have come here today to support celebrate all that the young men and women assembled before us master the skills and knowledge that the community has determined to be necessary for success in the future the belmont high school diploma which they will receive today's a symbol of this mastery while the diploma they receive only bears the signatures of the school committee chair the superintendent of schools and the high school principal there are scores of individuals in our school system who have made it possible for these young people to complete the thirteen years of education i need to take the opportunity to recognize this tireless after of the faculty and staff of the entire belmont public schools and guiding our students to meet the standards for graduation today we have a group of our faculty here to help preside over the ceremony and celebrate your success i would like to personally thank you put your dedication and preparing these students for this moment thank you as the seniors neared their final days here at belmont high school i asked them to share some of their most memorable experiences many stories were of great friendships prong sporting events plays performances and first dates much of what you would expect from young adults and high school but some students shared all the stories their struggles rejections things idea of possibly not getting into the college or the university of choice paralyzed with fear on that first day of freshman year anxiety ridden moms on that first aid kindergarten and many other stories like this while listening to your experiences i came to realize them there was a folding masses between them the theme that was the theme that beings that you experience through your high school experience was about courage each and every one of you refer to courage in your theme courage was the up most important part and the thread that brought us all together recognizing this i'm going to share some of your lessons and thoughts that you have shared with me corage is not living with out of fear card has been scared to death and doing the right thing anyway every day living requires courage if life is to be fruitful and bring happiness face peer right in the eyes and say get the heck out of my way i've got things to do anyone can give is the easiest thing in the world to do but to hold it together with others think you might not be able to that's true courage take chances make mistakes that's how we grow sometimes you have to fail in order to practice being brave fear has two meanings forget everything enron or face everything and rise class of two thousand and fourteen these are your words and your lessons to all of us it is time to leave belmont high school and live with what you have learned it is time to rise to that level of courage and bravery you described to me and to give the world your best shot t on the challenges of each day and face them down with the strength bravery and the courage that you have displayed here at belmont high school class of two thousand and fourteen this is your time congratulations good afternoon everyone welcome dr kingston mr richards school committee members faculty family friends and of course the class of two thousand and fourteen congratulations everyone am proud to say that i am the thirty second member of my family across this stage today as about one high school graduate  thank many of them are in my scuse me many of them are in the audience today including my grandmother my grandfather my parents and my sister my family has roots that run very deep in this town because that is the kind of town that we live in when you came here this year where you started as a kindergartner who walked into a public school for the very first time almost thirteen years ago to have established your roots in belmont is not just some small town is a community a place to laugh a place to celebrate a place to be together in a place where everyone knows everyone i can remember back to when i came into high school as a freshman dr harvey said something that would stick with me he said these four years will fly by so we need to enjoy them while we can i brushed that off and thought yeah yeah whatever i'm only a freshman i'm not ready to move on yet and i don't have to be but now i have to be we all have to be because of this school and this town we all are we are ready to take the next step the students here have a lot in common we all set a personal record by driving to starbucks and back in less than a model we have all tried to confuse our teachers when the class actually ended just to get a few more minutes of free time and we have all happily turned in our senior theses after months of hard work and effort praying that the hours would pay off and they have more here these commonalities are just a few examples of the many ways we're connected to each other as we prepare to move on we were flecked on who we are today sitting among us right now we have athletes musicians artists poetry award winners country music singers and people who are up on tour countless hours of their time to help their communities soon these individuals will become our future teachers lawyers doctors  nurses electricians plumbers members of our armed forces and engineers i too i've run in the field sprint down the track danced on the stage and snored in the class i mean done my heart is in the classroom i know what it takes to get through four years of high school it takes thick skin hard work and countless sleepless hours with nothing but caffeine to keep us moving wherever you are going you always have a place and a home in this town no matter where the future takes you know that this school this community and your families have helped you to make you who you are today it is help teach you the tools that you will need so when things are tough and the world think back and know that you will be able to purse or beer or any challenge you may face take a moment take a second to capture this moment to remember those around you i would like to capture in a very special way congratulations everyone and do me a favor at yourself a super day of the class of two thousand and fourteen parents grandparents friends and relatives faculty members of the school committee and other special guests i am pleased to present the first of two school committee awards for outstanding achievement in scholarship the first award is presented to a senior who is an amazing student who possesses incredible drawing passion and vision she is a world class violinist whisper form italy germany russia her music is her replaceable soul mate and has brought out so many outstanding qualities such as the value of patience effort and self discipline a first prize winner the promoting italy international competitions for streams she is the recipient of the president's volunteer service award in reason to celebrate what has so quickly passed because of what lies ahead be a college gap year or career who we are we have become by  with pride love and joy are dedicated stellar teachers coaches and mentors and most of all our compassion peers and lifelong friends but now i ask you to think for a moment about the people you only glancingly saw in the hallways or the cafeteria while you were mainly focused on your friends or that exploding binder in your arms think for a moment about the people you probably know like me but have never really  to they are sitting with you now in this field in fact you may be one of them in somebodies mind's eye for four years i walked into this building after an invigorating bag right through raining sleet hail and sometimes snow i mean sun to my locker on the second floor for four years i wa now i don't being in the mood to talk in the mornings evidently he wasn't either he just kept transferring his books in silence so when i said good morning to him one morning i surprised us both he might have even jumped up but he definitely spoke to round to look at me that silent girl who passed by every day with only a seasonal clunk  and me but have never really spoken to them sometimes they do just go back implying i don't know still why are you raving at me and sometimes despite that they wave and smile back the guy at his locker said good morning and we still acknowledge each other with an occasional nod or smile i do know his name but spare him from potential embarrassment now because i felt heartworms then at the odd hour of seven thirty one am all around us there are people we don't really know who we take for granted and who take us for granted to always act in a certain way we shape each other perhaps silently or perhaps with sudden outbursts of friendly charm that encourage reciprocal outgoing spirit now whether or not we choose to burst out with friendliness as we bump into new people along our road to the future depends on ourselves it is up to us to reach out in the future to bring out the passion and the goodness in ourselves and the others of our global community let us keep close our dearest friends and family being there for them as they have been for us and remember easy good old high school days as we expand our horizons i wish the inquisitive an observant girl with a strong moral compass she is my as president of the national honor society and has been on the high honor roll each and every quarter over my school career she serves as the president president of the balaji she is recognized as an advanced placement scar and an enhanced placement is gone with distinction she has volunteered to trip freshman year at the wellington elementary school as an after care teacher and was recognized with the gold president's volunteer community service award she's a recipient of the harvard book award from the student advisor to the school committee which is treasure council she's a lab research training at harvard medical school brigham and women's a real division she secretary of working to help the homeless she's a violinist in the marquis school of music orchestra she  i was going to take a selfie to you but elementary school this translated into a compulsive need to color with the answer every question correctly and read the most challenging books possible in high school these became demands for stellar tennis strokes uncountable hours of community service and original senior thesis topic and even the meticulous use of my racers which is a whole other topic of discussion believe me and many of my peers and teachers know of this perfectionism very well as i frequently joke about m and need to achieve consequently when i began writing this speech i was flooded with simultaneous feelings of excitement and anxiety as the intrinsic need for perfection course there my body this term led to me spending several hours last weekend alternating between staring at a blank microsoft word document and watching you now at some point in this process i thought of something a tennis coach had once told me in middle school you have all been lied to your entire lives practice does not make perfect practice makes permanent and in that moment i realized i didn't actually need for the speech to be perfect i needed for it to be permanent needed to carry a message and a sentiment that people would remember and carry with them into the future as they embarked upon literally the journey of a lifetime we are all inherently speeches at a rudimentary level we are all akin to speeches in that our lives have a beginning middle and conclusion some speeches are funny are serious others and still others celebrate torrie but what exactly separates the speeches that are worth listening to and remembered and those that are quickly forgotten and set aside if we remember dr martin luther king jr's i have a dream speech and president john f kennedy address not only because these men were great orators but because their speeches were to do with permanence and the promise of a long lasting impact on society i believe that an individual like a good speech should strive to have style substance and a permanent impact these elements are impossible without hard work her serve your ends and practice now i am officially came into this speech intending to discuss the disadvantages of my perfectionism but i have come to realize that it is an essential component of who i am as an individual this perfectionism is what drives me to practice and perform to the best of my abilities  day this perfectionism is what drives me towards permanence as we walk out of the halls of don high school for the very last time i entreat you to think about what has about who you are and what has shaped your character over the past eighteen or so years now i encourage you to think about how these experiences will influence your desire and ability to be permanent what will you change and what will you retain as the economist john life speech or our days out of high school eventually ends i believe that we remain in control because we can choose what impact we make the world we cannot be the future until we make the conscious decision to become a part of the present today we are the class of two thousand and fourteen and tomorrow we will all begin a new chapter the world and our lives are constantly changing but i am justin jane benjamin job point christopher kelly julio mclean andrew moscow andrew preston danielle ram julie over here andrew strawberry indeed thompson well that's the moment we've all been waiting for closing remarks i would like to thank everyone for coming to share in the celebration with us i would also like to thank mr our story and miss lawrence haley miss margo three years and has done an outstanding job of bringing not only the school together but the community and together it wasn't for him our faculty staff and students would not have such a strong  i would like to present as the class of two