well the audience please stay in and remain standing for the playing of the national anthem followed by the invocation by the reverend edward  here with me oh god you who created the world and the universe we did make the rivers to run clear and sparkling the air to be pure and fresh the soil to be productive and beautiful the spirit to be free and not suppressed be with us today as we celebrate the vision of new tomorrows with young men and women of the class of eighty nine write them the courage of mind to examine the ways of the world around them so that with imagination creativity faithfulness good stewardship and love they may mark their world with the beauty of freedom compassion brotherhood sisterhood and peace be with us today this day of commencement but not today alone walk ever close by these young men and women as they meet their new tomorrows a man standards of excellence in all facets of our school program yes seniors you have set benchmarks of achievement that will be hard to pass i would be remiss if i didn't give special recognition to some of those individuals who have helped you and led you to this memorable moment in time the first group is comprised of teachers counselors band members from all levels of responsibility with their school district and we have a representative number of members of this group and they're seated on the field in front of the stage i would ask that group to please stand at this time and be recognized for all of their help concerning counseling and love that they have given the seniors throughout their school years but those people would stand at this time please staff member thank you the second group who need to be recognized by the parents of a class of eighty nine believe me seniors they have been with you and beside you supporting you every step of the way and i'm sure that they now rejoice in your achievements over the past twelve years and i would like a round of applause for all the parents and my hope for you is that you will continue to set your sights high life is a banquet and learning will provide you with the opportunities to partake bountifully of its offerings its now my pleasure to introduce three honored senior speakers first we will hear from melissa and pet thank you mr bashir good morning and welcome school board members administration faculty and staff fifty year graduates distinguished guests parents family and friends and my fellow often times people view the signs subject to change without prior notification what frustrates and or disappointment it is looked upon as yet another distraction in an already had six life this is an unfortunate attitude for an individual to have because an unexpected change to be welcomed another to need to expand one's horizons and not viewed as a roadblock even though the change may not be for the better the experience of dealing with the situation will undoubtedly be beneficial it has been said that knowledge is reading the fine print and experience experience is what you get when you don't we can turn our experiences into knowledge and use that knowledge to ensure the success of our future endeavors the idea of teens may seem frightening but it can be dealt with i think we all remember the summer before our freshman year when we heard and believe the horror stories about the way upperclassman treat freshman you know the ones freshman get beat up for their lunch money get their head started in the toilets and get stuffed in the lockers on the first day of school we all walked around cautiously looking lost and afraid but by the end of the first week we realized that all we really had to worry about was a little teasing and name calling soon we were too engrossed in the rigors of a p b and freshman house story about it now we are seniors who have spent the past year trying to avoid the rigors of calculus physics and senior house while taking on this year's crop of freshman but like us they will grow and develop over the next three years to become  seniors like ourselves they will master the fine art of food fighting become profession hacky sack ers and develop the nonchalance added to that is so much a part of being a senior now that we are graduating however that attitude is expected to change we are now expected to fulfill a new role in society that of an adult we are supposed to take responsibility for our lives and spend the upcoming years shaping our futures the process we will go through can be compared to looking through a kaleidoscope the pieces of colored glass in the kaleidoscope form of patterns sometimes beautiful sometimes bizarre but always interesting any small change or twist in the kaleidoscope whether by choice or by accident or rearrange the pieces and shift the picture we can have partial control of the situations by deciding when and if to make a change but sometimes we have to rely on luck as to where the pieces fall our lives follow the same pattern we may decide to alter our lifestyle willingly or have the shift forced upon us by circumstances beyond our control but however the changes precipitated we have no way of knowing what the end result will be hopefully it will be the desired outcome but if it is not it can be used as a learning experience tucked away into our brains to be recalled at some time in the future change is a necessary part of our lives in order for us to mature and develop our views of the world must change from the innocent wonder of a child to the curious exploration of a young adult to the confident wisdom of an experienced adult if we are unwilling to initiate a change for ourselves then we should grasp those unexpected changes that do  e and use them to our best advantage the importance of change in our lives is best summed up in the words of thomas carlyle in change lies the very essence of our laws and life in the world today is not yesterday we ourselves change how can our works if they are always to be the fittest continue always the same change indeed is painful yet every ne the program says the title of my speech is to be enough you probably expect me to tell you some cute title like the shaping of our futures or how i survived four years of p t h s but i'm not going to do that because the title of my speech actually is to be announced then in baines johnson once said that education is the answer for all our national problems the answer for all the problems of the world this is so because we are the future leaders of the world whether being government business medicine or science we as the next generation must soon stand up and announce to the world that we are ready to take up the gauntlet you may wonder if we are prepared to meet this challenge confucius said success depends on previous preparation and without such preparation there are sure failure we have been preparing for the last eighteen years every time we've made a mistake or failed at something we attempted we were learning after all successes only failure picked to pieces by hard work as jimmy once put it we've also spent the last twelve years in the classroom prepar i know that at times we all wonder why anybody would go to college for four years just that i could become a teacher and spend the rest of their life in a school but we're very fortunate that our teachers have devoted their lives to our education the foundation of the state is the education of its you the foundation of our education has been laid and it now becomes our responsibility to build upon it through college and through life the way to do this is through questioning the things we take for granted and examining all of the accepted assumptions a learned man commented that knowledge is nothing but the continually burning up of air to set free the light of truth and now falls upon our shoulders to ig only improve learning and explore new frontiers these may be lofty goals but should we aim for the stars rather than settle for the moon the next four years will be our time to dream after that it will be our turn to make our dreams a reality if you don't try you will certainly fail but as long as you give it your best shot you can never consider any endeavor a lost opportunity since by most standards we are now considered adults are many decisions we must now make for ourselves there is a saying that goes lead follow or get out of the way each of us must decide which of the three roads to take i have decided to take the advice of whitney houston never to walk in anyone's shadow and if i fail or succeed at least i will have lived as i believe our choice is up to us so as we embark on the great journey kno life for which by the way there are no cliff notes available remember the words of another pop singer debbie gibson the future only belongs to the future itself and the future is you congratulations good luck  on this occasion of our graduation from high school we all have many hopes and dreams for the future but we don't know how things will turn out this is a puzzle that every person must solve for us the puzzle is as yet untitled of course this is no ordinary run of the mill jigsaw puzzle that i speak of this puzzle has an infinite number of pieces that are always made by hand and there is no helpful picture to use as a guide all of the necessary materials are included but there are no directions the ultimate finish picture is unknown with such a seemingly impossible task ahead of us one may wonder how anything that's ever accomplished the process the same as for the creation of all great achievements step by step first of all the pieces of the framework of the puzzle must be made and assemble this is not as difficult as it may sound all of the graduates here today are well on their way towards completing this step for is it not true that education is a framework of every person's life it is not only of the knowledge we have learned in school but also of the values we have gained through the home and contact with society in general that i speak it has been said that a person's basic set of morals and values are set somewhere between the ages of four and seven these values form the basis for our actions and reactions to the many different situations we may encounter in later life and they are not likely to change this from these pieces of experience that our puzzle pieces are crafted within this framework we must now begin to fill in the central image of our puzzle the pieces will be made one by one from the many and varied lessons and encounters life sometimes even after we have put forth great effort in shaping the pieces they may not seem to fit into our fossil but we must not discard them we must go on to the next piece and undoubtedly we will find that the piece was not useless but that we were simply trying to put it in the wrong place even in the face of such setbacks we must not give up as the wise man once said there is no failure except in no longer tries no matter what happens we will often find you to work towards achieving our dreams one piece at a time like a kaleidoscope which continually shifts its image our puzzles will not display a complete image of our lives until after the full results of all of our actions have been felt by the next generation our titles his famous novel before it had been finished hester and jimmy would have given a true reflection of the scenes and overall effect that he created in the scarlet letter and what herman melville had called his most famous literary contribution  me that truly show the important idea of a novel moby dick of course not obviously it is easy to see that no true classic or work of art can be adequately summed up before its completion and neither can a person predict his or her future we must move ahead crafting the pieces of the puzzle of our lives carefully with our lives as yet untitled congratulations and good luck to the class and one hundred eighty nine thank you girls for outstanding speeches there is a tradition of peter's township high school commencement and it's a very good one that we continue today and that is that as each class graduates special invitation is given to the class which has been graduated fifty years prior so today we give recognition to the class of nineteen thirty nine and to do this pay this honor i will call upon the president a senior class coll morning hope everyone had a good breakfast as president of the one thousand nine hundred nine senior class i am privileged and honored to welcome the graduates from the class of nine thirty nine graduation day is a special day for all of us who are seniors and i'm sure that you have a special memories from your graduation day also in honor of this occasion we would like to present you with this certificate stand when i read your name rachel philips edward robert matthews there's another group with us today that we're very happy to have here five years ago they were in that situation are very pleased to have you with us and we ask you to join with the members of the class of thirty nine and also the staff members in a reception after the ceremony which will be held in the high school nine room another quick announcement and that is that the program today is being video channel seven and will be shown at six o'clock this evening and also nine o'clock this evening and then they will be showing another select times so you might be interested in that as principal of the high school i certify that each of the member of the graduating class has successfully completed and fulfill the requirements for graduation set forth by the commonwealth of pennsylvania and the school district thank you in recognition of my confidence in the field of weather forecasting i start your my comments accordingly therefore in behalf of the peter's time to boarding school directors i would like to offer our congratulations to the class nine hundred eighty nine and wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors thank you matthew and mark kramer a franklin jonathan good burn emily ok role carolyn are gonna be sarah elizabeth now player and mcclellan lisa marie jennifer lee marshal connie maxwell robin elizabeth michael j now i just haven't john o'connor daniel joseph o time suzanne only astro courtney patterson tracy lynn ral karen florence richard jude christopher samhsa lucas eric am short tiffany jay sober all ski melissa a story angela or have had the good fortune of sharing with the students their families and their teachers in the recognition of the achievements of these graduating seniors significant accomplishments have been made within the area of the three a's academics arts and athletics this class must be ranked among the top classes that i've been associated with in the five districts that i've served collectively the honors a chill bestowed upon yourselves your families and the school district is truly remarkable we should all take pride in these accomplishments these achievements should serve as a source of comfort in knowing that you are well prepared to move on to whatever future course you choose to pursue you do have the stop of knowledge to succeed but as important you have through your achievements demonstrated that you are able to realize goals the setting of and striving for goals will beat enterable part it's all a base to lay a foundation for your successful future we can all take a lesson from geometry to illustrate the critical elements in achieving goals in geometry we find the triangle to be one of the simplest of configurations made up of basic components three lines joined at three angles yet the triangle because of its stability and rigidity serves as the foundation in designing and building complex structures through your past successes you have demonstrated that you are able to apply the three vital components in realizing goals three vital components as with the triangle in geometry provide the stability and strength in charting your future direction these are conviction commitment and cooperation conviction serves as a strength of the triangle as if law applies a fixed strong belief in setting goals therefore you must have a strong belief in yourself and what you're trying to accomplish conviction itself however will not stand alone there must be a pledge to do something there must be a sense of obligation a commitment and finally very few goals are realized in isolation we are living in an interdependent world all successful players of the game will find that they will have to become connected to network cooperation will continue to be vital for you in realizing future goals before we complete the tr you'd like to look at the elements that bind the sides together the vertices your success as a student has been very much dependent upon the conviction commitment and cooperation of those who contributed to your success the first of these vertices is your family they have provided the ideals support and caring that was and will continue to be essential they were there for you and for us in our quest to have you become a student and if not more important to become a good all around person the second binding force that was instrumental in your success so your teachers we are very pleased to have many of them with us for your commencement marching with you in the perceptional where the teachers that worked with you from kindergarten through your senior year it was through their dedication and their skill that you were able to probably say that you are a graduate of peter's township school district and that you are truly ready for the next challenge experience in your graduation here today is a source of pride for all our teachers and other staff members who gave and continued to give so much of themselves saying you accomplish serves as an indicator of our accomplishment and finally you can look to and within yourself as a vital component that compliments the efforts of your parents and teachers those of you who have realized and all likelihood will continue to realize the most success are those who are in vision themselves as being empowered with inner direction while having a sense of inner dependence to some degree that represents each of you here today you have realized an important goal and can stand along your family and your teachers as if the graduates would please return to their seat i would ask the graduates to please turn to your seats so we can complete the program at this time i would ask that we all stand we will we will have the benediction by reverend hamet and we would ask that the audience would please remain standing until the recessional as moved to the other side of the field and then we would ask that x would be made around the track and on out of the stadium this time then seven hamet with a benediction  graduations to the class of eighty nine please pray with me father we have heard the words of these young men and women there is within them vision promise and hope strengthen them in purpose and resolve that their visions and hopes may be realized if they devote their minds energies and resources to the building of a greater america may they seek to be better informed about the problems of the world and their solution may they be intolerant of all who are oppressive or injust may they do all they are able to feel the beating of other human hearts beside their own may they search diligently for ways to be obedient to the call of god to relationship and concern for others that in all ways they may know goodness and peace now and for ever