Page 9 - Priorities #10 1999-July

“...Your spirit is among us today. We are witnesses to your handiwork and the creative energy you have bestowed upon each senior who has graced this campus. They are full of life, and overflowing with potential.
We ask for your light upon their paths as they depart in new directions today...”
from the Invocation by Lydia Maier Campus Minister
Salutatorian
Carl Antony Spanoghe
“I’m not supposed to be here right now. Just over four years ago, all my belongings were in a container waiting to be shipped from Japan, where I lived, to Singapore, where I was to spend the next four years of my life...Then, my dad’s company changed its mind and my family was going to a new, distant and strange land called California...I was rather annoyed.
What would life have been like (if I had gone to Singapore)? I would not trade any of my friends or experiences here to go back and find out.
The message of this speech, I guess, is that wherever you end up in life-whatever strange turn Fortuna’swheelmaytakeforyou-don’tworry. You will have friends, experiences, memories that you have never even dreamed about. ..I’ve learned that I am supposed to be here.”
Valedictorian
Michael Kyle Mastman
“It was scary how completely I could lose myself in work. Once in a while I would put my head down and plow into a pile of projects, not realizing until it let up that an entire month had passed.
I promised myself to start living in the present... On our senior retreat, when every senior took turns telling what their goals were for the year, I told everyone, “I don’t want to leave the Priory with any regrets. I want to leave knowing I’ve talked to as many people, and done as many things as I can.” I don’t regret the amount of energy I put into my studies. (But) I found some balance.
An old friend gave me the words I try to live by today. Carpe diem. (Take the day.) Actually, he told me when I got to high school, but I needed a few extra years before I could put the advice to use.”
Carl Spanoghe, Salutatorian, will study sound engineering at Loyola Marymount in the fall. His sister, Chrissy, is a freshman at the Priory.
Mike Mastman, valedictorian, would like to study everything but probably will focus on pre-med at Oberlin College.
Read the full text of the graduation speeches on the school web site,
http://www.woodsidepriory.com
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