Luke Meader, Glacier Peak High School graduation speech

Published 1:30 am Thursday, June 8, 2017

Luke Meader, Glacier Peak High School

Journal Entry #1

I’ve never been one to keep a journal or diary, but on this day I feel that it is fitting to start. So, here I go…

June 12th 2017,

Dear journal. Today, I will stand before my graduating class and their families.

I’m not nervous, I have spoken in front of crowds countless times before. I know what the next chapter of my life holds for me (Go Cougs). And of course I’m happy for my friends and myself, we’re graduating! We made it! But there is one thought that has always made me uneasy. What if tomorrow is not as good as yesterday? What if the careless joy I held as a middle school kid will never come back? Our elders tell us, jokingly, that being an adult is no fun. Responsibility comes with its hours of hard work and dedication. It’s certainly a thought that can scare people. I’m not going to lie, it scares me a bit. But I have one thing that keeps me going.

I am going to make tomorrow brighter.

Most of my graduating class is going to some sort of post-high school education.

Trade schools, universities, community colleges, we’re all figuring our future out. I tip my hat to those that are going into the military; it is a very brave and honorable thing to do and I want to thank you. However, as we look forward into the vortex of different futures, we all can look back to a similar path through our upbringing. We grew and learned all through elementary school. Some of us are even best friends with our elementary school rivals. In middle school, our eyes were opened to our futures ahead.

We learned about family, about strength, about fighting through weakness, we learned what it means to be a good friend by, maybe, being a not-so-good one. In high school, we fought to keep our grades up. We grunted through long nights of studying followed by short mornings of sleep. Some of our parents certainly knew that (sorry mom and dad for late-night printing and fifteen early morning alarms). Some of us learned the gut wrenching feeling of forgetting a test…on the day of it. I liked to call it “just about every test I took”.

I am going to make tomorrow brighter.

Looking ahead, some of us will be engineers, some of us businessmen. Some of us will fight for our flag in the Navy battleships, and others will make them.

It’s exciting to think of the endless possibilities. But I want everyone to focus on today, right now. As you walk across this stage, what are you saying to yourself? What are you promising yourself? Today, I vow to make more friends. I vow to practice remembering names of all of those who remember mine. I vow to put my grades before my social life.

I vow to review over everything I’ve learned and walk into a test confident that I’d ace it no matter what. I vow to care and love those who are close to me, and reach out for those that aren’t. I vow to be more of a glass-half-full man, and less of the grouch that I can become. I vow to cheer and laugh when I’m joyous, and let the tears out if I’m sad.

Today, I vow to be happy.

I’m going to quit doing things that are not in my best interest, morally or materialistically. I’m going to do what puts a smile on my face every day doing what I love. I am going to fight for my passions. I am going to start a family and love them endlessly. I am going to be there for my children, and be there for my friends. And when times get tough I am going to breathe, sit back, be with my family and friends, and relax.

Our friends and family sitting up above certainly did it. No matter who they are or what they do, there are people in those stands care for and love each and every one of you, and would do anything for you. The best thing we can do is learn from them.

You know why? Because tomorrow, even if only by the light of a bonfire cutting through the night, will be brighter. I can’t wait.

Sincerely,

LM.

Congrats, class of 2017.