Hello friends, family, students and staff- and Alexis. We’re here today to celebrate the transition from middle schoolers to high schoolers for the class of 2018, and the memories we’ve built with our own words and actions these past years. We went from fifth grade, running around the hallways excitedly at a new school, to sixth grade learning Greek and Latin roots, to seventh where we discovered, “wow, shoes don't belong in the ceiling!” to eighth grade where we grieved over Nathan switching classes, and listened to our classmates create elaborate, strange inside jokes. So if you hear anyone going around singing Big Time Rush or Hannah Montana songs, or calling each other Beefaroni stew it’s probably best if you don’t ask.  

These things aside, I’ve moved around the country my whole life, but when I arrived at Hynes for the first time in 3rd grade, my world upside down and suddenly in a brand new state in a brand new house, the classmates I know so well today welcomed me with open arms. Ever since then, these are the peers I’ve felt most connected to in my entire life, and I cannot imagine life without them… even the people I don’t get along with the best.

And although we’ll all be moving on, and I may never talk to some of these people again, these memories are ones I’ll be holding in my heart with me until I die... which is probably going to be soon because I’m told high school is a social nightmare. Middle school is a time nobody can really forget- for better or worse. (I mean really- we all wish we could forget that emo phase in 6th grade… you guys know who you are).

Now, we have a whole other four years to look forward to, full of potential memories. Life is full of surprises, and whether strange phases are a part of that future or not, I wish my fellow students, the class of 2018, good luck. Thank you.