Good Evening Bishop Soto, Faculty, Families and Dear Friends.
Other schools may simply consider this an address to the graduates, but at Loretto High School everything is innately more difficult so why should a speech be any different?
Tonight I stand here before my class not with a speech filled with funny anecdotes or tear-inducing words, but rather with a challenge.
In our first foray into the real world we may strain to grasp the things we desire, the things we think will make our lives better: money, popularity, and fame. We ignore what truly matters, the simple things; faith, friendship, family and love. The things we probably already had.
Therefore, my first challenge for you tonight is to preserve these things while you're becoming rich, popular, and famous. The world will soon discover, sitting in this room are the women who will stop global warming, end poverty, cure AIDS and cancer. We, the Class of 2008, can change this world by being the change we want to see. As Mr. Cheever says, "If we want to change the world, we have to change our minds."
We are the young educated women of Loretto but education can only take us so far. It is important to realize that nothing worth knowing can be taught.
It is the experiences in life that ultimately shape us. Oliver Wendell Holmes once wrote, "Many people die with their music in them. Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out."
This brings me to my next challenge. I encourage you; actually, I demand that each and every single one of you live life for the moment because everything else is uncertain. Now I can't tell you what the future holds but I can emphasize that seizing opportunities marks the difference between the wannabes and the successes.
I hope you will keep your minds and your hearts open to the endless possibilities that life has to offer. It is the possibilities that make life interesting. When life seems to get more difficult, as it inevitably does, remember that it is during these moments where we learn, grow, and change the most. I challenge you to accept all the challenges that life has to offer and the aforementioned ones because it is through these that you will discover your true nature ... your true self.
I know all of this may seem exciting yet terribly frightening at the same time. There may even be times when you don't believe in yourself but just remember you have your faith in God and every member of your class that believe in you and know that you will succeed!
Congratulations Class of 2008! I know you will take the world by storm and all I can say is, is that the world is ready and desperately needs the gorgeous and intelligent women of the Class of 2008.
