Teen Talk Reporter Emilie Gomez submits her last article as she bids farewell to San Pedro High School, leave the country on an international tour with the Belize Dance Company and then furthers her education abroad.
Emilie will travel to Europe this week as a member of the Belize Dance Company which will participate in an international folkloric dance festival in Europe in July and August 2012, the “Festival Du Sud”. After the summer tour Emilie has plans to further her education now that she is a recent graduate of San Pedro High School.
Ambergris Today asked Emilie to submit her Valedictory speech that she presented to her graduating class of 2012 and invited guest at the ceremony. She delivered a comprehensive and heart-touching speech which we would like to share with our readers. Congratulations to Emilie Gomez and we wish her the very best in her future endeavours.
Emilie Gomez’s Valedictorian Speech
We are gathered here today for what is one memorable night as we take a step forward in life to soar higher than imaginable. Hopefully for all of my colleagues here this will be merely a tiny speck in their milestone of future accomplishments. Four amazing years of hard work, idealistic fun and fond memories which we will carry in our hearts forever have made this day possible. Where to begin? As freshmen’s we came to SPHS with one mission- to conquer and drive right into success. As we reached sophomore level we were hit with reality as to figuring out that success wasn’t going to be as easy to get as previously assumed. So we fought some battles with others but mostly ourselves. By junior level we had already tasted a hint of glory as we were only months away from the goal. We grew strong and lived without fear, education always in thought. Now senior year came and we all relaxed. We did it and we knew, so the celebration phase started long before this week.
Looking back I can’t help but wonder what if? Why and who? To all the different scenarios I could have done differently or had a chance to change but the answer comes quickly always “ no other path would have made me, would have made us what we are today if only for the greater purpose to sacrifice our present and embrace what we wish to become in the future”.
Obviously during the process of writing this speech I became dumbfounded as to what exactly I should write. So I did the logic thing. I Googled it. I found out that the word Valedictorian was derived from the anglicized Latin ‘vale dicere’ which means to say farewell. So Farewell to the institution that helped mould us, farewell to the infinite friends who made this accomplishment that much more worth the struggle and investment of time. Our Second home we shall depart but take all the memories in our heart. As we grew in SPHS we learnt many wonderful things. Not only have we succeeded academically but we grew as individuals. We were taught to meet deadlines under pressure, sportsmanship among peers, how to restrain from negative influences, morals and views of right and wrong but we also learned other tricks; for example we lived by and learned that cheating was quite quite easy but of course we also learnt it came with consequences that no one wanted to answer to. We learned how to look like attentive students on a very lazy day, how to distract our lovely teachers so as to shorten subject periods. Obviously none of these I encourage but none the less have thought us how to be better and true to ourselves. We will certainly miss all the teachers that one way or another helped make an impact in our lives. We’ll miss Mr. Kelly’s jokes, Ms Arieli’s audible teaching voice, and Mr. Sedacy’s intimidating tests, “SupahCat” Mr Alex, My English Mama’s Mrs. Yannikie and Mrs. Giselle. Where math is the world we won’t forget Mrs. Iris. And our free internet access in IT classes with Mr. Santos. These are just a few of the whole staff in SPHS that will be remembered dearly.
To my peers, it has been a wonderful four years. I couldn’t have asked for a better family and I am deeply saddened that we should part ways but at the same time I am proud of all of you here because we made it and I wish all of you the very best. I encourage you to live on and see further and beyond educationally. Don’t limit yourselves or ever settle for less than what you deserve. Whether it be Sixth Form College or university; work hard, have fun and accomplish your dreams. I challenge you all to live a life with love, laughter and intelligence. Learn to all your capabilities and live open to be inspired and to inspire others. Be open to receive and give, know how to lose in order to cherish success. All of us here have the potential to be great in many forms and now is the time to prove it to others if not to ourselves who we really could be in the real world. Make the difference, live to last second you have left and don’t waste time in questioning your being.
It has been a pleasure sharing my life with all of you here. I hope we remain forever friends and I await to have future encounters and hear about new blessings and success. It was truly an honour to have addressed you all. With this I conclude. Thank you
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