Christina Hood

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, June 12, 2004

We have a small class made up of unique individuals. We come from different backgrounds, different parts of the world, and different viewpoints. Some of us have been attending SCCS for all our lives and for some of us this is our first year. There is one thing that has united us, has pulled us together this year— we are seniors. You just have to say it and we will smile or cheer. We have been in school for thirteen years— most of our life — and memories have been made while we are school age. We are finally at the top of the pack, the leaders. We are proud of who we have become, both as individuals and as a class.

At the beginning of the year, we had our annual fall retreat. Before the rest of the school arrived, our class focused on the future. We brainstormed, planned and set goals. This final stretch, this last year had a lot of potential. There were many big decisions to make, and a huge peer influence that we had never thought about before. At retreat, we made some decisions about how we wanted to use our leadership potential. We wanted to be academic leaders, spiritual leaders, and we wanted to boost school spirit. We wanted to use our position to unify the school.

Our class has taken those goals and run with them. We strengthened our bonds of friendship, we had more boldness to stand out in our faith and worship our Lord with all our hearts. There was better class spirit participation then before, we led our school academically, we were the seniors and we wanted to set a good example. Our class became a unit. Wherever we went, there was sure to be good ideas, lots of teasing, and tons of enthusiasm.

But now, tonight we graduate. We had a wonderful year, but what is the point? Is there a moral to our story?

There is a point. Each time we talked, each friendship we formed, every time we stood up as leaders left a mark on someone’s life. We did the most important thing we could do, and that was make a difference.

And as for our story, our story has only just begun there is a lot more out there then just high school. What we have done this year is put the finishing touches on a good solid foundation. One of my teachers once told me that the purpose of high school is to teach people how to communicate and think for themselves.

From here we will go on to work or college. Someday we will get married and raise our own kids. We will use our strong Biblical foundation, we will think for ourselves, and we will have enthusiasm for life. We will never settle for a boring life — wherever this class goes we will live life with joy. As tomorrow’s leaders, we know how important our decisions are.

To my class, I am proud to call each of you my friends. I want to challenge us all to have hope when the world is hopeless; to let the joy and peace of Christ burn in our souls and shine in our eyes; and to let each step we take be taken with His torch held high in one hand, and His hand clasped tightly with the other, because there is no place like walking in the will of our Savior-Creator. With Him, we will make an impact in our world.

So, to the class of 2004: Ready, go.