l to r: Anna Allderdice, Hestin Cook, Amiya Griffth, Samanath Sandlin, Glen Terry, School Board Chairman, Madison Jenkins, Class Advisor, Hailey Schwenke, Hunter Snapp, Savannah Jerrel, and Tavie Wortman.
Graduation started like all graduations. Those eight incredible seniors walked into the gym to music that always makes me cry. It had the usual slide show, and speeches by Tavie Wortman and Amiya Griffith. The guest speaker was Heather Wolery. She gave a great speech. Here is part of that speech:
"Be Brave enough to suck at something new! What a great quote, right? Remember that when you first try something you probably won't be great at it, but be brave enough to try it and give it some time and you just might surprise yourself with what you accomplish.
Be your own biggest motivator and cheer yourself on! The world can be a hard place and let me tell you it can be easy to give up and not try, so you have to work hard to motivate yourself and give it your all. And when things get hard, remember that your family and friends are right there cheering you on and being your biggest fans
Follow your dreams, don't be afraid to take that step and achieve your goals. You are more than capable and strong enough!
Go satisfy the whys, wheres, and hows, take the time to explore the world beyond the comforts of your home. That's a great piece of advice, go answer those questions you have and find out what the big bright world holds for you.
Know that you are loved by so many- Take a minute and look out at this crowd, do you see all those people today who showed up just for you?
Don't be afraid to turn the page and see what's next. Go out on the limb-that's where the fruit is. a
You have this thing called life all strung up and tuned, now you just need to learn to play it.
Don't settle- Don't settle to only go as far as someone thinks you should go, don't settle for comfortable and predictable. Reach for those stars!
Which leads me to my final thought, I promise. We took a field trip in third grade to the river and one of the most memorable lessons I learned that day was about the star inside the cottonwood tree. Let me tell you the Cheyenne legend of the Stars in the cottonwood trees.
All things come from Mother-earth.
Stars are no exception. They form secretly in the earth and then drift along just under the surface until they find the roots of the magical Cottonwood tree.
They enter the roots and slowly work their way up through the tree. Finally they come to rest in the small twigs at the end of the branches. Here they wait patiently until they are needed.
Then, when the "Spirit-of-the-Night-Sky" decides she needs more beautiful stars to light up the heavens, she calls on the Wind-Spirit to help her. The Spirit-of-the-Wind sends his blustery gusts in all directions. Soon the wind shakes the magical cottonwood trees so hard that the twigs begin to break off. Then, as each twig breaks away, the stars are released; and even more escape when the twigs break again as they hit the ground.
Now new stars race up into the night-sky where each one is carefully put into a special place. Now, when the Spirit-of-the-Night-Sky has enough new stars, she tells the Wind-Spirit to stop; and the wind settles down to a gentle night breeze. Of course, the Spirit-of-the-Night-Sky wants to thank the Wind-Spirit for his help so she asks all the new stars to twinkle brightly for him. This way the Wind-Spirit can see where all the new stars he helped escape have been placed.
You are the stars today, Go forth and Shine Bright"
