The following is Angelina Nunez’s commencement speech. She was chosen by her fellow Graduates with Distinction to have the honor of delivering this speech. Congratulations to Angelina and the class of 2024!
This year I had the honor of presenting a speech at my graduation, here is what I said.
Class of 2024, we had a rough start. Our freshman year was thrown askew by COVID, leading us to miss out on some of those doe-eyed freshman-year experiences we thought we’d have. Though many of us only met through a screen, we can end this chapter together today.
My sisters would often tell me to enjoy high school, to live in the moment because before you know it, it’s over. I would always brush this aside because all I could think about was how excited I was to make it to Graduation and walk across that stage. But now that I’m here, I realize what they meant.
When I look back on these past four years, I’m not thinking about how hard the tests were or how long the classes felt. I think about my peers who worked just as hard, about my friends who supported me when I needed it, and about the games, homecomings, and spirit weeks that had everyone so excited to show our school pride.
As many of us may have heard before, Graduation isn’t the end but the beginning of a new phase in our lives. Our high school careers could have been filled with so many different things. Football…soccer…dance team…mock trial…theatre…ROTC…band, whatever may have occupied our time at Calvert High, has helped develop who we were for the past four years.
But now, outside of high school, what are we? We have gone through our academic lives leading up to this day, preparing for a future where we are more than students. It is time for us to decide what’s next. We have to ask ourselves, “What kind of person will I become?”
Personally, I have had many ideas of the person who I’d become. In eighth grade, after watching Legally Blonde, I wanted to be a lawyer. In my freshman year, I wanted to become a college professor. In my sophomore year, I was adamant about becoming a best-selling author. Now, I aspire to be a journalist.
Throughout all my different career ambitions, I always had a number one supporter who made me believe I could achieve anything I put my mind to. That person is my mom, Maria De Los Angeles Garcia Rosario. Every time I mentioned a new career I wanted to pursue, or a new club I wanted to join, I only ever received the utmost support. Any doubt I had about my abilities to achieve something was knocked down by her strict argument that I could do anything I put my mind to. Once she said this, “Beba, how do you know you can’t do it until you try. If it doesn’t work out, it is what it is; just try.” This year, I have used this notion to fuel my every decision. Even today, so nervous to present this speech, I wanted to quit and run away, but I think it’s only fair that I take my mom’s advice and try. Of course, I mustn’t leave high school without a proper thank you. Thank you, Mom, for always believing in me. I wouldn’t have accomplished a fraction of what I have thus far without you.
Now I encourage you to think of someone who helped you make it here today as well and thank them. Whether that be your parents, a guardian, a teacher, or a counselor, I especially want you to thank yourself too, because you made it here, you graduated high school, that is something to be so proud of.
Some of us will go off to college, or trade school, some to the military, others to internships and job opportunities, but we won’t always know what we should do or where we should go; our goals may change into something completely different from what we first envisioned, or life may throw a few curve balls that present us with a whole new path. Regardless, we must try our best to live to the fullest.
Face your fears, accomplish your goals, and live in the moment. So, my fellow graduates, I encourage you to congratulate yourself on this amazing feat. Let us leave this chapter and become versions of ourselves that are greater than we could have ever imagined. And to take my mom’s advice, let’s all….just try.
