'Fly High, Shine Bright,' West Essex High Valedictorian Says

The West Essex Regional High School Class of 2013 sailed off to their futures after their graduation ceremony held last Friday. Before the newly minted alums took their leave of their high school home, valedictorian John Lor of North Caldwell offered words of wisdom in his commencement address to his classmates.

Today is a celebration for those of you who have completed way too much school. All of this just to wear a funny hat on graduation day. Hopefully, our time here was not for naught.

Good evening. I’m John and I am the valedictorian of the class of 2013. I am known for good grades, bad handwriting, and talking extremely fast, which I will try to avoid doing for the remainder of this speech.

As you rapidly approach alumni status, you will probably hear about the past four years, your futures, and your lives in general for the rest of tonight and through the last week of August so I’m going to talk about something else. Today I’m going to tell you about the importance of airplanes, stars, and sandwiches.

Airplanes are just like high schools, with their highs and lows. Both are a means to get places far away, be it college or your vacation destination. You are not allowed to use your cell phones. If you look really closely, you’ll realize that many of the people are actually asleep. Everyone is given assigned seats and you will most likely sit next to someone you’ve never met. However, as the year, or flight, goes on, you may choose to get to know your neighbor. Some of you have forged long lasting friendships that have been and will always be unbreakable. And others are itching to get off this metaphorical plane flight, and that’s okay too.

Planes fly high in the sky, and in the sky there are stars. I’m going to tell you right now. You are all shining stars. However, let us not forget that there are 1022 more up there and another 7.1 billion here on Earth. You are not alone. But know this. While it takes only one star like the sun to sustain a world entire, it takes millions to illuminate the night sky.  Whether or not you will impact the future is no doubt. The questions now become “to what extent?” and “for better or for worse?” I shall leave that determination up to you.

But no matter how bright you are, you’ve got to live on something. Stars burn hydrogen and we burn calories. So, since I know everybody loves food, what if I told you everything complex could be simplified in terms of food? 

For example, look at your life as a sandwich, layer upon layer of your unique experience. Your sandwich might be a ham sandwich because you put ham in it previously. However, that is not to say you can’t add cheese and make it a ham and cheese sandwich. That is also not to say you cannot swap the ham for some turkey and make your life a turkey sandwich instead. While you’re at it, add mustard, lettuce, tomatoes, and chocolate sprinkles. Also Swiss cheese, even if it feels like your life has too many holes already. Why? Because you can. Sure, the past is the foundation to our future, but who says we cannot change our foundations? Although it may not feel like it right now, we are in fact still young. So experiment, add crazy toppings, and be sure to try something new.

 …Now that’s food for thought.

Take a brief moment to consider your past and take yet another to contemplate your future. Look to the sky behind you to remember your previous clouds of thought, then look the sky before you and let the winds of change blow you away. Reach for the stars and set the bar high because when you realize your dreams, then you will truly be out of this world. Enjoy the final summer of your high school career because we are destined for the next flight and so, let us take to the skies once more.

Oh! I’m sorry. I suppose I did end up talking about high school, your futures, and your lives. Hopefully it wasn’t too redundant.

Knights of West Essex, wherever you go, fly high, shine bright, and in the midst of everything, don’t forget to enjoy that sandwich.