Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, honoured guests, family, friends and my fellow graduates. It seems that I am to be the one to speak to you this evening, despite all I could do to convince Jessica to take this role, so on behalf of my fellow Grads, I wish to welcome you and thank you for sharing with us in this special evening. I don't know how you felt on your Grad night, but for those who have not graduated yet, and for those of you who have already graduated, this evening is awaited and looked forward to with great anticipation. Only ... you get here and find that you are to speak in front of hundreds of people, most of whom you know, and say a speech, or toast or something, while wearing an uncomfortable tux. With all this stress, not to mention finding an escort, making sure everything that can be thought of is planned, that the decorating will look fine, and that hopefully not too many items were forgotten, why in the world did we wait so anxiously for this evening? Honestly, the conclusion I came to was this; I don't know. But (unfortunately or not) I do, as some people know, have an opinion for most things, even when those opinions should have been voiced in my head alone, ... and I have one here too. Tonight is not a night of fear and worry, but rather a night of joy and relief. Tonight sums up and brings full circle the last twelve or so years of our lives as students, that began in Kindergarten with learning our numbers and letters. Tonight is not only an ending of childhood and dependence, but is the beginning of adulthood and independence. As Paul once said, 'When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things'. Those of us standing, or rather sitting, before you tonight, are children no longer. We are in the infant stages of adulthood, and are already accustoming ourselves to a life of independence. Tonight is not an ending in our lives, but rather is simply a milestone of the road of life we are walking ... living in the present and for the future, not dwelling in the past. There is no doubt in my mind that things will be different for each graduate after this year, but change is not only negative, but is often positive. We are leaving this part of our lives behind and are looking forward to the future. Why do we look forward with such avid anticipation for graduation? I suspect it is slightly different for each Grad in his or her mind, but this I do believe. Each one of us has dreams and goals to fulfill and for many of us, this is a major goal of our lives, likely the greatest accomplishment of our lives to date. We can know that our efforts have not been in vain, that our years of secondary education have been worth our time. We, as graduates, are glad to be here tonight, pleased and honoured to have each of you celebrate this evening with us, and I wish to thank everyone who has had a hand in helping us up to this point of our lives: our parents, friends, community members, teachers and God; for none of us would be here without the encouragement and assistance that each one of you have given us. I simply thank you for everything that you have done to help us get here ... and that is not only my opinion, but a fact that you can write down today. and that will still be the same for all the tomorrows in the future. Ceremonies