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06/25/2020 12:01 AMToday we gather under unusual circumstances to celebrate Westbrook High School’s class of 2020. So sit back, relax, and make sure your wifi connections are strong.
As your valedictorian, I am honored to tell of our class’s high school journey. From the very first day, we learned to face adversity. You see, in order to reach the freshman hallway we first needed to make it past the seniors. It was almost impossible to avoid tripping over their sprawling legs and haphazardly thrown backpacks. Those first few steps were some of the most intimidating as we gazed through a tunnel of giants yelling “fresh meat!” In the days following, threats of “freshmen Friday” filled the school. Our attempt at hallway decorating did not help to ease these tensions.
Sophomore year was one of disillusionment, and unfortunately with this came some “broken dreams.”
Before we knew it, we reached junior year. It felt as though the second we became acclimated to high school, the time was upon us to prepare for our departure from it. Standardized testing hit us like the “carrying school children” car and our futures seemed as foggy as our hallway during that year’s field night. The alarms going off were not just in our heads. Some of us even got lost along the way, but I speak from personal experience when I tell you that even if you’re walking in circles around Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Company not realizing your school group has already left, you will be found.
Our class’s efforts began to come to fruition as we embarked on the final leg of our high school journey, senior year. After three years of coming in fourth place in hallway decorating, during our last field day, our grade came together as one to earn first place in both the hallway decorating and the entire field day. We paved our own path together such as with our Hawaiian breakfast in front of the school. With our revived unity and enthusiasm, the end of our senior year should have been one full of excitement and joy. However, the world had other plans. Covid 19 broke out, bringing an untimely end to what was supposed to be the time of our lives. More recently, we were reminded of the evil, in the form of racism, still alive in this world that we were about to go out into.
Some would say our grade is cursed. Most of us were born in the wake of 9/11. Now we graduate in the midst of civil unrest and a global pandemic. We certainly know what it feels like to have adversity come at us like a rabid fox. However, I would point out that our grade has learned to look that rabid fox in the eyes and grab it by the throat. We hold strong values and fight for them. Our hallway decorating unity re-emerged as we all came together (virtually, at least) to ensure that Covid would not stop us from having a memorable graduation. While our 2020 vision may not have allowed us to foresee the adversity we would have to face, it was crystal clear to all of us that we would not let it hold us back.
So, as you enter into the next chapter of your lives, I hope you look back on how we have grown from fearful freshmen to hallway decorating champions and feel proud, and I hope you still laugh at all the inside jokes we hold together. I’m sure everyone is telling you that if you can get through virtual learning during a global pandemic you can get through anything. But recalling all of our triumphs as a class before the pandemic even hit should show you that we were already a class that could get through anything. Thank you.