Christopher CronkiteValedictory Speech Fellow classmates, fellow graduates, fellow friends. Well, here we are.

You are all sitting up here on the stage, and I am standing efore you, and as !ric so wisely put it, that means this is a special moment. We are in the midst of graduating, cele rating our years of learning and fellowship and looking ahead to our awaiting future, and now only "enna#"o and I stand in your way. $ut as I said, this is a special moment, a time to sum up our years together in memories and accomplishments, inspiration and challenges. %pparently the challenge is ours, for after crumpling up the fifth attempt at this speech, I decided to ask myself, what makes a good speech good& %fter se'eral minutes of researchyou know, staring at a lank page for fi'e minutes, waiting for some 'oice to tell you something, like what The Man Who Was Thursday was really a outI came up with three ad(ecti'es that descri e a good speech) dri'en, inno'ati'e, and memora le. *hen again, the tele'ision was on, and I could 'ery well e descri ing a +onda ,which would e-plain the .dri'en/0. $ut the more I thought a out it, the more I reali1ed that our class is 'ery much like a good speech) *his class has een dri'en, 2uite inno'ati'e, and e-ceptionally memora le. %nd since we3'e had so much practice this year with word studies in the 4ew *estament Sur'ey class, I3ll treat this as one. 5ri'en) From the 6ermanic dribanan meaning to push from ehind. *o e dri'en is to e direct with an end and purpose in mind. It is to e compelled, to ha'e the urge, the desire, to succeed and complete. We as a class were dri'en to find a cause, to create an idea, to see something needed to e done, and carry it through to completion. *here ha'e een hardships and trials, (oys and triumphs, and as many seasons as !cclesiastes 7 mentions. Yet our dri'e, our passion for life and each other has rought us to this conclusion, this end. Inno'ati'e) From the 8atin inovare meaning to make new. *o e inno'ati'e is to e the cutting edge, to in'ent and egin to apply, the opposite of our ninth grade papers) 9emem er *8:, .For e-ample, in addition, furthermore/& We as a class ha'e een inno'ati'e in that we ha'e ne'er let anything stay the same way it has always een if it could e impro'ed, adding our own personal touches to make our high school e-perience our own. *his .mindset/ has led us to do more, to e more, to lea'e more ehind than any other class. $ecause we were inno'ati'e, we ha'e made our class our own. ;emora le) From the 8atin memorabilis meaning worth mentioning. *o e memora le is to e worth remem ering, to ha'e 2ualities that make something unforgetta le. We as a class ha'e een memora le in that I 'ery much dou t any of us will e'er forget the e-periences we ha'e shared here. We ha'e touched each others3 li'es, and we will look ack on our time together with warmth and smiles. *his class has een memora le ecause it will ne'er e forgotten. <erhaps if I gi'e you some e-amples, you will understand (ust how dri'en, how inno'ati'e, how memora le we are) We ha'e o'erseen +omecoming mo'ed to the +yatt and argua ly won the +omecoming competition as "uniors. Some among us ha'e een the first e'er to achie'e the impossi le) correct ;8% formatting in ;rs. 9aynor3s !nglish class. We ha'e seen => sports teams to State and cheered them on all the way. We ha'e made enough shirts to start our own clothing line. We ha'e picked a color that has taken us away from the norm and led to some 'ery

awkward moments ,"") %2ua&0 We e'en ha'e a class song. % out dynamite. %nd how a out our cheer& !'eryone, put your fingers up and Woo loo loo loo? 8et3s face it, we3re pure fire. *his is our class, our dri'en, inno'ati'e, memora le class. %nd while your mind still lingers on the memories, and faint smiles still linger on your lips, let me share with you the words of Fyodor 5ostoe'sky from his The Brothers Karamazov. .We shall soon part, ut let us make a compact here, that whate'er happens to us later in life, if we do not meet for @A years afterwards, let us remem er how good it was once here, when we were all together, united y a good and kind feeling which made us etter perhaps than we are. You are all dear to me, and I ha'e a place in my heart for you, and I eg you to keep a place in your hearts for me. *here is nothing higher and stronger and more good for life in the future than some good memory of childhood, of home. <eople talk to you a great deal a out education, ut some good, sacred memory is perhaps the est education. If a man carries many such memories with him into life, he is safe to the end of his days, and if one has only one good memory left in one3s heart, e'en that may sometime e the means of sa'ing us./ So let your memory e this class. 8et your memory e the candle#lighting and Senior worship time at 9etreat. 8et your memory e the laughter sparked y .+ey "uliet/. 8et your memory e simply the familiar halls and classrooms of the school. 8et your memory y ;atthew 9ickman attempting to say the pledge and prayer e'ery morning. 8et your memory e the class of @A==.