Our Final Day
Good afternoon graduating class of 2012, parents, friends, family, staff, and others. I would like to start by saying we’ve made it. Personally, I’ve been waiting for this moment for 720 long days. But those days have flown past me so fast I wish I could have them back. I know we have all worked hard to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves so far in life and for that I say congratulations.
I remember my first day in kindergarten and not wanting to let go of my parents’ hands. Then, I remember my fifth grade graduation and being so excited to start my journey in middle school. Then comes all the drama I’m sure we all endured during our middle school years. After that, we became freshmen. I can very clearly remember walking into Croatan looking around at everyone on my first day and being so scared. I walked past many people I assumed were seniors and thought to myself, “My senior year is NEVER going to come!” Now I am standing here among the same people I’ve been in school with since elementary school and others I just met this year.
We have a path into our futures we are about to take today. Whether you go to college here in Carteret County, or you travel around the world to pursue your dreams, we are all still the Croatan High School graduating class of 2012. Our legacy will always live in the halls of Croatan. Our picnics and writing scores will live longer than our stay here. We’ve challenged all odds and proved that we are the gold in gold and black. Between our overall averages and our EOC test scores, we are the elite of Croatan.
Many will try to out-do us, but I don’t think any class ever will. The rest of our lives start right now. As I look out into the crowd I see many faces I’ve seen every day, but we will all go our separate ways and we won’t see each other. We are no longer high school students; we are adults. We have grown into amazing young men and women that will make it far into today’s world.
If, in life, we lose contact with one another, we will always have one thing in common: we are the Croatan High School graduates of 2012. We are the golden legacy. We are Cougars and we will always be. I would like to say thank you to the parents, family, friends, and staff members for helping us all achieve our dreams and pushing us to do our best. We couldn’t have done it without you all. Lastly, I would like to say thank you to all of my colleagues for making the past four years of my life ones that I will never forget.
The memories from my high school years will live in my heart forever. Congratulations to all of us, the graduating class of 2012. Thank you.
