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Laurie It is such an honour to stand before you tonight to represent the Worsley Graduating Class of 2006. It seems like my Grade 12 year has been taking forever, but at the same time I don't know where the year has gone. From social to math, volleyball to basketball, grad decorating to extra activities, this year has been one of the busiest years and one of the best years of my life. Some days I can remember thinking that I would never successfully meet all of the different challenges that came along the way. I can remember thinking that I should just stop while I'm ahead. Although that may have been the easiest thing to do at the time, I would I have missed out on many opportunities that God had opened up for my life, to stretch me mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I can remember in Mrs. Shilka's English class trying to write an essay for a test and I couldn't finish it in time. I thought it was impossible for me to do it, but then the next time we wrote an essay in class I actually finished and I felt so relieved. I learned the more we do something the easier it becomes. In volleyball this year I also really wanted to be able to spike and thought now that I was taller than in Gr. 10 and 11, I might be able to. Again it took trial and error and it began to discourage me, but as we went to different tournaments and then to zones, suddenly I could do it. It was such an amazing feeling to spike the ball over the net to watch it hit the floor on the other side. Practice does indeed make perfect. Basketball also brought its challenges. Our team was kind of rusty. We had not had a team last year but the fact that all of the team played together for volleyball was a big advantage for us. We used to joke about going to Provincials for basketball too. I can remember playing Ridge Valley for Zones and what a challenge it was to stay ahead to achieve the victory. Having confidence and being devoted helps to ensure success. One time I was working on three assignments all due for different classes, at the same time. It seemed like it was hopeless to finish them all on time, but somehow God just helped me to complete each one despite how impossible it looked to me. I realized that dividing your tasks into small units makes the completion of major tasks seem less intimidating. I guess this past year has made me realize that life is full of challenges and how we respond to each challenge is what makes us who we are. Each challenge will stretch us in new ways. These may reveal different weaknesses that we have, but they also give us an opportunity to grow in all aspects. They strengthen our weaknesses and improve our strengths to make us become stronger women and men. Although at times it seems like we will never be done all of our homework, these truly are just moments in each of our lives. As humans it seems like we are always looking ahead to the future, the next weekend, or to the summer when we will be all done High School. Before you know it we are living in the future instead of the present and letting the moments we have today slip by without us taking advantage of them. We need to seize the moment and make the best of each day. To me school is more than somewhere we have to go for 13 years of our life. It is a place where I have made friends and also watched good friends move away. It's a place where I have stood together with others, and a place where I have had to stand alone; a place where I have succeeded and a place where I have failed; a place where I have become independent and a place where I have realized my need for others; a place to change and grow and to appreciate what I already have become; a place to laugh with friends and seek encouragement. It is a place of knowledge and opportunity. Our school has had a major impact on my life because my friend's support, my teachers' patience and my coaches' challenge. My family's faith in me to succeed, the community's involvement in my life deserves to be recognized and thanked for their involvement in all of our lives. I would like to thank each one who has not only invested in my life, but in each graduates' life. I would also like to thank my classmates who have all helped me to become all I can be and I hope that I have done the same for you. Another graduate, Aubrey Denzer said, "We've grown to cherish one another, not for what we look like, or how we act, or how we dress, but for who we are and who we are becoming." Congratulations to each of my fellow graduates. |