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‘We made it’ says Eckville valedictorian

Emily Moos addressed her classmates during the graduation ceremony on May 28
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Emily Moos, the valedictorian for the Eckville Junior Senior High School Class of 2021, poses on stage for a photo during the May 28 graduation ceremony in the school’s gym. (Photo Submitted)

Hello everyone, I’d like to introduce myself, I am Emily Moos and I am the Valedictorian of the Class of 2021. I’d like to start off by saying, we made it and I am so proud of all of us. The past couple years have definitely been different than what we were expecting. I’m glad to say that not even a global pandemic could stop us, through everything you all have shown resilience and perseverance and it has been rewarding watching you all work so hard to get here.

I am so happy that I have grown up alongside all of you lovely people. A class as close as ours is truly wonderful and to be the family we have become over the years is really special. I believe that each and every one of you will be able to accomplish great things, you have proven that you are able to adapt to change, which is added value for the future. I’d like to thank every one of you for challenging me academically, physically and socially, without you these traits wouldn’t have developed. You have helped shape me into the individual I am today and I am very thankful.

The individuals that are here with me today have chosen, “Learn from the past, excel in the future,” as our graduation quote and with that I would like to give you this to ponder.

We can look at our life throughout our years in school as chapters in a book. Our early years are the introduction, we meet the characters and start to see our plots develop. Then as we grow older and get to Grade Seven we hit our rising action which is our first big transition and we then start to face more conflict and dilemmas. Our junior high years lead into the crisis point which is the start of senior high where we must make major decisions. These decisions lead us to our current chapter which contains the climax which is our graduation. This is the culmination of events and choices and it is the highest point of our school career. Once graduation is over we begin the resolution of school and, enter into the world, for some this is college or university, for others it is straight into the workplace. Once we are done here we begin an encouraging new chapter in our lives where we will use what we have learned in our previous chapters to excel in our chapters that are yet to be written. And so I want to leave you with this:

You can’t skip chapters, that is not how life works. You have to read every line, meet every character. You won’t enjoy all of it. Some chapters will make you cry for weeks. You will read things you don’t want to read, and you will have moments when you don’t want the pages to end. But you have to keep going. Stories keep the world revolving. Live yours, and don’t miss out because tomorrow is never guaranteed. I wish you all the best in your future chapters.

Thank you.

-Submitted by Emily Moos