Michael Starr's 2013 Salutatorian Address

I have had a few people ask me to put my speech up, so I here it is. It has been an honor graduating with the Avon High School Class of 2013, and I am excited for a great summer and the rest of our lives!

"Hello Class of 2013, Parents, teachers, and other various stragglers along

I am honored to be able to make my little speech at our graduation today, and I honestly cannot believe that this day has come. I remember my first day of high school, when it seemed like being a senior was an abstract idea, that we wouldn’t get there any time soon. Seniors were huge and intimidating, and I honestly couldn’t fathom that I would so quickly become one of them myself. But here we are.

I want to give special thanks to my amazing parents, and the rest of my family, who have always been there for me, no matter what as I worked to get here today. I also want to give a shout out to all of my great teachers, who have dealt with my shenanigans throughout my 12 years in Avon.  I don’t know how you do it, but without the great people who work their butts off teaching, cleaning, organizing and otherwise helping us students at the High School, there is no way that the rest of my classmates and I would have gotten where we are today.

It was a few weeks ago that I was informed by Dr. Sullivan that that time I got Matt Howard to hack PowerSchool and raise all of my grades for me had also accidentally made it necessary for me to speak in front of all of you. Of course I was happy, but I had no idea what I would talk about. In my pensive state I chilled at home, and decided to surf Netflix. Late into the night I came across a great film, one may call it a classic … Semi- Pro.

What, you never heard of it? For me, it brought back nostalgic memories of middle school, where the movie was a great hit back in 2008.

But the reason I’m bringing it up is not just because I thoroughly enjoyed Will Ferrell’s buffoonery, although I undoubtedly did, but because one line stuck in my head. Or rather, I should say one phrase.

E.L.E

If you don’t know, that stands for “Everybody Love Everybody”

As Mr. Jackie Moon says in the film, this is “a lifestyle”. It means that we should go out into the world with an open mind, with love for everything and everybody that’s out there. Yes, of course we will never truly get everybody loving everybody, but that’s not the point. What we should aim for is for our natural state to be positive. When you see a stranger in the street, assume the best and let them prove you wrong.

For example, when seniors block parking at the high school and force you to wait for an hour in traffic and drive at a crawl through a swarm of screaming, hormonal almost-graduates just to park awkwardly on the Field Hockey Field and ruin your nice shoes walking across soggy grass, all while being filmed by Andrew Jefferis…. Remember how cool it is that there is enough school spirit to have a senior prank and that yes, even YOU Mrs. LeFevre found it funny deep inside.

(But in all seriousness) I got to put this philosophy into practice last year, right around the time of the enormous snowstorm we had that October. I went up to Boston with a friend of mine for a week, and since we had nothing better to do, we walked around talking to anybody we bumped into. In the process, in that time when I let down the walls that we usually keep up around ourselves, I met an amazing  array of people. One was a street rapper, called Black Swan, who blew my mind with his insightful lyrics, and another was a self-titled “gangsta” that was sitting next to us in a Mcdonalds, and taught my friend and me a bunch of tips on urban life in the ‘hood’. I heard the stories of people whom I had previously walked right past on the street as they collected cans or asked for change on the corner. I marched with protesters and ate with random students. In that week, the world got  a lot less scary, and I realized that the people all around us are a lot more interesting and nice than we ever give them credit for.

As we move on after today, as graduates heading out into the big crazy world out there, I want to summon you all in a defense of optimism and faith in the people of the world. Approach everyone as a friend, and never be afraid to flash a smile to someone you barely know. Be happy, be nice, and enjoy life and all the myriad of people that you will encounter during it. That’s what I aim to do myself, and I hope you all can join me.

Congratulations class of 2013, and remember E.L.E… Everybody love everybody."