Graduation
As I walked out of the principal’s office, the only thing that went through my mind was “What the heck?!?! I only have a week to write a speech?! What in the world am I gonna write about?!” I walked my way back to class, my mind raced, thinking of ideas. “Should my speech should be funny or serious or motivational?” When I sat in my desk, I took a notebook out of my purse and a pen. I starting writing “You know; I didn’t know what Salutatorian was before I became one so I looked it up. Salutatorian is the second place loser.” and I thought to myself, “No, I can’t write this even though it is funny.” The rest of the day I contemplated on what to write about, jotting ideas on a piece of paper and then suddenly crumbling that piece of paper and throwing it into the trash can. A whole 5 days of this routine and I accumulated a pile of paper balls that no longer fit into the trash can. As I walked into one of my classes, a “friend” asked me how my speech was coming along and I told him I was actually having a hard time trying to come up with what to say. He then said, “Oh, you can’t do it. You aren’t good enough to write the graduation speech.” This made me very frustrated and motivated to show him and everyone else who thought the same that they were wrong. That day, I finally knew what to write about. As graduation day rolled around, I had memorized my speech and felt extremely confident in myself. Walking in files in the Dome, patiently waiting for the cue to walk made me very anxious to be up on that stage. As Pachelbel Cannons began to play, I started walking my course, climbing up a few steps and standing in front of my chair, gazing onto the audience, looking for my loved ones. The principal got up and told the class to be seated. He commenced giving the special announcements, recognizing the Board of Trustees, etc. and finally handing the mic over to the Academic Dean. I couldn’t wait to be called forth and give my speech. Then I heard, “Please welcome, the salutatorian for the Class of 2016, Zulema Martinez-Garcia.” I got up, thanked the dean and was now standing in front of the podium, all eyes on me. I was not nervous or scared, instead I felt excited and overwhelmed with joy. I looked onto the faces of the mass crowd, and began my speech with such confidence. I introduced myself, my graduating class and how I found my place here in high school. I thanked my instructors and slightly lost my place in the speech. I recovered quickly, shaking it off and continued. I went on to the focus of my speech, sending a message to all those people who have told us “We can’t do it” or “We aren’t good enough” but we did do it and we are good enough because despite all of our hardships we made it through high school. I then followed with thanking the people in my life that have helped me immensely throughout high school and I stuttered on a part, but again I shook it off and continued. When I finished, I felt such a relief to be back in my seat, not because I had just messed up on my speech and was no longer the main focus but because no matter when I messed up, I still had that confidence piling up in me. I shared my message to the audience and I hope it served as inspirational.
