GRADUATION
Kiran Saini SENIOR COMMENCEMENT SPEECH Good morning! The Class of 2020 would like to extend our
but in our thoughts, beliefs, and interests. Whether you
thanks to family, friends, teachers, staff, and administration.
have been a dragon for 14 years or two, you have made
Without your guidance and support, we would not be here
your individual mark on this community. From Robby’s
today. This moment is special for all of us, and we want
forum jokes to Maddy’s stellar defense on the lacrosse
you to know that we could not have done it without you.
field, we have been present on campus and beyond. We
Before the cross country championship race in my sophomore year, one of our former coaches, Coach Brian Dempsey, gave us some words of wisdom. He told us that our journey was a book, with each race being a different chapter. The ending was not set in stone, giving us the power to write our own ending. We had to embrace the run, and if we put in our all, we could accomplish anything. We had the power to write the ending we wanted; and he was right. About two hours later we were standing at the finish line with the conference championship trophy. For the class of 2020, our first book is coming to a close. This chapter, this year, was unpredictable. We thought the future was clear. 20/20 vision, right? There was nothing that could stop the last lacrosse buzzer, the final school bell, or our last band concert of high school. Or so we thought. But in these past months of uncertainty, we embraced the situation and wrote our way around it. We did not let a pandemic define our ending. From a virtual Cappies Gala to senior sport recognition videos, we made sure that this spring was still a celebration of our past four years. And soon, you’ll pick up the pen and begin to write your next book as we forge new paths in college. Your story is yours alone, and no one else can write it for you. On the subject of books, the GCS 2006 yearbook, which is the year we started Pre-Kindergarten, has a big question mark on the cover. It reads, “What is a dragon?” The truth is, there are thousands of answers, and 71 of them are sitting in front of you today. The basic definition of a “Dragon” is someone who exhibits kindness, character, and inclusiveness. However, that is merely the foundation— we all exhibit our own unique characteristics. The class of 2020 is so diverse, not only in our genetic makeup,
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SPIRIT OF THE DRAGON
have won Cappies, championships, and scholarships. Most importantly, we accomplished these together. No show was put on alone, and no game was won single-handedly. We all cringed as we wore the same, traffic cone orange shirts on class cup days and showed our school spirit together at basketball games. We always put on our game faces during Field Day and our classmates performing in the annual musical. And as we have grown over the past four years, we have become closer as a grade. A dragon learns to support his or her fellow dragons. I can proudly say that if I need help with something, I can ask anyone in our grade, and they would do whatever they could to support me. Dragons learn to be community-oriented and do not leave their peers behind. We care for the younger dragons and are willing to learn from the older ones. GCS has molded us to become selfless, caring people. We have learned how to support our community, during this quarantine, and on a global scale. Our school has prepared us to leave the nest and better the world. In times of ambiguity, I hope you remember that this nest is still your home. You can come back and ask for help, and your fellow dragons will jump in without hesitation. Seniors, today is the celebration of everything we have worked towards. After countless hours put towards your integrative projects and papers, studying for APs, and anxiously waiting for college decisions, you can finally say that you graduated. This year will go down in history books, but your high school story is so much more than that. We have the power to write our own future, and I hope you look forward to what you can and will do with it. Just remember that once a dragon, always a dragon. Congratulations to the class of 2020!
