Mr.

Degenaar, school board, faculty, friends, family, moms who are

already crying, and fellow graduates of the class of 2015, would the owner of
a white Toyota Camry please go to the main office, your alarms going off.
Here we are, at the moment weve all been working towards - our
graduation. Now, before I, an 18-year-old whose diet consists mostly of pizza
rolls and ramen noodles, tell you everything you need to know to have the
most happy, successful life you could possibly have from this point forward, I
must thank some people, on behalf of all of us students. From the teachers
who stay late to help students academically to the custodians who play 2-on2 basketball in the gymnasium after hours, Apple Valley High School is
bursting with caring and encouraging faculty. Teachers that shape our
thoughts and ideas. Organization leaders that give us the tools to express
ourselves creatively. Mr. Jenkins, who is THE coolest man alive. I mean
seriously, what other band directors would let me rock out on the cowbell at
Broadway? These people make Apple Valley High School a home for us all.
So now that I finally have my opportunity to single-handedly represent
the entire student body, I would like to thank everyone who has helped us
along the way by quoting a man whose name has been used in vain by every
calculus student ever, Sir Isaac Newton. If I have seen further it is by
standing on the shoulders of giants. Faculty, family, friends, thank you for
being the giants upon whose shoulders we, the class of 2015, have stood on
these past four years. You have shaped us into a passionate, empathetic
group of young people, and we are grateful. Thank you Netflix for making

procrastinating on our 150 note cards just so easy. Thank you city of Apple
Valley for having every fast food restaurant in America within walking
distance. Thank you most importantly though spell check. Yes without spell
check, my teachers would worry about my writing ability; they would know
that I accidentally spell chipotle as chipolte so frequently. They would
also wonder, why is he writing chipotle in an essay about The Bear?
They serve delicious food, okay? In all seriousness, that quote from Sir Isaac
Newton is one of my favorites because it wholeheartedly accredits the group
to whom I am speaking. However, I investigated into the context behind the
quotation, and my discovery shocked me.
The infamous Sir Isaac Newton, well, infamous to all students who hate
math--so all students, is regarded as one of the most intelligent people who
ever lived since he invented calculus by the age of 25. No pressure, guys! In
the late 17th century, Newton published his book Opticks. Robert Hooke,
english philosopher and notorious jerk to Newton, criticised his work. In
response, Newton wrote a letter to Hooke stating the famous quote: If I
have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. Often times
this quote is taken as a sign of Newtons humility, thanking those great
scientists who came before him; however, it is quite possible that Newton
took a swipe at Hooke stating both, Hooke is short, and that Newton used
only the works of great scientists, so, not Hooke, in developing his theories.
Now, that should not disqualify my earlier thank-you to the faculty of AVHS,
but there lies a lesson somewhere in all of this. Take everything with a grain

of salt. Be a sincere, empathetic person, but do not trust that everyone will
act the same towards you; not everyone is as kind as we are here.
And here we are, together one last time. Though, it is weird how on this
day, the last time all of us will be together, this is the first time some of you
are meeting me. As I look around, it comforts me to see all the familiar faces
in the crowd. But what makes this moment truly remarkable is connecting
with all the unfamiliar faces. Because whether you go on to a happy and
successful life, or a sad and dreary one, we are all connected. When asked
what the most astounding fact about the universe was, astrophysicist Neil
deGrasse Tyson responded: The most astounding fact, is the knowledge,
that the atoms that comprise life on earth; the atoms that make up the
human body, are traceable to the crucibles, that cooked light elements into
heavy elements in their core, under extreme temperatures and pressures.
These stars, the high mass ones among them, went unstable in their later
years. They collapsed and then exploded, scattering their enriched guts,
across the galaxy. Guts made of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and all the
fundamental ingredients of life itself. These ingredients become part of gas
clouds, that condense, collapse, form the next generation of solar systems,
stars with orbiting planets, and those planets now have ingredients for life
itself. So that when I look up at the night sky, and I know that yes, we are
part of this universe, we are in this universe, but perhaps more important
than both of those facts is that the universe is in us. When I reflect on that
fact, I look up--many people feel small, because theyre small and the

universe is big, but I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars.
There is a level of connectivity. Thats really what you want in life, you want
to feel connected, you want to feel relevant. You want to feel like youre a
participant in the goings on of activities and events around you. Thats
precisely what we are, just by being alive. Ladies and gentlemen, you have
purpose. Your life, all of our lives, whether determined by a deity or not, have
meaning. We can all shine. This moment, here at our graduation, is not an
ending. It is a beginning. It is up to us to be great. Some of us will. And some
of us wont. And thats okay. Because some of us will learn to promote
greatness in others and see that greatness is not defined as a single, esoteric
idea. It can be had in different ways by different people. So care for others,
support those who are helpless, and fight your battles. Maybe then, some of
us can be great.
Lastly, I would like to share a story that most of us are familiar with,
and, whether you are religious or not, you likely know the common meaning
of the story. Or at least, you think you know it. Im talking about the story of
David and Goliath: the story of a true underdog or is it? About 3,000 years
ago two armies, that of the Israelites and the Philistines, entered into a
deadlock. They were deadlocked because between them was a valley, and to
pursue the other army, they would be forced to go down one side of the
valley and back up the other, completely exposing themselves. So finally, to
break the deadlock, the Philistines sent their mightiest warrior down into the
valley floor, and he called out and he said to the Israelites, "Send your

mightiest warrior down, and we'll have this out, just the two of us." This was
a tradition known as single combat, a common method to settle disputes
without incurring the bloodshed of a major battle. The Philistine who was
sent out was this giant, mighty warrior. He was 69 and outfitted head to toe
in bronze armor with a spear, a sword, and a javelin. Naturally, none of the
Israelites wanted to go down and fight him. Why would they? It was a death
wish! Finally one young shepherd boy emerged and said, Ill fight him.
Nobody refuted his statement because the rest of the Israelites were
terrified. With nothing but his sling and some stones, the young boy
descended upon the valley to face his giant. As the shepherd drew closer
and closer, the giant saw that he was carrying a staff. That's all he carried.
Instead of a weapon, just this shepherd's staff, and he said -- he's insulted -"Am I a dog that you would come to me with sticks?" Then the shepherd boy
put one of his stones into his sling, whirled it around, and, finally letting it fly,
struck the giant right in between the eyes, knocking him down either dead or
unconscious. David, the young shepherd boy, ran down, grabbed the giants
sword and chopped his head off. So, the Israelites are victorious. And, of
course, the shepherd boy is David, and the giant is Goliath. But David is not
the underdog that this story claims him to be.
We begin by saying David entered the valley with only his sling and
five stones. But David was a shepherd boy, trained to defend his flock of
sheep with such a sling -- sling, not a slingshot like a childs toy. It is known
that shepherds were able to hit birds in flight with stones shot from their

slings. This is a devastating weapon that David is using. So when David lines
up to fire a stone at Goliath, he has every intention and expectation of hitting
him in between the eyes. So who is Goliath? Goliath is not who he seems to
be. Goliath is led to floor of the valley by an attendant, which is strange
because he is this giant warrior. Secondly, Goliaths movements are noted as
remarkably slow. And then there is this whole thing about his double vision:
when he says, Am I a dog that you would come to me with sticks? Sticks?
David only has one stick. So, there has been lots of medical speculation over
what is fundamentally wrong with Goliath. He stands heads and shoulders
above his peers, and usually when someone is that far out of the norm,
theres an explanation for it. The most common form of gigantism is a
condition called acromegaly. Throughout history, all of the most famous
giants had acromegaly: Andre the Giant, Robert Wadlow - the tallest man
ever, even Abraham Lincoln was speculated as having acromegaly. So it is
not strange for Goliath to have acted the way he did down in the valley,
displaying his symptoms. So the Israelites up on the mountain ridge looking
down on him thought he was this extraordinarily powerful foe. What they
didn't understand was that the very thing that was the source of his apparent
strength was also the source of his greatest weakness. And there lies a
lesson for us all. Giants are not as strong and powerful as we might like to
believe. And sometimes the shepherd boy has a sling in his pocket.
We are all powerful beyond measure. This fact may scare some of you,
but you cannot let it. Like David, we must face our fears with the knowledge

that they can be conquered. We must live with purpose, because just by
being alive, you matter; you are relevant. We must be kind and empathetic
to others with the knowledge they may not always act reciprocally. You have
the power to act. In this life, we have the ability to do extraordinary things,
we just have to choose to do them. So decide. Not now, but somewhere
down the line, decide that you can make a difference. You can change the
world. I hope you choose well.