Page 398 - BCC172

Graduation Speech
Good morning distinguished guests, administrative board, teachers, parents, and of
course, my fellow students. I thank you all for being here today. With the formalities
out of the way. . . Howdy, folks! and Congratulations, all of you! You’re finally done
with school! Boy, these past 12 years. . . it’s been a pleasure.

You know, throughout all these years, despite how much I’m sure many of you liked
to joke around about not wanting to study or go to class or do homework, when you
really think about it, BCC’s really given us the chance to see each other, work with
each other, and—most importantly—test each other’s patience in ways that a lot of
others from other schools may never get the chance to do. Think back to all those
days spent setting up booths for Academic Day and the Scholar Market, or the night
leading up to the Jaturamitr Football Tournament, or all the months of effort and
preparation and blood, sweat, and tears that went into making 172’s school anniver-
sary fair come to life.

Now, I’m sure many of us may sometimes feel like we maybe haven’t done all that
much for this school, and when you stop to think about it, of course we feel that
way sometimes—I mean, at all of these events, there are always at least a few reg-
ular prominent faces—people who somehow seem to always be involved with every
single event and somehow seem to always be giving it their all. I swear, every time
there is a school event—be it Jaturamitr, Academic Day, Scholar Market, the School with your friends, playing board games together in the library, or heck, just sitting
Anniversary, I always see Pleum there just doing stuff, helping out. And as I’m sure together for lunch at your usual spot; that’s your contribution to this school.
many of us saw, Kaka, leading up to the school anniversary, worked so hard that—on It doesn’t have to be anything big; it doesn’t even have to be anything tangible, but
the day—he got hospitalized for passing out from exhaustion. When so many of our it’s part of what we’ve contributed to this school. It’s as Maya Alngelou once said,
classmates are such, quite frankly, amazing people, it’s easy to sometimes feel like ‘People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never
we haven’t really done much. forget how you made them feel.’

But, y’know, throughout my 12 years here at this school, I’ve met people who I care So as we take this step into a new chapter of our lives, let us remember not just
deeply for, people who are special to me, people who I’d like to think feel the same those who are with us now, but also those who—for one reason or another—we may
way about me. Many of these guys have not done any more for the school than you have lost touch with. Those who have helped make our first few years here at this
or I have, so why is it that to not have mentioned them in this speech would feel wrong school. . . special. Let it be so that even as we step forward into the unknown that the
to me? That’s because it’s not just about the big things. Yes, the big things are great, memories we’ve created together here at BCC—no matter how small or distant—will
amazing, even, but at its core, our contribution to this school is the impact that we’ve never be forgotten.
had on others around us.
Thank you parents who have always given us their full support; thank you teachers
The big things are great because it impacted a lot of people, and the people who who have helped shape us into who we are today; thank you and congratulations to
did those big things are great, not just because of the big things that they did, but all of you—my fellow 172s. No matter what the future holds, I wish you all the best
because they’re the kind of people to give their all just to make an event special for of luck, and I pray that through all of the inevitable hardships that lie ahead, there
their friends. And that’s why you don’t have to have done all of those big things to is success and happiness waiting out there for all of us. It truly has been a long and
have done something for this school—all those Wednesdays going to see a movie wild ride here at BCC. Thank you all, really, for everything.