Graduation Speech

Good Evening everyone, for those who don’t know me, my name is Isar Saxena and I am proud to be part of the Golf Middle School graduating class of 2018. I am so excited to see my peers and their families on this great occasion. To start, I want to thank our wonderful teachers for not only educating us, but also providing us with lifelong lessons, such as discipline, integrity, diligence, and tenacity, while constantly challenging us to learn. I would also like to thank our parents for their endless support and guidance. Least importantly, I would like to thank our siblings for their somewhat questionable, occasional, and inconsistent support. Finally, congratulations to the Class of 2018. I am glad and surprised- actually shocked- that we all made it here. It may be said that the great Michael Jordan described my experience at District 67 with these three simple sentences “Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game.” The essence of this quote is YOLO so enjoy it. For the parents out there, especially my dad, YOLO means you only live once.

I want to take you through my most memorable school experiences. I moved to the district in first grade and I remember whenever there were donuts, Aleshba and I would have a contest to see who could finish their donut first. Now I can’t remember who won, but I sure do remember these contests. Eating donuts may sound simple or stupid- if you are counting your calories- but it taught me to always be competitive. I was happy to move here because I met three friends I knew from preschool. Shoutout to Dane, Alec, and Luke for helping to make my transition to Hynes seamless. They helped me understand the importance of friendship. Next, in second grade, I recall when I took my iPod to school and got in trouble for having it. My parents got a phone call later that day saying that I had brought a cell phone to school. They could not understand where I got a cell phone from, because, they never gave me a cell phone! The next day, when the teacher sent the iPod home with me, my parents were pretty disappointed and all kids out there, especially my fellow Indian scholars, know when their parents saying “I am not mad I am just disappointed” is so much worse than them being simply mad. It basically amounts to an Indian kid spanking. The lesson here is that it is always best to lay low, and not attract too much attention. Another memory I have is going to Ms. Gould for math and playing games on www.coolmath-games.com. For those who want to try it now or later at home, there is a hyphen between “coolmath” and “games.” While we did this, everyone else had to do actual math. This was back when math was fun and not stressful (excuse me for just one-second cough-proficiency test-cough). The lesson here, learning can be fun. I also remember working on a community service project with my cub scout den- building a Lost and Found for Golf. That same Lost and Found is still standing out in the lobby, living strong. I hope to see it when I come back to visit the school. That is if I am allowed to come back and visit after I deliver this speech. This lesson is about helping and giving. Give whatever you can, whenever you can. Civic duty and responsibility will let you sleep easier at night and will make you a better person. Camp MacLean was a little bit scary for me in seventh grade. I couldn’t sleep because I thought there was a bear outside our cabin. I later found out it was only Mister Gilman in a deep sleep. Simple lesson-ask questions and always investigate. It is amazing what you can learn by being inquisitive.

Once my boy Drake said, “Sometimes it's the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination.” Our journey was a wonderful learning experience and it started with great roots, thanks to the parents and teachers. I am confident that we will all succeed in getting to our ultimate destinations. The path ahead will be a long and rocky one. All of us will indeed become something: Doctors, Lawyers, Teachers, Accountants, Politicians, Criminals, Actors, Musicians, Businessmen, or even Lil’ Tay.

Success will only come with hard work. Our teachers have started us on this long journey. Our parents will continue to guide and motivate us. Our families- even our siblings- have and will continue to be our greatest cheerleaders. But when the sun sets, it is up to each of us. We must struggle to meet our end goal. Yes, we will fall. But we will rise. We will struggle. But we will succeed. I am so excited to see where this road shall take us, passing the various roadblocks and landmarks. I want to end off with a quote from Winston Churchill: “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”  I wish all of my classmates the best of luck. Thank you, parents, teachers, and administrators. And Congratulations once again to the class of 2018.