elite followed by mr and said mr sergio antonio tennis who will lead us in the singing of our own water the words of which can be proud and you can be found in your program in the lives of your students at this point i wish to introduce the faculty and staff with the outstanding faculty and staff of peters township school district please stay and be recognized thankfully and most importantly i would like to recognize a group of individuals who really make it all happen there are tired of us and at times underestimated dedication is often the last emotions of the moment ladies and homemakers of america today students and faculty work together to run the future business leaders of america the more things change the more they stay the same in one nine hundred fifty seven the graduating class was prepared to face the challenges that the future would bring in just like the class of fifty seven and we the class of two thousand and seven have been acquitted with the knowledge and skills required to make our place in the world we stand in the same position as those students did pass century ago we are faced with our own set of opportunities difficulties and possibilities we stand before the future and all that brings with it just we need to use our experience together to be a guiding light into our futures look at the people around you you know them and they know the year we have grown up together and most of us from classmates and my on which we have taken root it is our friends and family our high school and everyone else was the fact that even as we stretch our branches to those clouds in the sky we are still lives again it seems like yesterday when driving to the mall with my favorite song away on a friday night with a few bodies was the coolest thing to do even as we move along to bigger and better things next year it must not forget where we came from family friends when women represent us the moral and ethical beliefs  hospital that we are all capable of if you follow what you enjoy and put passion into it you are bound to be happy with the results water water is the journey we must all say it while they are all beautiful in their own way they all end up in the same place sometimes we will go through rocky streams but you know where it is eventually become calm and empty and the ocean is well if we different proportions we are ok to saying simple and we all have these factors in common no matter where i was taking us whether it be doctors lawyers businessmen or teachers thank you to the teachers coaches and minister and other staff whose hard work has provided a strong platform and in many positive experiences that have shaped us all to each of you i know that you are today and will never lose the desire to challenge yourself and grow as a person thomas edison and address their point importance of continuous striving for achievement and personal better saying show disadvantage those of us get it in industry it can go out and build homes for the homeless and this get to the leadership think coordinate all of these efforts and ensure that change is realized for other still we may find out for these unique gifts and their careers job in a moment i'm going to introduce mr thomas mcburney the president of the school board who will say a few words prior to that mr macmurray was the principal peters township a school i certify that each and every member of the class of two thousand and seven has successfully completed and fulfilled the requirements for graduation set forth by the commonwealth of pennsylvania and the peters township board of school directors i present to you the class of two thousand and seven different in many ways yet least one thing was and is the same the freedom that this country provides offers on limited choices for the direction that you want your life to take as you wake each day you start making choices make the choice to start each day with the excitement anticipation and optimism of the first day of school first day of summer vacation or your last day of high school as you look in the mirror in the morning do you like what you see are you having to fulfill the goals you set for yourself if not it's up to you to do something about it you can dream all you want but you still must plan for reality you only have a finite number of days hours and minutes to be on this earth don't waste on if you're to be successful in this life you must learn to take responsibility for your own actions the choices that you will make will not always be the right one and life is going to be rough and unfair at times but you have the chance to learn from your experiences don't blame others for your bad choices don't complain or whine accept the responsibility and get on with life no matter how bad your day is tomorrow the sun will rise again providing you with the opportunity to make better choices a quote attributed to the actor james dean is dream as if you'll live forever live as if you'll die tomorrow develop a passion for living for learning for loving and for laughing make the choice to do something nice for someone every day give something back to your community preserve your integrity and reputation value and respect time show your love for your family and develop confidence faith and a belief in yourself so you can look at that face in the mirror and say yes i like what i see on behalf of the peters dontcha boarding school directors i wish you good luck with good health good laughs and good choices and michael alexander steven backstrom matthew bianca michael d bianca mark patrick boardman matthew joseph patrick coffey anthony michael andrew carmen de paul nathan cody donald justin robert christopher peter bake ryan joseph for near brian david jason anthony gloucester corey james kelly and came  rachel elizabeth kalen elizabeth clark jacqueline dan hire chelsea and davi julianna marie sarah grace earl christopher james graves andrew james greg andrew alan greg richard edward the third ryan john hart bradley forrest hack paul richard jackson gregory mark james nathan scott tennessee bryan adam jonathan ryan john andreas camera drew tyler carpe jennifer nicole else flogger megan elizabeth and  levy and greenwald jamie lynn han jacqueline heuer jeffrey allen no steven richard the third patrick my heart carly michelle johnston lauren elizabeth caitlin marlene ma sara marie manning nicholas robert to st alexandra christine believe  sarah jeanne perhaps alexandra marie perry axis mercedes renee timothy f reader junior joshua scott rush nicholas george gino anthony seneca michael jesse sharp erin jesse shear jacqueline elizabeth safer rachel ray strokes or daniel patrick smith marshall john smith the second robert grant smith matthew david thomas blade anderson thompson broke susan's window lley lorraine walker have the opportunity to address high school commitments commencements many times this is my first opportunity to congratulate the graduating class from peter's township high school it's an honor real pleased to be sharing this moment with representatives from the class of one nine hundred fifty seven we share something in common educationally in the one nine hundred fifty seven when you were getting ready to graduate from high school i preparing to enter first grade and now fifty years later i'm still in school i think all of us here not just myself in the class of one nine hundred fifty seven would agree that nationwide insurance had it right when they created that slogan for their ad campaigns that says life comes at you fast that's what causes one nine hundred fifty seven graduates to say i can't believe it's been fifty years since i graduated from high school that's what happens when you look back in time there's a kind of phenomenon that occurs but looking backwards life is always compressed life is always shortened in other words the amount of time that has passed seems like less than it actually is if you're a member of the class of two thousand and seven you're thinking the opposite way you're looking ahead and you think you have a lot of time well you do have a lot of time but life comes actually fast and you don't have as much time as you may think i want to illustrate the point with a personal project that i've been working on at home i've been organizing labeling and filing family photographs and there are some real interesting photographs in the collection of people that are related to me but i have never met because they lived their lives out before i was born for instance there's a interesting picture of my great grandmother milking a cow she is in the classic cow milking position and the interesting thing about the photograph is that she is squeezing a stream of milk into her five year old daughter's mouth life comes at you fast right after that picture was taken my grandmother raised her six kids enjoyed her grandkids and passed away i have sitting on your hanging on the wall in my home a portrait of my grandfather standing next to his brother and they're both holding musical instruments dressed in their sunday best they went to a photographer and had their photograph taken right after that photograph was taken because life comes actually fast my grandfather went off to world war one played the baritone in a navy band came home got married raised three kids retired from the steel mill and passed away i have a picture of my father taken near pearl harbor hawaii during world war two and in this particular picture he's caught mid air in a dive into the pacific ocean right after he hit the water life came at him fast he came home he married my mother raised two kids retired from chrysler corporation as a tool and die maker and passed away life does come  and because of that i want to offer a little bit of advice to the class of two thousand and seven first i think you should learn to read i know you think you already can read and maybe you can but i'm not talking about translating the symbols on the page into words i'm talking about reading for pleasure and reading for self improvement reading is the best way to get continuing education i recently heard  voice of a united states astronaut who said he never really liked school but he always liked to read if you learn to read you always be well educated second of all as you take care of your mind by learning to read i recommend that you take care of your health nothing seems more irrelevant to an eighteen year old body than someone saying take care of your health but life comes actually fast you'd be surprised how much of the conversations that i have with people that are about my age revolve around the deterioration and the b trail of our bodies not performing like they used to the advice that we pass out so freely to school children all their years in school about choices that involve sometimes alcohol and drug use and other bad decisions are made partly in recognition that investments you make in health today will pay you a bit dividends a number of years down the line third i hope you will notice your parents parents are a very precious nonrenewable natural resource and i know that you will be very busy in the days that are ahead of you busy or not i urge you to notice your parents and i will say by the way grandparents as well i say that not because i am a parent who enjoys being noticed by his sons although i do don't enjoy that i say that because my own parents are both gone and there's not a day goes by that i don't think of them and that i don't miss them finally i would urge you to find out the truth find out the truth about how you should live there are some things in life that are a matter of personal preference there are some things in life that are a matter of opinion but so many of the things that matter are not it seems to me that the universe is either morally neutral or it is not find out the truth about how you should live and what kind of person you will be in just a few moments here you'll be leaving this place and nearly every one of you will be posing for a picture life comes out you fast right after that picture is taken i want you to go out there and make us proud thanks for listening to me god bless y now by the authority conferred upon me by the commonwealth of pennsylvania and on behalf of the peters township board of school directors it is my pleasure to confirm your graduation from peters township high school and to welcome you into the ranks of peters township high school