and fifty five along with the family friends and fans of our graduating seniors at this time i would like to introduce our board of school directors please stand when your name is announced and remain standing and please hold your applause until i read all the names this is denise abraham president this is sandy dory vice president dr mark bizzaro this is sandy this is i would also like to recognize dr kirk our superintendent and dr hoover our assistant and the members of our administrative team our teachers and staff who are at the time in attendance this evening please stand and be recognized are graduating seniors thank you for your patience and dedication and now i'm proud to present our students speakers andrea babbitt ross roughing tyler paul and nick us we will begin with good evening parents students administration faculty island ny and honored guests a good friend said to me the other day you know this is the end of an era the way she chose to phrase this left me with a whole new view of what our last few years have been yes we are graduating from many years of education hard work and patience but we are also graduating from this era we have created this is the time in our lives when we are as on systematic as we will ever be the time in our lives when we learn about ourselves and about the world from the view of a classroom this is our life as we know it we have finally found that foundation to the staircase genuine understanding but have merely taken one step along those stairs this is a time to celebrate this step and to look to those who have taken many before us and to learn from them today is a day to honor the graduating class of two thousand and five but it is also a day to honor the graduates of a class of one hundred fifty five fifty years ago these graduates were the same young eager minds we are today they have taken their peters township education and turned it to knowledge knowledge to experience and experience to a greater understanding of the world we the class of two thousand and five are honored to share such a kinship with these alumni and now i am pleased to introduce the fifty year graduates of peters township high school would you please stand as i call your name and hold the applause until the end of mr walter beyond mr joseph cushy the success of a class of nine hundred fifty five is an inspiration to those present tonight as we all know changes occur rapidly in today's world but it is refreshing to know that those changes do not necessarily happen in people both a class of one nine hundred fifty five and the class of two thousand and five come from the same roots the same home we honor tonight's alumni and hopes that in two thousand and fifty five we too will represent our class as they have to show our perpetual respect and commitment to the peters township school district to the class of one nine hundred fifty five thank you for your example and guidance as we head out to succeed i will finish by saying it has been both an honor and privilege to lead this class for the past two years i only hope i have surpassed your expectations i feel it necessary to share with the families and friends present tonight the one quality of quality of our class that i feel is remarkable common trait among schools these days is the formation of groups and although we too may have some of the same i have noticed that our class however has a camaraderie we are unique in that way and i am proud to proclaim that i am without a doubt convinced that this bond will last forever life may take us i know we've already unite i can already say that i have crazy fun dance parties in store for our class reunions something for which our class has quite a talent at this point in our lives our general daily routine has unknowingly been our comfort zone the time has come for us to step outside of this comfort zone and proceed to the next step to commence the new era to which we have arrived learn from those ahead of you and in return teach says behind you thank you administrators faculty alumni parents and friends for all you have given us in closing i would like to extend to all of my classmates a future filled with success happiness and genuine understanding i would also like to thank my mom and dad for everything they have taught me i love you very much and to the class of two thousand and five thank you for all the memories fellow graduates to each and every i would like to congratulate each and every one of you we certainly have come a long way through hard work dedication determination and perseverance we are all sitting together about to conquer one of many milestones in our lives we have made a positive contribution to this high school in this community and the return there for they have prepared us for a life outside of these four walls we all have opportunities waiting for us when we drive out of this parking lot today and the choice is now ours to make them positive or negative for the past thirteen years of our lives we have been pushed and guided in the right direction but from now on we are a bike without training wheels but certainly not a boat without a paddle have been given the tools necessary to succeed now we must use them the possibilities are endless and with every choice we make success will be ahead of us and failure will be lurking at our feet what is it that is pulling us out into the world the opportunity of success or the freedom of failure it is easier to fail and give up in comparison to standing tall and trying again we must not give up or get discouraged when life drags us down i see hundreds of my classmates sitting before me all dressed in red and white are we patiently wait to get started with the next chapter of our lives we all give thought to the underlying themes of success what is it that has us reaching out into the world and taking risks is to be rich and famous or is it something more i am always looking for that one big idea that success sits upon and i have finally begun to understand life is not one or two words one or two people or one or two dollars and neither is success respect the world around you and all of the people in it perseverance above and beyond all odds trust in yourself and others who live a life of significance change the world if you but start with changing one life look to your left look to right the people that are sitting around you maybe someone you've known since kindergarten or that you met today whichever it be ask yourself one question and my somebody to the person next to me or my just another cap and gown don't let the trappings of life blend you in stand up stand out and make a positive impression on the person sitting next to you your family that loves you your community that is proud of you and the world that has been waiting for you i want all of you to be significant and that is what i hope for myself success will certainly follow all of you who choose to invest your time in the lives of your friends your families your employers and yourselves there is a book about you waiting to be written so turn the page and get started this is your life and they're your pages filled in with all of your hopes and your dreams we can change the world class of two thousand and five so what are we waiting for another door to be opened for us now from now on we are on our own and making a difference to us remember the people that helped you get here and use your time wisely because the past can only be remembered and the future only hope for all we ever have is right now that's why it's called our present the opportunity to become significant is our greatest gift as this chapter of our lives closes don't let the memories fade or the dreams be forgotten believe in the world around you but more importantly believe in yourself in the words of ralph waldo emerson make the most of yourself for that is all there is for you friends life is waiting for you good luck and farewell for now thank you i'm working out now i want to see it faces that i have known for a long time i've been close to the sun to others but i've come to know each to st face out there these are faces locked in various expressions some happy some sad some quietly contemplate if they start out with hundreds if not thousands of unique expressions yet underneath those i see one common thread in the depths of every chest here the heart beats with the burning desire of a dream every person here is striving for something to achieve something greater than what he or she is at present behind the masks of apprehension joy or even quiet indifference there is a common shining expression of hope that dream that hope is what has driven our journey to this point and it is what will push us forward into the next chapters of our lives i'll say now what we've been told our entire lives by those who travel this road before us the world is a harsh place i think every person in this audience understood that long ago everybody here knows that what we set out to do is often not what we accomplish but hopes are dashed in an instant and the weight of responsibility will often crush fragile aspirations the world is often set against us against the dreamer and the youthful idealist but i refuse to be a cynic he who can form says not change the world he who never dares to never laughs off impossible odds who never lets these dreams take flight does not baskin turn a glory who never dreams is never really human he who gives up on them turns his back on his own humanity dreams of the embodiment of hope and a hope is the most fundamentally human thing we can do to hope is indeed to be human it is the universal spirit at the men of all colors all creeds and all nationalities every young man or woman sitting here possesses this hope and therefore the ability to change the world it is the dream or the idealists who can summon up the vast powers of human intellect to make the world a better place it is the dreamer who has the courage to stand in the face that of all that is established and present a new idea it is the dreamer who proves the earth is not the center of the universe or that it is not flat the dreamer who  generations of segregation through boycotts incidence and the dreamer who brings an empire to its knees with a mere message of nonviolence the flame that burns in your chest has the power to alter the world in ways more profound than any man or woman for  it is the task we are given as we officially end our high school lives tonight it is to charge to remain true to who we are to not compromise our dreams and our ideals for petty games in the world we go forth to a place that is harsh and  but the result that has carried each and every one of you through high school can also give you the strength to accomplish the seemingly impossible so i say to you as we go forth tonight don't forget your dreams to the rest of the world they may seem pointless or unach but the naysayers are not those who move us forward the dream is the best of progress but it is also what makes life worth living it's the better tomorrow for which each of us lives it comforts us in our times of need and exalts us the planes we have never imagined but it also moves humanity forward carry with you your dreams tonight and retaining your heart that eternal flame the dreamer the lover the poet the philosopher call him what you will ridicule him but always remember that he changes the world our time spent here is comprised of three things the past the present and the past is a journey we have just completed well the future something we can only hope for and the present is something we should never take for granted so let us first look to our pass when i look back in my four years of peter's township high school i realized that the years have come and gone so quickly and now on the eve of the rest of our lives we look back on those times in the hopes that by evaluating and reviewing our past we can excel in the future the future holds all of our hopes and dreams and it is in realizing those dreams that we look inside ourselves and recognize that who we are today is based on where we can from in our own past our pasts are made up of many chapters of our lives and many of our chapters concern our own education here we have worked so hard to be where we are today and that is something we all can be proud of our country our society is based on the belief that everything is available to those who work for what they want those who have come before us  the history of this world has been shaped by the struggle of man we are here today because those before us fought so hard to attain what they believed in slavery was broken by the joint efforts of many dedicated people who knew what they were doing was right racism was broken by those who dared to question the majority and we can now look back on our own paths our own memories and draw from that in the guidance we need to have a successful future we all partake in this self actualizing experience and we must realize that our pasts our days here a material from which we will draw guidance from for the rest of our lives the past is the only certain thing in our lives right now as our futures have yet to be written so let us look to the futures and write our own story we all have our idealistic images of what we think we should be but we need to understand that the only thing holding us back is our own resolve by realizing what each and every one of us could be we have the power to change the world the audience sitting here today is comprised of this world's future leaders among us today are doctors and nurses carpenters and electricians mechanics and farmers and lawyers and politicians but it is this amazing diversity that has made us so unique we are a masterpiece of contrasts comprised of different backgrounds and upbringings and we all call home by different names but when i look out at all of you  now sitting before me i don't see individuals i only see one thing a unified group of amazing people who will change the world among us are athletes that spans artisans and musicians but together we are the class of two thousand and five we are the future in the words of carl sandburg idealist i don't know where i'm going but i'm on my way class of two thousand and five our futures are unknown but what we do know is that today they begin in earnest we are all on our way to the greatest challenges of our lives so i challenge each and every one of you to write your own future choose your own destiny if i could leave you with only one message today as we embark on the rest of our lives it would be this even though we may be consumed with the shock struggles of our everyday lives we can never forget to enjoy the time we have on this earth in the long run our time here is fleeting so many people look back on their use and wish that they had done more or seen more we can have never gretz as we continue our lives and that means that we must enjoy life every day to give meaning to our lives  must live them don't be so concerned with what has happened or what will happen that you forget what is happening don't miss the little things that we so often take for granted in our own busy lives we should never forget the past and all the memories we have made together and we should never forget our futures but it is the present that we live in it is our time it is our day in parting i want to leave you with the words of jack london he wrote i would rather be ashes and dust i would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant place than it should be stifled by dry rot i would rather be a superb meteor every atom of me in magnificent glow than a sleepy and permanent planet the proper function of man is to live not to exist i shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them i shall use my time use your time and burn brightly class of two thousand  how we remember the graduating class of two thousand and five first of all this class will be remembered as a group of scholars who have earned over three million dollars in scholarships and grants many of our seniors have been admitted to the most competitive of prestigious colleges and universities including carnegie mellon university mit the university of richmond n y u george washington university university of southern california and the university of chicago chicago just to name a few and we have three national merit finalists while nearly eighty five percent of our seniors are planning to enter four year colleges there are also many students who are planning to attend to your colleges or technical schools or move directly into the workforce we are proud of each and every one of you this group is also artistically talent to their performance has been marvelous at our comp our concerts plays and other productions throughout the school year recently students from the music department performed in an outstanding manner during their trip to disney world many are pursuing careers in the areas of music theater dance the visual arts and in media related fields and we are pleased that several individuals from this class will be pursuing the art of teaching this group is also athletically talent many of our teams led by seniors captured section championships participated in the b a b i am playoffs and state competition congratulations to our girls across team they also competed for the championship and for the third year in a row our baseball team is in the state finals and will be playing monday afternoon we also thank our band and your leaders and i'll say that again we thank our band and cheerleaders for adding so much excitement and color to all of our activities remarkable one character many members of the class of two thousand and five have certainly displayed character they demonstrate respect responsibility and honesty every day they have been involved in community activities and service our seniors have produce hundreds of programs with the assistance our local t v station five members of the senior class have become eagle skulls and as always we are proud that several of our seniors are planning a career in the most prestigious students have all completed the requirements set forth by the pennsylvania department of education and the peters township school district and are prepared to formally receive their diplomas the to the class of two thousand and five it turning graduates parents grandparents families and friends we welcome you we also want to thank the school district administrators teachers and the other staff members who are in attendance tonight for their dedication to the students this is abraham's family commitment this evening has provided me with this wonderful opportunity to congratulate you the class of two thousand and five and behalf of the peters township school directors it is with great pride in pleasure that i stand here this evening  a parent of a graduate and as a member of the board as a parent i'm thinking back to our early experiences here at the high school we first dropped some of you off when you were only five or six years old making your way to the kindergarten rooms that were housed at the high school for that one year we parents were so concerned what about those high school kids we wondered and of course it turned out fine as a board member because it is graduates like you that make adults like us feel optimistic about the future it makes us happy to know that you are all striking out on an exciting path and no matter how convoluted that path may become eventually your call your goals can and will be realized we are also happy to know that some of you one day may be returning to peter's township to be a part of our community it might be that one of you will move back and end up buying the house next door to one of us or years down the road as some of us are adults or shuffling our walkers to a doctor's appointment we may look up to see your names on the door  office you could even be back here p t a h s as a teacher instructing our wonderful grandchildren or even serving on this board but even if your past doesn't return you to peter's township you could still have an impact on this community for example there could be a day when we're getting a prescription for a drug that one of you researched and developed or traveling on a new type of jet that one of you future engineers helped to design as you see all your paths have the capacity to impact the future you the class of two thousand five in the past that you take are the reason why it is so important for this school district along with the community to invest time energy and resources into the use of this township the future for all of us is sitting right here in front of us tonight so in closing on behalf of the board our sincere wish for you is good health great joy much love few tears and remarkable success marie are nida chelsea marie ashley andrea camille that hanna rachel shana christine bradbury lisa nicole alexandra christine chapman lindsay and clarke sarah and clements caitlin joy connors