Jacob Ramaha

Mrs. Bermudez

ERWC

2 April 2022

Introduction

Good evening fellow graduates of 2022 I would like to be the first to congratulate you all

for completing a seemingly endless 4 years of high school. It was an honor to be among all of

you these past four years and it is really an amazing feeling to have grown from the timid and

naive freshman that we were into the confident and eager young adults that we are today. My

only regret is that I was rather reclusive during my time here with you all and I didn’t realize the

importance of participating in school spirit and creating relationships with my peers. My fear of

vulnerability suppressed my ability to have the experiences and form the friendships that I should

have. Regardless I feel blessed to have been able to share the Great Oak experience with all of

you because that is something that we will all share for the rest of our lives. I would also like to

thank our wonderful staff for providing us with the resources and support for us to all be

successful and ensuring that we have a memorable experience during our time at Great Oak. I

commend all of our teachers here for getting us all to where we need to be and being patient and

understanding with those of us who fell behind or needed extra support because of hard times.

Past

At the beginning of our High School careers we were all just children trying to navigate

our way through a foreign school and trying to establish ourselves as best as we could. I think we

all remember our first freshman rally led by the seniors and Mr. Skaggs and how excited it got us

for the experiences that awaited us. I remember looking up to the upperclassmen who seemed
like big adults compared to us and finding ways to follow in their footsteps because they seemed

to know what they were doing. We were introduced to new experiences and exciting events such

as red wave football games, pep rallies, and our highly anticipated first homecoming. In our

underclassmen years everything was new and exciting for us and some of us lost sight of our

academic performances as underclassmen due to the excitement of our new social lives. A lot of

us didn’t take the time to prepare early for the outside world because it felt so far away. I think

it's safe to say that during our first two years most of us were just trying to fit in and explore the

new opportunities that High School offered. These years were vital for us because it gave us

room to make mistakes that we could learn and grow from. It also allowed us to discover

newfound interests which would help mold us into the people we are today. When covid hit

during the last quarter of our sophomore year we all were excited because we thought it meant

that we would get an extra week of spring break. None of us could have anticipated the future of

quarantining and online schooling that we would have to endure. Being stuck in our houses and

not being able to socialize with people like we used to was frustrating and dreadful for the

majority of us and it felt like it would never end. It’s easy to look at that period of our lives in a

negative way but in all reality it may have been an important part of self discovery in our lives. It

gave us a period of time to breathe and separate ourselves from the pressures of society. Many

people used this opportunity to develop hobbies and discover new things about themselves that

were otherwise hidden to them. Many people came back to school from this period of time

positively unrecognizable either physically or mentally because they were given this time to

develop themselves into who they wanted to be. I think that's a wonderful thing and I am proud

and envious of each and every one of you who seized the opportunity to express your true selves.
 Present

Today we are seniors and we have the experience of the last four years to shape us into

the people that we are today. We are no longer the immature and naive children we once were. I

believe every single one of us has grown as individuals exponentially whether you notice it or

not it is something that is inevitable and is something for you all to be proud of. It is amazing to

see you all take initiative for your lives and push through these last four years. A lot of people

say that senior year is the easiest year of your highschool career. I don't necessarily agree with

this statement because after 3 years it's easy to get sick of all the effort that you put into school.

The end is so close anyways and you just want to get there. I think it’s safe to say that all of us

had a bad case of senioritis at one point in the year. It’s easy to give up and not care. The hard

part is pushing through this last year despite this feeling. All of us persevered through these

feelings of laziness and made it to the end which is an excellent accomplishment for us all. My

GPA during my freshman year was around a 2.6 and I didn’t take school very seriously because I

was obsessed with unimportant aspects of my life. Today I have around a 3.5 GPA and I

definitely don’t have the distractions in my mind that I used to and it seems ridiculous to me

what my priorities were at the time.

Future

I look at all of your faces today and I'm proud to be among you. I think that every single

one of you is unique and important in your own way and even if I don’t know you I am positive

you will all be the best version of yourselves. We are the future of this country and it’s up to us to

make sure that the generations after us have an amazing world. Everything is ours for the taking
and whatever we set our minds to we can have. Thank You all for your time and I am proud to

call myself a Great Oak Graduate of 2022.