Sarah's Graduation Speech

            As most of my classmates probably know by now, I have had a really difficult time writing this speech, trying to decide which words of wisdom are appropriate for my graduating class.  As I tried to decide what I should speak about, I asked many people, both students and teachers, what I should say.  The unanimous response from the teachers was “talk about your class.  Talk about your class’s accomplishments.  Tell some funny stories.”  But as I considered these suggestions I realized it is impossible to find something this class has done all together.  I think that the only thing we have done as a complete class was to take the MEA’s, and from what I have heard, they can’t quite be classified as a collective accomplishment.  But who really cares about those standardized tests anyway… for me, and most of my classmates would probably agree, their greatest benefit was the free juice and cookies.

            This class is a conglomeration of a diversified group of students, and therefor we have the typical divisions within.  I don’t need to name our different little groups, they are the same in every school, and it is to be expected.  The fact is, not every person on this island is friends with every other person from every other town, or even their own town, and it works the same within this school.  So how do you characterize this class with one accomplishment?? What exactly makes a commendable accomplishment?? Does it have to be in some newspaper?  The girls basketball team won MDI’s first ever State Basketball Championship.  That is an accomplishment.  The jazz band and drama programs have continued to prove their excellence by capturing their respective state titles.  Those are accomplishments.   But in this class there are many people who have their own accomplishments who are not on the basketball team, not in drama, not in jazz band, or any other high profile sport or club.  These things may not be known by the whole community, but they are just as important to those individuals.  Carroll Staples, at the age of 18, owns his own boat and runs his own lobster business with the occasional hired help.  That is an accomplishment.  Jeff Paluga is car expert, basically employed full time at Bar Harbor Auto, which one day he will probably own.  Denise Maynard also runs her own business, selling home made fimo buttons to stores all over the island.  Meghan Palmer successfully made the pole vault a recognized women’s sport in the state of Maine. Those are all accomplishments many people don’t know of.  Unfortunately, I don’t even know all of our classes accomplishments, but I know that for everybody, it’s an accomplishment just to be standing here today.

            This class is by no means perfect.  Maybe a few people smoke cigarettes, or pot; a few people drive too fast, a few people drink too much;  a few people don’t study hard enough and a few study too hard.  A few people score well on those standardized tests, a few do well in every sport they try.  There are a few who never drink, never smoke, and a very few who never drive too fast.  Regardless, we all have accomplished, whether it be passing the final English test to graduate, shooting the winning basket in a close game, playing the perfect solo, or building the perfect boat.  We will all go off into different futures -- some people will end up far from this safe and quiet island, some will never leave our unique community.  It is like Gloria Naylor said about Willow Springs in her novel Mama Day:  “There’s a whole passel of [children] in Willow Springs, different ages, shapes, and sizes.  Some leave, some stay and add their own brood to replace the faces that are eventually gonna fade off into the surrounding oaks and mists coming up from the Sound.”  We all have accomplished, and we all now must move on.