I was having a hard time writing this speech, because I just couldn’t find the right way to start it off on a high note. It wasn’t until I was listening to music and trying to procrastinate one night that I found the perfect quote to get everybody’s attention. It comes from the song Light of Local Eyes by Polar Bear Club, and while I won’t sing it for you, Micah might if you ask him nicely. It’s meant to be about a small town, but I think the principle fits just as well for a high school like Three Oaks. “We lived life out of this place, we wore its map on our faces, to say the least, we left our trace, burned off the tips of our laces, when this city shined, from the light of local eyes.” Looking back right now, after prom and all the memories you have of the last three years, it’s easy to say how awesome high school was and how it’s been the happiest three years of your life. Like the town in Light of Local Eyes, we’ve left our mark here and made Three Oaks a part of our lives and it’s shining from the light of our eyes. When we’ve seen more of the world, that light’s going to fade. When you go off to UPEI, or Dalhousie, or University of Ottawa, the so-called “best years of your life” may not seem so great in comparison. You’re going to study or work in whatever field you actually enjoy, instead of having to take physics and social studies simply for the credits. When all you want to do is act or make movies, it’s almost a waste of time, because you’ll never use any of those things. Over the course of the next few years, you’ll start doing something that hardly feels like work, compared to the pointless busywork in your obligatory high school courses. You’d probably keep doing it even if you didn’t get paid. That’s when you’ll start to realize how silly it sounds to say you had fun checking your significant figures or memorizing that the volume of a cone is a third of pi-r-squared-h. When you find a job doing what you really love to do, you’ll get more out of it than anything else you might have done, no matter the salary.

            Despite the many false starts I initially had trying to write this speech, I find that words are my most natural talent. It’s up to us to use our talents as fully as possible, whether you’re good at art or cheering people up. I’ve always found that the right words at the right time can make all the difference, and I do my best to find them when the time comes. One of the more memorable opportunities I’ve had came when a friend of mine, Spencer, posted a link on facebook to a news story about a school in the States that had cancelled its prom because of a lesbian couple who planned to attend. I replied with a link to a story about a teacher at an all-girls Catholic school in Vancouver who was fired for being a lesbian. A shared friend of ours posted that they were right to fire her, as she would have a bad influence on the students. This happened a few days after we studied logical fallacies in English, so I decided to practice my debating skills with him. He claimed that he had science and other undeniable facts to back up his position, yet strangely he didn’t provide any examples. When I pointed out various flaws in his logic, he relented, and admitted that he had been prejudiced and never really tried to see things from an objective point of view. He agreed to be more tolerant in the future, and I found it very satisfying to find a practical use for something I learned in class. This just proves that anyone can make a positive difference if they make the best of their abilities.

            I know all too well that many of us often doubt our abilities, and I’d be lying if I said I’d never once worried that I’m not good enough, or that I couldn’t handle all the things life was throwing at me. It wasn’t until I was half finished that I thought I could actually write and give a speech. I’m no motivational speaker, and I just didn’t have time to practice as much as I would have liked. Yet here I am, with a speech written and mostly memorized, pretty nervous but mainly glad that it’s nearly over. Deep down, I know that I can do anything after I calm down and get to work. I know just as well that the same thing goes for all of you. So if there’s anything I’d liked to tell you, it’s to find and hold onto that same confidence, no matter what you’re doing next year, or even ten years from now. Don’t underestimate yourself, because you’ll rise to the occasion if you work hard enough. There’s no limit to your potential, and anyone who embraces life’s challenges will grow as a person, and as an intellectual. Failure comes only from a lack of effort, not a lack of ability. There’s no such thing as “not being smart enough.” If you believe the only difference between an A and a B+ is hard work, you’ll always get the results you’re looking for.

            We may not see it right now, but our teachers and classmates have had a huge influence on us over the past few years. When I met up with a friend after UPEI finished their classes, he told me I was starting to sound like Mr. Gallant, so I must have taken calculus as well as advanced math. He says it happens to everyone Mr. Gallant teaches all year, but personally… I have absolutely no idea what he’s talking about. Aside from making jokes about interrupting turtles and spiders doing push-ups against a mirror, we’ve learned a lot more than just facts and formulas from our classes here at Three Oaks. Some of those things were part of the curriculum – we were supposed to learn to think outside of the box, but some of us thought a bit too far outside of the box. Other things we’ve learned in class taught us about ourselves – for example, I’ve learned that I’m not exactly careful enough to be a physicist or an engineer. You’ll thank me later when your car’s brakes accelerate you at negative five meters-per-second-squared instead of positive five meters-per-second-squared. I can’t speak for every single one of you, but I’m sure each of you can think of a similar experience. I’d be pretty surprised if you could spend a full semester – or two – with someone like Mrs. Keough, Mrs. McQuaid, or Ms. Barrett without learning anything about yourself. We’re all busy trying to figure out who – and what – we want to be, and it’s people like them who spend as much time guiding us through that as they do teaching.

            In Light of Local Eyes, there’s a section that goes “I sat down and thought, what of here makes me proud? Proud to not dismiss this place, and hold it all, from gold to gray.”  Graduation is the perfect opportunity to look at the last few years and see the things that actually made your time here great. The things that make you proud to have been here and that you’ll cherish even as the golden light from our eyes fades to gray. Three Oaks was just the place where it happened, not the reason it happened. Your teachers and friends, and the memories you made together, are the things you should remember fondly. The best part is that even though you’ve finished high school, and you can never get that back, the friends you’ve made will never fade away. Some of them might be going with you to university; others may be staying here, or moving a dozen hours away. Realistically, there’s no longer any difference. No matter where we are next year, we’ll be able to keep in touch… for better or for worse.

———————————————————————————-

Yeah so there we go. It’s not done yet. Subject to improvements from the recommendations of you lovely folk. Still have to read it out to time it, as well as test it for awkwardness/wordiness. Still, feels good to have it “done.”

edit: first update done, may possibly change the facebook paragraph to be vaguer