With graduation season in full swing, we’d like to take a minute to reflect on our students’ speeches from the past few weeks. Their testimonies shared on graduation day remind us why we do what we do! This week’s graduation speech comes from Simon Youth Judson Learning Academy at Rolling Oaks Mall 2018 graduate, Chloe Ramirez.
“Good evening everyone, and congratulations to my fellow graduates. My name is Chloe Ramirez. Tonight, I’m graduating high school. Tomorrow and the days that follow hold something new and different. The future is unfolding before us every day. So, where do you see yourself in the future?
In the future, you can imagine yourself being an astronaut, a doctor, a teacher or being anything you want to be. Picasso once said, “Everything you can imagine is real.”
What would you say if someone asked you, “What do you imagine for yourself in the future?” When you start to think of all the possibilities, don’t leave out the worst ones. You can imagine yourself being homeless, not being successful in life, or you can imagine yourself starting your own company, graduating college, having a family. If you can imagine yourself being homeless, you have to understand that that is a real possibility. So, what you have to do is work toward those better imaginations. Work toward you starting your own company, being the boss… anything you want to do, anywhere you want to be in ten years.
Life is a rollercoaster. There will be bumps in the road, twists and turns. Times that make you laugh and times that make you cry. Picture yourself being on a rollercoaster, going up and up, and halfway you start thinking, “What did I get myself into?” And then you reach the top, the scary part. That’s this day; the day our lives change forever. We all come from different backgrounds with our own trials and struggles, but we all came together here, today, to celebrate one of the most important days of our lives before we move into the future.
We could have been high school dropouts. We could have given up when things got rough, but we didn’t. We kept on going, we kept fighting, we kept pushing, and now we’re here. I am so proud of each and every one of you. I know you will all do great things in the future.
Now I ask you, where do you see yourself in ten years? Imagine great things, and great things will come.
We’re already one step closer to future success. Many thanks to the faculty, staff and administration of the Judson Learning Academy and the Simon Youth Foundation for your help and support while we earned our high school diplomas. This was my second home. You all have made a huge impact in my life, and I will never forget you.
To the class of 2018: remember, ‘everything you can imagine is real.’ Congratulations, we did it!”
