Judy Tran, Mountlake Terrace High School Honor Society’s choice speaker
Hello! For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Judy Tran and it is an honor to be speaking here and celebrating today’s special occasion with you all and my fellow classmates. First, I would just like to thank everyone here today in the audience. Whether you are a parent, sibling, grandparent, a past teacher, thank you for raising such beautiful kids. I’ve spent the past four years with some of the most kindhearted, amazing, and funny people and a lot of that comes from you. The fact that you are sitting in the stands to celebrate our graduation shows that you’ve been an important part in our journey to get to this day so thank you. I’d also like to thank the staff members: so thank you, thank you, thank you. Everyday, you guys inspired us, coached us, and taught us things that went beyond what the textbooks could have ever said. Our classrooms came to life because of you all and we couldn’t have done any of this without you guys either. At the risk of sounding biased, we were an incredible class but I would be truly remiss to say we didn’t owe our families and teachers an enormous thank you for pushing and sometimes dragging us along for the past 18 years of our lives.
In these past four years, I’ve learned some very important life lessons. For example, I’ve learned that with enough time and effort, a good eye roll is worth a thousand words. I’ve also learned that denial, and in extreme cases, running away as fast as you can, is a great way to pretend you did not just trip up the stairs when in fact, you did trip up the stairs. And of course, I’ve perfected the art of dozing off in class without my teachers noticing. I can’t share the actual technique with you all because there are teachers and my mother in the audience but I will tell you that if there is a will, there is a way.
Yes, I’ve learned a lot of very important things these last four years but the most valuable lesson I’ve learned, and the one that took me the longest to understand, was that growth is impossible without fear.
When I learned that I was nominated to speak at graduation, I said no. 95% of this decision was out of fear, 4% was out of my lack of ideas on what to say, and 1% was due to senioritis, which as we all know practically has every senior bedridden in the last month of school.
But mostly, I was scared. I was terrified that I would fall short, terrified that I would disappoint my classmates who all deserve nothing less than an excellent speech, and terrified to step outside my comfort zone to take a risk. But after some reflection and convincing from people who sometimes know me better than I know myself, I realized that if I didn’t speak at graduation, I would regret it my whole life. And if I had passed up on the opportunity to speak to my classmates before we all leave to make our marks in the world, I would have felt that regret so much more strongly than any fear that I could have felt. So I said yes. A weak, still terrified yes, but I said yes. This decision to speak felt like a culmination of my growth in high school. If you had asked me four years ago if I had any desire to speak in front of a crowd this large at an occasion this special, I would have cowered and refused. I probably would’ve rolled my eyes. But that was because I had not yet learned that the only way to grow was to do something I was afraid of.
As I look at all the graduates here today, I see so many of you that have already learned this lesson. I’m sure that many, if not all of you, have experienced a moment in your high school careers or lives where you thought, “This is scary. I don’t want to do this. What if I fail? What if I embarrass myself? Would it be better if I just quit now?” We’ve all said these things to ourselves and we’ll probably be saying these things for as long as we live. Those of you who are graduating today with a STEM diploma must have asked yourselves these questions in the four years that you spent while studying science, technology, engineering, and math. But here you are, after multiple competitions in which many of you won awards in recognition of your hard work. Those of you who were involved in any athletic programs must’ve asked yourselves these questions before or during every game, race, or match. But here you are, with some of you continuing your athletic careers in college. Those of you who were involved in the Hawkeye must’ve asked yourselves these questions while writing every article. But here you are, some of you pursuing your passion in journalism as a career. Those of you who led or were members of extracurricular clubs or organizations must’ve asked yourselves these questions while participating in things you are passionate about. But here you are, after four years of finding what you think is worth putting effort into. Those of you who participated in any of our music or drama programs must’ve asked yourselves these questions before every performance. But here you are, after Jazz band’s performance in the Ellington music festival held in New York and three incredible drama productions this year. Every one of us here today, no matter how unique our experiences have been, has looked fear in the eye and cowered but we have also conquered. We’ve taken leaps and we’ve landed (maybe not smoothly, but we landed!). And here we are today with a graduating class of 303 students. I encourage you all to remember how much you’ve grown in the past four years, how much you’ve achieved, and how much you are going to achieve, only if you don’t allow fear to hinder your growth.
No matter who you are or what stage of life you are in, fear is universal and life is scary. Whether you are continuing your education, joining the armed forces, taking a gap year, starting a job, or you still don’t know what you’re doing, it will be scary. But we can see fear as a reason to seclude ourselves in our safe comfort zones or as a reason to push ourselves. And with our class and what we have shown we are capable of in these past four years, I know without a doubt that we’ll do phenomenal things.
So the next time that you are presented with an opportunity, big or small, and you feel fear preventing you from taking it, take a step back and ask yourself, “What did the magnificent Judy Tran say in her graduation speech?” and do what I said which is this: Do not let fear rule your life. Challenge it. Overcome it. Allow it to help you grow. And certainly do not let it stop you.
Thank you for allowing me to speak and congrats to the class of 2017!!
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