hen you dream you are in an unconscious state. It ends. You wake up. It’s not real. You need to create a vision. This takes determination, and a plan that takes your dream to a destination.”
Our future—our future character and desire and happiness—our success is totally reliant and determined by one person. And that is you. If you want to achieve the desires of your heart, you need to align these desires with your goals in life. Stop wishing on shooting stars. Go out and do something.
When I was in sixth grade, I was an average, overweight, unhappy kid. My life centered around my TV and my kitchen. And I hated school. But something happened that year that initiated a change in me. I saw Glacier Peak’s very first musical—The Music Man. When I saw it, I was starstruck. That high schoolers could get up on stage and perform for an audience thrilled me. That being said, I never thought I could do it. A year later, I heard that Glacier Peak was holding auditions for The Sound of Music and inviting children to audition. That day, that one decision, to go audition for a musical changed my life. I still remember my heart jumping with anticipation and my palms sweating as I tried to hit all my notes and words in front of a table of intensely staring adults. And I got in. I made it into the cast. Since then, I have grown to love performing. This growth has been reflected in my accomplishments: I have been nominated multiple times by the 5th avenue theatre for their awards and performed on their stage multiple. During this last year I was given the opportunity to be this school’s Theatre Club President. Being in theatre has grown me into the man I am today, primed and ready to continue my education, eager to find and fulfill my potential. All of this from my choice to audition. All of this because a once awkward and discouraged kid decided to go and try. And this is the invitation I give to you. Go and try. Attempt to achieve the best you can be, and the best you can be will be achieved. This I promise you. Thank you.
Steven Whitman
Support through Stress
Good evening everyone: I am honored to be speaking tonight, on a night that has felt so far away, yet come so quickly. With senior year comes many things, all of which can feel so overwhelming: prom, college decisions, and those questions about the future. This year, every time I heard the questions “what do you want to do with your life?” and “where do you see yourself in ten years?” my brain screamed “NO! I can’t think about this right now.” These past few years, I was just trying to make it through each day: trying to wake up on time on Monday, trying to pass a test on Tuesday. Hopefully I’d make it to Friday in one piece.
By the time late April rolled around, I was at peak stress: Four AP classes and tests to study for, a job in downtown Seattle which would get me home somewhere around midnight, and helping to rewrite Glacier Peak’s safety procedures, all while trying to enjoy the final months of my senior year and battling the inevitable effects of that terrible condition, senioritis. It all felt like so much to handle, but whenever anyone asked me to do something, I couldn’t say no. I just kept adding to my plate. I finally came to a breaking point: April 26th, the day of the school’s annual Arts Assembly. I had gone through back to back to back school and work days, in which I had gotten minimal sleep, and was at very low functioning. At the assembly, when I saw everyone’s talent and heard the cheers of the crowd, my stress just melted away. It was very emotional to see how supportive our class and community could be. It could inspire the quietest man in the room to feel as though he’s on top of the world. In this moment, I noticed something really important: throughout all my stress, there were always people who supported me every step of the way. Through every down time, I could always rely on all your humor and sarcasm, your talent and intelligence, and your ability to just clear my mind of all the stress and worry. I had something to look forward to each and every day, and each time I wanted to just give up, I found the inspiration to keep going, to make it here. Sometimes it was the littlest of conversations, a “hello” in the hallways, or someone holding the door, but I always found that inspiration. People ask me what I’ll miss the most. It’s simple: coming to school and knowing I’ll have moments that make me smile, laugh, think, love, cry. Glacier Peak has always had plenty of those moments.
I know that so many of you have had to cope with those same stressful times: a job, daily practices, rehearsals, friend drama, college decisions, deciding which show to watch next on Netflix. The list goes on and on. Each of us has had our fair share of stressful moments and decisions. Yet, throughout all this stress, we’ve always been there for each other. Coming up is a time in our lives in which have to make tough decisions – really hard choices. It will be scary. But class of 2016, I offer you this challenge. Let’s be there for each other. Let’s be the greatest support system we can be. For every difficult day, let’s have a hundred amazing ones. For anyone that stumbles, let’s have ten people rushing to help them up. For anyone who feels sad, make them smile. For anyone who feels down, make them feel loved. I have your back. And I hope you have mine. Because together, there is no peak we cannot reach. So congratulations class of 2016 on making it this far, but this is only the beginning. Ten years from now, I will be looking forward to seeing you all again, and talking about all of our amazing accomplishments. Reach for the stars, because if you fall, we’ll all be right here to catch you.
Thank You
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