or the baby like most of my friends instead i had my own fantasy i wanted to be the magic age seventy the age when freedom and responsibility balanced out when i would be allowed to to just say no to the elementary dare program and the first class to graduate having spent two years sharing our building the chattering which proves that we must be a flexible group here before you today i have only eleven days left of my message i'd meant that there are times when i wish for the comfort and security that i enjoyed as a four year old child and i bet many of you do too we worry about our future beyond seventeen we must realize that the time we have spent at the my high school has prepared us for the challenges which lie ahead we should all be proud to be a member of  the however subtle it may be to our relationship and i am the only one who in my stubborn determination to avoid reading anything that shed did not mention the other and so this is for th one day in our freshman or sophomore year i met one of their houses and she is arguing with her brother which isn't unusual except that slowly the flight time space will go up and they are pouncing on each other this is still not a very big deal except that although my friend this teeny tiny she is also almost ten years older than her brother and so she is clearly waiting so they continue fighting until suddenly her brother having finally got her and decided that enough is enough i cracked my friend stops of course feeling guilty and starts trying to see this fields so she starts taking him and telling jokes and all of a sudden there will be laughing and i am sure that everything is fine i am relieved because it's always awkward to watch somebody else's family members and their whole smiling i tell suddenly for some reason i still cannot comprehend she jumps forward and attacks him again and he not he falls off the bed and hand before she even reaches me i can tell by her slightly bad face and the funny look in her eyes that she is furious she marches out to me and loudly enough so that everyone standing in the line that is now reaching outside because  midsummer starts to complain about the two dollars fifty cents you have to pay for the measly few bites of ice cream she receives i try to get her to keep walking and she does but she begins to complain more and more about what a scam the story is and virtually everything in her that nothing is going right and and that all she wants to do is go home to my bed for ever so you think the logical thing to do is say that we have a car down at the bottom of the mountain we'll take her home if she wants which we do and she looks at us and says i'm not going so i say well to him you say that you want to go she looks at us and says told you seriously yeah so so we're obviously stopped and we have no idea what to say so i'm trying to make conversation and ask her she's coming out with us tonight she looks at me and says totally seriously you guys don't understand how important this is the three of us who just drove for half hours and hiked up half the ski mountain to see her are visibly insulted one friend pipes up with well i understand and the insecurities of the middle school and scared anybody i didn't know i realize now that i must have been possible for my friends they would call me friday afternoon and asked if i wanted to go out that night i would say of course and then proceed to reject every suggestion they made they would then go out of their way to change their plans again and again and i would say thank you but i'm still not going out and then two hours later still they would call to check in to see if i was go ok maybe i didn't change my mind although i'm sure they did i never would they have given of themselves again and again with no regards to what they received for me and the results have been phenomenal when i say that our relationship is not guided by logic i mean that there are no expectations to be filled that there need not be any correlation between perception and reality it seems absurd to me that anybody would say sure i've said it to you about somebody else that i don't like him because he used to be different and then he changed it may be hypocrisy but how many of us have not contradicted ourselves a thousand times in the course about the lessons there are emotions and thoughts about it see the power and form of logic and my friends have a laugh that eastgate me when i am in large social situations now with these friends and a bunch of other people i noticed that the four of us tend to stray from each other and for the longest time i haven't been able to figure out why what is think is that in my relationship we have moved beyond that and superficially by allowing each other to be told by a line that in a discuss college and the biggest fear that most people i know have is that i'm not high enough people with whom they will be able to connect and i can't escape this feeling that i will never find people who will meet the standards that my three closest friends have created mine which dimensional portrayal fear our tales of display i know someone calls my three friends and i the power for which i'm sure he intends to make fun of us for those times when we must be exclusive and boring to everyone else but i think and i have a feeling that he best here that there is some truth beyond what you say because by allowing me to be a whole person you can feel things and behave in ways that do not conform to the rules of rationality logic as we know that people have provided  speak at a high school graduation many things has to remind you are of course on or and you'd like to be able to give some great wisdom or advice to these graduates as they head out into this often confusing fast paced world of downsizing specialization total quality management and all the jargon that means we're in a global and highly competitive environment and environment in which  headingley and gone right to folks that i played ball with not very much older than you so i applied and went to northeastern university determined to get a broad based education that would allow me to enter the astronaut corps and then i learned about perseverance the lesson began when i applied to the asteroid kora nine hundred seventy three after being graduated from northeastern university and being told i didn't have enough education so i crossed the river to mit earned a doctorate degree reapplied was told i didn't have enough work experience in the meantime i had married my high school sweetheart and had two children reply for every single science mission finally after replying the fourth time i lived my dream in october twentieth with the liftoff of the space shuttle columbia a dream as you will find that is often the case with no guarantees of success that it took some twenty two years to realize that it's tempting to say that perseverance is the most critical element in life but i have to tell you it is the courage to take risks that defines those individuals who make a difference in the world risk is the one ingredient success that separates the achieve of from the rest of the path the willingness to take risks is what make christopher columbus most of you and not have to risk it or at least have had parents or friends as a safety net the cost of taking risk can be very high but the cost of not taking those rest and not pushing the envelope of i'm not going  beyond your comfort zone can be even greater this is both exciting and frightening progress for to solve the possible to determine the final results of your actions let me give you some examples of risk takers and the impact they have had on our world and on themselves for example five hundred years ago christopher columbus sailed from spain in search of gold and spices in the orient and study found cornton that he failed to reach the orient return to  with only two of his three ships but nevertheless changed the face of the world two hundred twenty two years ago thomas jefferson framed the dreams of a new nation risks is life and all his worldly possessions as did all falling fathers for have been considered the domain of the male set the stage for full equality of the sexes worldwide thirty four years ago martin luther king had a dream which began to free our people and help the nation achieve true greatness that dream would lifting the human spirit to new heights and bring the realization to us all that we are a rather small part of a very very wide universe this triumph and insight do not occur without cost as illustrated by the tragic loss of life in the apollo one be seen with the world wide popularity of a star trek series and associated movies then five years or twenty four shuttle launches later i lost six very good friends we were again reminded by the challenger explosion the cost of taking risks can be very high and so was it foolish to take such risks it can be if the consequences of failure are severe and the rewards are minimal but to re rewards to be an explorer and inventor a leader you must risk even though the consequences can indeed be severe that brings you to mate why did i strap myself and after the government takes out a room and board the answer for me was simple as i am sure one of the people i mentioned earlier and you line that will make what will make you risk to leave your comfort done or the world doesn't work that way or this is the way things are rather dreamed about the way things can be and we recommend you do the same i can tell you from first hand knowledge that humankind's destiny is beyond what we now call home polish or any ethnic or religious preference i felt that if the world's leaders could spend ninety minutes one revolution orbiting the earth there be a lot fewer conflicts here on earth but will humankind fulfill its destiny in this or more importantly today where we will you excuse me fill your potential as you venture in your careers i'm sure you all know that we presently live in a risk averse culture we want to be guaranteed them and how we drive we will be safe and that if we still coughing ourselves we won't get burned and yes if we graduate from government high school we go to the college of our choice get a very high paying job or go into the military or whatever would like to do and it's ok to explore space in the oceans and feed human spirit if we can you will not achieve great things whether we're talking about science technology starting your own business or for that matter peace in the middle east that's i leave you with these spots you have more opportunities than you will ever be able to take advantage or you have the drive as demonstrated by your graduation to achieve success you must learn and continue to educate yourselves your entire audience and above all aus you must be had a dream and you make make sure that your fears never get in the way of those dreams so with that i wish you good luck and make us all proud thank you this is another service award or voted by the faculty to a person who again has energy has touched this class in very very special ways spryte articulate she's in the advisor to the school committee around everyone seems to get a boost in her spirits when she's nearby and she can deliver a great speech she has all kinds of economical words and she will be attending dartmouth this year  society department they could go on on this is a person who we will sorely miss from our school that's all me and  and now we have a special gift of music or you and building that many people hardly known things this however his influence his accomplishments and his inspiration extend way beyond that from the outside one sees five years of commission  wide range of music as well composers like e m i klein can amos and got the shoes one sees trips to rochester for all the eastern music educators conference concerts to boston symphony hall and most recently carney and finally one sees a public school music program that rises way above other high school programs and other college level groups yet however impressive the resume is it's not what people see that defines this person so those of those who have had the privilege to get to know this man on a more personal level we see things a little differently we see someone who is truly the textbook definition of dedicated someone with a mind that never stops dreaming and thinking ahead someone with a big heart for the expression in creation of musical feelings and someone with the art of inspiring people to reach their goals and exceed their limits so please take this time with me now to recognize appreciate and honor a man who will no longer be in our presence due to the furthering of his own education yet he will be remembered by all of us parents gas and class of nine hundred ninety seven after many years on this diet says an observer and finally the mall or a senior i am most grateful to dr hall and mr wright and the members of the school committee for allowing me to speak briefly this afternoon many of you will remember another warm and sunny june afternoon thirteen years ago out kindergarten orientation day we mothers and a few fathers and those of us grasping the hand of our first child to go off to school were excited and a bit apprehensive those of us possibly our youngest child  adolescence for the age great dinner dance remember mother's you wanted your daughter to wear something fall and flowery she wanted straight and blast you struggle to get your son into a jacket and tie he abandoned it at the cafeteria door because it was so hot that night will barely take another graph and here we are watching our young adults graduate the doubt in our thirteen year process of letting go for those of us probably attending our first child's graduation we are filled with excitement and a bit apprehensive and  parents watching their last child leave belmont high school there must be a sigh of relief when would have predicted thirteen years ago that shy children would star in the senior play small kids would play football and hockey dawdling daydreamers would win soccer and cross country titles quiet girls would cheer their lawns out and also play hockey who knew then that our last class of under two hundred would produce intense percussionist would have arrived in fifth grade to take our instrumentalist to bowl symphony hall and hornady hall what mother could have predicted when introducing her child as andrew content safe behind walls we are very proud of you we may have guided you along the way but we are proud of who and what you are today but for you graduates it hasn't turned out yet as the fairy tale characters discovered in the woods mother cannot guide you now you're on your own you decide what's good the mother isn't here now it's your turn longfellow suggested the talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well and doing well whatever you do if you have found your talent here at belmont high school build on it expand on what is best about you if you haven't yet found your special niche or talent how you turned out after jackass is up to you that success is still waiting for you i am sure each of you will at some time has parked on the bench in the main office under the portrait of a young man in an army state championship for all his classmates predicted an n b a career for him stretch did go on to become captain of his west point basketball team but he is remembered not for his basketball prowess but for winning the congressional medal of honor in vietnam despite graduating at the bottom of his west point class he returned thirty years later as the  you just never know how things are going to turn out remember the wards where witches can be right giants can be good you decide what's right you decide what's good graduates take a look at the kid sitting around you some of you have been together since kindergarten and each year you welcome to new classmates and said goodbye to old friends most of you have been together since middle school many of you spending seven years in the same house or medical home rooms treasure these friendships no one will ever know you the same way that the people sitting around you do talks with them no matter how things turn out some day and you cannot predict when you will meet that special friend well my best friends from high school and i have shared the joy of marriage and birth and the tragedy of premature death we have even shared houses what matters is that we each now no matter what the other one is always there sondheim reminds us children can only grow from something you la to something you lose we may be losing our children today but we are gaining some wonderful adults graduate become your best self treasure lifelong friendships and remember juno is a blight for how it turns out is up to you thank you the class and nine hundred ninety seven parents and grandparents friends and relatives is vital to the members of the school committee and other special guests i am pleased to present school committee she'll certificates to two graduating seniors the first a sh certificate for outstanding achievement and exceptional distinction and scholarship was awarded to the same year as valedictorian of the bias of nine hundred ninety seven and their national merit finalists a member of the national honor society reset the end of the harvard university book prize the massachusetts association of school superintendents of war receive various p t a awards including english and math and world and harvard university in the university book award received the p t a awards in foreign language and social studies is a member of the indoor and outdoor track teams of the zenith magazine the performing arts company as secretary of the class a member of both the marching and is one of the schools outstanding student says display of mastery and nearly every subject mathematics science social studies and english she has also been active in theatre in the outside the inside outside theatre company working with youngsters she enjoys requirements for graduation from a dominant high school