Port Chester H.S. Salutatorian: Let Us Learn To Embrace Life, Accept Our Responsibilities

is the Port Chester High School Salutatorian for the Class of 2012. Here is the text of her address from :

Good Evening parents, members of the faculty and staff, and most importantly my fellow classmates, the Class of 2012.

My classmates, and indeed my generation, use the term YOLO an awful lot. Yolo stands for “You Only Live Once” and for some it is a creed to live by. YOLO is a motto so overused and referred to when engaging in reckless or experimental behavior, that I wonder if we really understand what it is we are saying.

 It is with great honor and pride that I am speaking my thoughts after Ms. Lopez - our first Hispanic Board of Education President and before my friend and classmate who shares my same Latin American heritage. It is also an honor to come from such a culturally diverse village, which I believe is very important in developing the accepting mindset of students at Port Chester High School.

I’d like to also take a moment to describe my initial reactions at being notified that I was this year’s Salutatorian. Upon receiving the news from Dr. Combs, my usual poker face remained intact. Upon leaving the principal’s office and even days later, I had no idea what had just happened. Before I knew it, I was dressed up eating at a fancy dinner in our honor with Aimee looking around in awe wondering which fork to use and how to devour the piece of chicken in front of us without looking like total savages. Even with my face plastered on newspapers, recognition has never really been “my cup of tea.” But over the last few weeks the news has sunk in along with the reality of what we have been through and what we are now facing.

Without a doubt, high school has been one of the most interesting, insightful, and at times just plain chaotic learning experiences of our lives, but as we come to a closure I’ve realized for most, we are all a little bit afraid. Fear? I know you may be thinking, “I just finished high school, there is plenty for me to experience,” but yes, fear. This fear comes from the fact that in our minds although we may not vocalize these issues, we are growing up and most of us hate it. They tell us about the world out there but most of us ignore it and live in the moment rather than think about the future. No more will we be tracked down by our teachers to hand in homework assignments.  No more will we be yelled at to get to class on time or to sit down and pay attention.  And most importantly, amidst the morning chaos no more will we be yelled at by our parents to get up for school. Twelve years of being molded and influenced by our exceptional teachers and we are expected to go out and be successful. Yes, it is scary, and for this reason some of us let it get the best of us instead of accepting it with a warm welcome.

One should accept growing up as a fact, an inevitable part of life, although it may be sad to leave our childish ways behind, we must embark on a new with endless possibilities as to what our final destination will be. So you see, this ceremony is not only to celebrate the overcoming of tons of torturous homework assignments but a ceremony of the dropping of the YOLO - You Only Live Once - attitude. Besides the fact that we all comprehend the idea behind human beings only being alive once, we are ignoring the most important issue at hand: That we simply choose to hide from our responsibility kind of like the way we used to hide everything under our beds when asked to clean our rooms. It is not that YOLO says to let us ruin our lives tonight and possibly get into trouble, it is that YOLO says we are in denial of growing up and the responsibility we now will acquire as we come to the closure of our high school careers. Let us learn to embrace life, accept our responsibilities, and move forward. We do only live once.

Thank you to all of our parents, without your support this wouldn’t be possible. To my parents who although they constantly nag, I know they only want the best for me, thank you. Thank you to our wonderful teachers who deserve much more than what they are recognized for.  Thank you to our guidance counselors for being there to see the joy, the tears, and the overwhelming amounts of stress we experienced. And finally, thank you all for being here to support us today.