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Page 32 text:
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Parents, Guests, Faculty and Fellow Graduates: Twenty-five years ago this month my grandfather gave the baccalaureate address at my mother's high school graduation. My grandfather's subject that afternoon was High On A Hilltop. The subtitle was Beyond Security-Adventure. Many of his thoughts are as relevant today as they were those years ago. I would like to share some of his thoughts with you this afternoon. There is one thing we will do well to bear in mind in facing this proud day we share together. We must do our thinking High on a Hilltop. We must try to steer clear of security in our thinking. We must set our goals on adventure. The curse of this age is conformity. We are trying desperately to land everybody at the top and regiment them into mass excellence. We are trying to interpret leadership as something everyone is to share. This mass movement, friends, is contrary to nature's plan and purpose. There will not always be room for all of us High on the Hilltop. Time has a way of weeding out those addicted to mediocrity. Twenty-five years from now, some of us, thanks to the foundations laid here at White Pigeon, will make the top. Some of us may be quite content to be listed among the average. Others will take hold and master the truths which make for attainment. What is it that will elevate us to a position where leadership has its way? Circumstances today call for security and this word is dinned into our hearts daily. The trouble is, one's assurances deteriorate when the economy takes a tail-spin. Note the hysteria of this hour as we look out over America There is tough sledding ahead for us all. Conformity-uniformity-mass exhibitions of totalitarian redemption must be put out of favor-at least for the time being. We might hope to put it out of favor for good. There may not be a place for rugged individualism, but we are in dire need as a country for those who have the initiative and the fortitude to face life in all its areas and to master it. In other words, fellow graduates, we have to get in there and start pitching. We must show some of that hustle our forbearers seem to have possessed. We must stop the whining and start the winning. Cast aside the idea that if we fail to qualify in our fields that some welfare or government program will take over our salvation and lead us High on the Hilltop. The standard brand of yesterday's ease and comfort must now make way for our personal initiative and personal agressiveness. The old escalator that transported people High on the Hilltop has broken down. We, in this day and age, are going to have to reach the summit on foot. And, if we reach it, we will be more of a man or a woman for having done so. I call upon each one of you, my fellow graduates, to listen to the call of adventure; to be brave when bravery alone can save the day. Let us set our hopes and dreams 'High upon the Hilltop.' Let us rise up out of the mediocrity, forget the average idolatry and dedicate our hearts and souls to the task of climbing. No matter what our calling, let us give it a hustle! This is a wholesome state of mind and it brings leadership. Integration in dealing with success still pivots on the glory of the parts. We cannot change human nature by edict, or by law, or by handouts. Character, said Christ, is a personal assignment. Our country and age needs us as young people to go in and pitch for what is right. Tomorrow, fellow graduates, is the first day of the rest of our lives. It is also the day we start making our dreams come true. Let us make it an adventure. Let us be willing to soar. We have the potential to be the nucleus of tomorrow's leadership. Thank you Mom and Dad. Thank you other parents, friends, and faculty for giving us our headstart on the hilltop climb. Our adventure in leadership has begun with your solid foundation. To my fellow graduates, it is my hope that we will all crest High on the Hilltop in whatever field of work we choose and that we will see life as an adventure. To my grandfather, a special thank you for the visions and challenges offered by you those years ago. We, the class of 1983, accept your challenge for the coming adventure of out lives. Julia Deller O'Sullivan Valedictorian As graduates on this day, we stand suspended in a moment of transition. We are like individuals standing on the middle step of a flight of stairs with our past high school education below us and our futures as adults above us. As we stand on this middle step, we look down at our past in high school, at each step below us that has aided us on our way to this first plateau; friends gained and lost, obstacles and failures overcome. As we remember, a deluge 28
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of emotions overwhelms us. We feel sad because today we leave these times behind us; the good and bad together, yet we know in our hearts we wouldn't change any of it for the world. As our thoughts continue, we become happy because we realize that this education we have received would not have been possible if it weren't for the support our parents, community, and high school staff have given us. The amount of love and concern on their part is truly appreciated, so I extend a hearty Thank you! to all of you here today on behalf of all the graduates. As our thoughts stray to our future, our gaze turns away from the steps below us to the steps rising above us. After today, each one of us will begin a journey up our own unique flight of stairs. Although our friendships may linger, the life we will now begin will be our own. We have dreamed our dreams together; now we must make them come true alone. A new sense of individuality pervades our consciousness, and once again the emotions come flooding in. All at once we feel both joy and fear. We are so overjoyed to know we have made this outstanding accomplishment and that we are going to begin a life of our own. We are happy to finally become adults out of high school. Yet, with this joy comes fear. We fear the uncertain future, the hidden stairsteps waiting to trip us up, and the responsibilities involved with adulthood. These apprehensions, however, will soon be overcome and eventually we will shoulder our own responsibilities to begin our way up the flight of stairs before us by ourselves, without parents and teachers to rely on for help. This, in itself, is the ultimate goal. Becoming a responsible, self-relying individual is a goal all of us can reach, and I know all of you will join me when I give sincere best wishes to my fellow classmates as they pursue their dreams along. Kimberlee Kae Spears Salutatorian Today is the day we have anticipated for thirteen years. We are now being recognized and rewarded for our countless hours of work as students. For many of us, this is a day of great happiness; many may feel that we are finally being set free-free, now, to pat ourselves on the back after each success, and of course, free to fail Some may feel a sense of loss, as I do. We will leave here today, as the underclassmen will next week, but we will not return again in the Fall. Never again will we enter this school in September as students-we have participated in our last seasons of sports, gone through our last Spirit Week; we have seen each other decked out in tuxes and formats for our last Prom, and tarred our last cannon. We must say good-bye to this part of our lives today, and look toward our tomorrows. Some of us will stay in touch, others we will hear about through the grapevine, and some will become only a fond memory. We will remember all our countless friends and the things we did together, and we will carry with us throughout our lives all our memories of our years spent growing up here. The little hurts we have experienced, the triumphs we a-chieved together, the things we thought we got away with but spent hour in detention for-these were important parts of our growing up and becoming the people who sit here today, ready to go out and conquer the challenges facing us. After today, we will part and go our separate ways, where new faces will take the place of old. The emptiness we feel leaving our close friends will be filled by our new acquaintances. In a way, I guess what I am doing here now is telling my classmates good-bye and good luck in their lives; more importantly, I would like to congratulate them. Even though some teachers tried their hardest to keep us around another year, piling term papers, book reports, critiques and exam after exam on us, we are finally through. Cone are the days of staying up all night typing a paper the night before it was due and cramming for tests over a pizza. . . We did it. Class! To you, the graduating Class of 1983, I would like to extend my congratulations, not merely for graduating but for succeeding. You have attempted and succeeded at the first real challenge of your life. It is easy to drop-out, to be a non-achiever, but none of us did that. You, the 110th graduating class of White Pigeon High School, have achieved something very important and valuable. Today, each of you will receive your diplomas, a piece of paper of which you should be very proud. We face our greatest challenge now-what can we make of our future? We are offered the opportunity of a lifetime-we can be whatever we want. The old cliche: You can be whatever you want, if you try is really appropriate. With trying, though, comes failure. There is nothing to be ashamed of in failing-we learn from our mistakes. Most of us have probably failed a test or two throughout our high school years, but we did not quit school. A few of us are even able to laugh about it and accept it, willing to give the next one a better shot. This attitude should be carried with you during your entire life. A person who fails, accepts the failure and tries again is a person who will succeed. You have the 29
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