Micayla Hinds

We made it! We’re here ready to face the big, bright world. Let’s congratulate ourselves. We worked so hard in school, and now that graduation is here we need to take pride in everything we’ve achieved and everything we are.

First and foremost, I am honored to be here today speaking to you as one of your valedictorians. I would also like to take this opportunity, if I may, to thank our community and our teachers, and on a more personal note, my family and my friends.

To our community – thank-you for supporting us throughout our lives and for always providing us with whatever we needed. To our teachers – thank-you for teaching us not only in the classroom but also life lessons to prepare us for the real world. Thank-you for leading us, taking time out of your busy schedules to help us, and for taking the time to befriend us. We cannot thank you enough for all that you have done. My family – what can I say? You have always been there for me through the good, the bad, and the ugly. On this very special day I want to say thank you to all of you. Mom, you did everything I ever asked for and more. I couldn’t have asked for a better mother. Kari, you were always there to make me laugh, to pick me up when I was down, and to keep me sane. Dad, you always worked hard to make sure that I had what I needed. Grandpa, you are such an incredible man and I will always look up to you. Thank you for everything you have done for me in my life. To my friends – thank you for always being there and supporting me no matter what. Without you I would not be the person I am.

Now, to the reason I am up here – to leave you with a profound statement and something to look back on. Well, I will do my best.

Walt Disney once said, “All of our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” Living by this philosophy is what has gotten me to this place in my life. Without my family, friends and teachers constantly reminding me that I can do whatever I dream up and set my mind to, I would not be here today.

I remember a conversation I had freshman year with one of my friends. I told them, “I am going to be valedictorian. You just watch and see.” When I set this goal, I wanted to do the best I could do and be the best I could be, because excellence was important to me. For some reason, it was everything. However, over the last few years I have discovered that it isn’t everything. The other day, a very wise teacher told me that “success is measured with those who are your friends not goals achieved or failed.” This really made me think. If that is truly how success is measured than what is the point of achieving goals? Why do we set them? Why do we work so hard to achieve them? What is it that makes it so worthwhile? If you think I am going to give you a profound answer to this question, you’re wrong. I don’t know the answer. However, maybe we put so much stress on achieving these goals, because it is an easier way to measure success. Friends and their values are subjective. How else would people outside our lives judge us? Maybe the reason we give importance to achieving goals is because it gives importance to our lives. We can’t really judge ourselves based on our friends. I don’t know. Maybe there isn’t an answer.

All I really know is that dreams matter. Langston Hughes once said, “Never lose hope in your dreams for without dreams, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.” Without hopes and dreams, life has no purpose. There is nothing to look forward to or to work towards. And without friends, the dreams have no importance, because when you reach them without friends there is no one to share them with.

We must reach for the stars and for our dreams. We need to laugh a lot, listen loudly, talk quietly, dance until our legs collapse, assist many, and never give up on our dreams until we reach them. It is important to satisfy all our passions in life by experiencing everything we find remotely interesting. Now go out there, dream big and reach for the stars, because the only ones we can’t reach are the ones we don’t dream of.

Don’t quit when

The tide is lowest,

For it’s just about

To turn;

Don’t quit over doubts

And questions,

For there’s something you may learn.

Don’t quit when the night is darkest,

For it’s just a while

‘til dawn;

Don’t quit when you’ve

Run the farthest,