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Dec
7
ACHIEVING THE IMPOSSIBLE
Filed Under Students
It has been over two years since I was expelled from high school, which was definately and event I will never forget. I will never forget any of the years I spent in high school because they were full of more confusion that I knew how to deal with. At first, I wanted to pretend that nothing was happening. I felt liek life was just a cycle of going to school, coming home, and partying on the weekends - round and round like a turntable. I was never happy, but I thought that was normal.
Then one day changed everything. What I thought was this smooth, flat turntable was in fact a whirlpool of destructive behavior sucking me under. I thought I could never succumb to what I was doing at home because deep down I knew I was a good person and I had good sense, but the scary part is not “bad kids” or “dumb kids” that get sucked under.
I had already been waging war with my parents and with the other people at school. It was just a reflection of the terrible things I was soon to create for myself and how I was terrible for myself. I knew I needed to get out of it all and yet everything I was doing was just dragging me in deeper. Before I knew it, I was someone I couldn’t recognize and someone I didn’t even know I could be. I had changed a lot since receiving a character aware in fifth grade. A day in the principal’s office was a wake up call that life couldn’t continue the way it was.
The past year and a half has been the hardest year of my life, but it has also been what I neede most and the most fulfilling thing I have ever done. I no longer live in fear, confusion, or pain. Secrets and shame aer a thing of the past. I allow myself to experience what I am feeling when I feel it and I trust my own instincts. I can ask for help; I don’t need to be rigidly self-sufficient. I find joy in the present and I surround myself with people who respect and treat me well. Life everyone’s story, mine was and will be up and down. My life isn’t perfect but it is a far cry from what it was.
I remember something one of the first people to touch my life in the program said to me when I first arrived, “Someday, everything will work out for the best.” I had nodded, but truley believed that she was wrong. I never thought I could have reached a stated where I would not be overwhelmed by my life. I never thought I could even graduate high school. Standing here today shows me that nothing is impossible. I can now smile as I realize even the people that stray the farthest from their path in life can learn from their mistakes and return to what is important to them. Every day the world looks different to me. In the morning I wake up feeling sure of myself, something I have never experienced before. I am no longer afraid to tell people how much I care about them.
I believe the trials of my own life were how I got here and I do not regret the past nor wish to close the door on it. I am grateful for all of it and especially grateful for my parents who never stopped believing in me. I know something greater than myself has been guiding my steps in each and evey way, even when I didn’t know that for sure. Life is full of blessings and one of those is that life continues to give us second chances. Today our journey in the program comes to an end and we start a new journey with the tools we have learned and the memories we have made here. As we get ready to spread our wings and fly, my last wish is that none of us forget we can be the change we want to see in the world.
CATHERINE B
GRADUATED MIDWEST ACADEMY
VALEDICTORIAN FEBRUARY 2007
SHE PRESENTED THIS SPEECH TO THE GRADUATING CLASS