The Power of Teaching
By: Alyssa Henning
Topics: graduation, speech, class of 2007, Bakersfield High School
Posted by citizenjournalist Fri Jun 1, 2007 12:16:44 PDT
Viewed 1721 times
0 responses 0 comments Graduation Speech, Class of 2007
My fellow graduates: here we sit today, bedecked in our billowing robes, sashes, and tassels, eager to graduate from high school and step out into the world. When we first walked onto this campus, we were like smooth, unformed balls of clay, impressionable and absorbing our new and unfamiliar surroundings. Many people have shaped us into who we are today, including our wonderful family and friends, and we are grateful for their love and support.
But let us not forget those who have made Bakersfield High School our home away from home, who have been with us during every step of our journey, who have guided us through every obstacle and illuminated us with the light of wisdom, fortitude, and character—our hard-working counselors, our resourceful principal, and, especially, our dedicated teachers. From them, we learned academic lessons such as how to hop on the mole train and recite the mole chant; that one rabbit plus one station wagon do not equal two; that exclamatory “shriek marks” should be implied, and not stated; that Mein Kampf does not mean “My Life as a Sunflower;” and that physics tests are not supposed to be finished. But most importantly, our teachers have taught us lessons that we can carry with us throughout the rest of our journey, that serve a practical as well as an educational purpose, that fuse “schooling” with our education.
For how else would we have known that a recent high school graduate can subsist entirely on the three basic food groups—Top Ramen, hot dogs, and macaroni and cheese—and that shower shoes should be worn at all times in a communal bathroom? That we can evade alcohol at a party by sashaying down the aisle with a bottle of Squirt? And essential skills of the utmost importance to our future, such as lighting cheap Albertsons matches and executing the ultimate Scrabble strategy?
Along with our loved ones, our teachers—our mentors—have formed and shaped us into elegant and refined statues that hold our identities and our core system of beliefs and define who we are today. Our teachers have helped us lay the blocks of our foundation that hold our statue upright with strength and conviction. Without their guidance, we would have swayed, perhaps even toppled over, at the slightest wind of change, at the slightest hint of uncertainty that made us question what we held to be true—our faith, our assumptions, our paradigms.
It is my hope that when we, the newest graduates of Bakersfield High School, venture out into the world to assume a job or pursue an academic degree, we will all find a mentor to support us, encourage us, teach us, hold us up and make us stand strong and proud, just like our teachers here did for us. It is my hope that we will develop our gifts and talents to the highest degree, always striving for prosperity and never settling for mediocrity. It is my hope that we will continue to be guided by the teachers of today, and, in turn, pass on our wisdom to future generations and become the teachers of tomorrow. Congratulations, Class of 2007, and wherever your academic and vocational paths may take you, one thing is certain: “Once a Driller, always a Driller”—the bonds of tradition transcend generations.
Alyssa Henning is one of four valedictorians from Bakersfield High School, and will be attending Cornell University in the fall. She plans to continue her education with Cornell's five-year Biomedical Engineering program, where she will eventually receive a Bachelor's degree in Molecular and Cell Biology with a minor in Biomedical Engineering in four years and her Masters in Engineering after her fifth year.
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