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Sydney Schubert

Prof. Pettay

ENG 112

31 May 2022

Graduation Speech Class of 2022

High School. It’s supposed to be the four most important and formative years of your life. But

our high school experience was far from ordinary - we survived political turmoil and a pandemic.

While we missed out on many normal experiences, like football games and spirit weeks, there

were a few things that made our time at FC unique. Walking in on a Wednesday morning and

seeing the halls scattered with dead roaches, America the Beautiful on Mondays and the fight

song on Fridays, courtyard dance battles, and cookies on Fridays. Every week I remember

looking forward to my two freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, as I am sure many of you did

too. Navigating my first year of high school was a little bit easier knowing that I had a reward

waiting for me at the end of each week. The flimsy wax paper bags and melted chocolate

underneath my fingernails made any difficult week worth it, and put me in a good mood for the

weekend ahead of me. In college or whatever venture you pursue after high school, there

probably won’t be cookies on Fridays - but there will be tailgates and frat parties. Cookies will

turn into thirsty Thursdays, and early release at 11:40 turns into three hour lectures at 7:00 pm on

a Tuesday. For the hectic adventures college brings, we will no longer have our parents or our

FC peers to guide us through them, and we will only have ourselves and the lessons FC has

taught us. When you tell your roomates what our little beach school was like, they will probably

be shocked. And now it is your job to provide them with the wisdom going to such a school has

brought you. FC taught me that you never know what each day will bring. And that remains true
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outside of school. Every day is a new day with a new lesson to learn and grow from, even when

you don’t realize it. We will have new things thrown at us daily, and FC has taught us to roll

with the punches and just keep moving forward. Myself and many of you alike did not expect to

give a speech at the end of this year, especially because we are not Class presidents or SCA

officers. But we have learned that we must accept what is thrown at us and try our best to make

the most of the situation - whether that is a speech or getting removed from Prom. And life will

continue to be that way for however long we are alive for. We will all turn out much differently

than we expect to, but that is okay. Some of us will be stuck in 9-5 office jobs at our high school

reunion. Some of us will be professional athletes and beautiful trophy wives, and that is also

okay. There is space in the world for all of us. But I want you to take life one week at a time -

and find your own cookie to look forward to.