Alexandria Ned, Mountlake Terrace High School Senior Class’s choice of speaker

Alexandria Ned, Mountlake Terrace High School Senior Class’s choice of speaker

This is no Commencement

I am no hidden messiah amongst the broken open hopeless ones

I cannot lead you out of your youth into adulthood

I am merely a human being standing on a podium

With god beside me

I guess that makes me somewhat godly

Or maybe you all mistaken my crazy for wisdom

But I’ll bite the bait

And pretend to be the beacon that reminds you of your

backbone you’ve been missing when life becomes too much of a struggle

Because I am Alexandria Ned ladies and gentlemen

To some I am your best friend and to all senior speaker

And when you chose me I couldn’t pass up this opportunity because I’ll fight for some time in the lime light and you all know I love the attention a tad bit too much

I’m joking

I volunteered myself as tribute like Katniss Everdeen did because I wanted to be selfless

And talk about something important

So can I have the graduating class of 2017 stand up please (seriously guys stand up)

Because you see those seats you’re sitting in

They were never guaranteed

See time has a funny way of teaching us that life is never what it seems

4 years can turn into a faint memory in less than a second

So I want to take a minute to revive a moment of the past

Because it doesn’t cost much to acknowledge those that we have lost along the way

And those who couldn’t make it here today

And those who have simply lost their seat in life

I close my eyes

To remember junior year

But I think I slept through it and ran on autopilot

Until my best friend kicked me under the lunchroom tables and told me that

the Hawkeye had posted an article that read “Student found dead”

I woke up but I was on autopilot for so long

That time left me with nothing but her name

Which was Kandra Tan

It shouldn’t take a bullet through the abdomen to feel her pain

I wish I knew more than just her name

On Facebook she posted a post that said “if my heart stop beating would anyone even notice”

A year later and 3 weeks before graduation

I really did

She would have been sitting amongst us graduating today

Let’s not forget

You can all take your seats

But do so gratefully

We all talk about how much time we have left

Especially when we’re freshman

I use to always say I’m only a freshman and now I’m still trying to say I’m only a freshman but I think it’s too late to try and claim it

Time is of the essence

I remember

A drunk white lady named Linda Lue who I think was about 152

And before prom night I never even knew

Approached me with envy in her eyes

Touching the blue on my sequined prom dress and admiring my youth

Told me I should relish the tiny moments

because in a blink of an eye you can become an old woman

my friends all laughed

And told me to not to entertain her insanity

But little did they know this could soon be our reality

I begin to notice that

Some of us just tolerate life without really living

Some of us age before our time is even due

Some of us are so backwards we’re Benjamin Button

looking old but acting childish

My best advice is

Plastic surgery or more filter

You can look and act both childish then

But then again no one can tell you what to do with the time you’re given

I know this is cliche and dumb to say but live life like YOLO

And if you want to get fancy carpe diem (p.s. I failed French twice… hmm, but I think that’s Latin)

(Désolé maman et papa I can translation that to sorry mom and dad)

It took a long time figuring out who I am

I even asked Siri and she seriously didn’t know

But now I do

I realize I am a reflection

Of my mother

and my grandmother

and my grandmother’s, grandmother

Because I don’t want to look up one day and be some old crazy Linda Lue

Complaining that time didn’t give me what it owed me

As if we we’re playing a poker game and it did me dirty

It doesn’t matter how much we’re given it matters what we do with it

Even if were exhausted with only 30 minutes to eat lunch

And 20 of it was spent on deciding what to get

And still we chose love

Hangout with our friends

flexing

Conversating in different languages

Pick pocketing pictures just to keep a streak forever

Trying to hold on to our best friend’s hand

So we don’t get lost in the crowd of life

And asking if we can have one of their french fries

Because even though you’re starving

You’re still living, alive

I know I’m not that inspiring so that’s why I didn’t write a commencement speech

Google couldn’t find one good enough for me plagiarize it

So I give you poetry

Another thing I need money because I’ll be a broke college student soon

If anyone’s feeling generous I take checks, cash or half on credit card, bonds, money orders, gift cards, food stamps, scholarships all that jazz. I also have a Gofundme at… (just kidding)

Not really