Editor’s Note: This is a transcript of Niomi’s speech she delivered during graduation, the evening of June 3rd, 2022, at Lenzer Field.
Thank you Mrs. Dwulit…. Good evening families and friends,
Every single one of us in the class of 2022 has made mistakes. Even if we’re not sure we actually learned from them, we must admit that they have challenged us to grow. For example, over the past 4 years I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have procrastinated on studying or big assignments. Did it affect me badly at the time? Yes. But did it affect me for the rest of my life after that point? I mean I’m standing up here now, so thankfully, not too badly.
Some of our mistakes are the same types of roadblocks someone from the class of 2012 or 2002 could have spoken about. We could get caught up in our own heads recalling these past four years, regretting mess-ups we think we could have avoided, or worrying about mishaps we might make in the near future. Or we could have used the advice Mrs. Frau told us early in the school year: “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” We’re going to hear a lot of similarly inspirational messages like this for the next month or so. But Frau’s advice shouldn’t be overlooked. We shouldn’t dwell on our mistakes of yesterday, or worry about what will go wrong tomorrow, because we never know what opportunities today – and even tomorrow – will bring. Our mistakes don’t define us, they help to shape us into a better, more well rounded person, precisely because we learn from those experiences.
Some of the other conflicts for our class of 2022 sprang from our specific high school experience, one, I’d like to add, that is barely imaginable for just about any other class at Avonworth before 2020. Our sophomore year cut off with an ‘extended spring break,’. Our junior year, the year we’re supposed to get serious about college, was a year of hybrid or virtual, or hybrid and virtual, group A or group B, without and then with classes on Wednesdays, and whatever else came along on that roller coaster of August 2020 to June 2021. After being faced with those unexpected circumstances, we could dwell on them with a negative outlook, isolated, unsure, feeling trapped and deeply worrying about our future. But by doing this, these moments in 2020 and 2021 could seem like huge roadblocks. In some ways, they were very real worries, first about our own health, and next, worries about our grandparents and others close to us, who were suddenly much more vulnerable to new threats of disease without a cure. But if we, instead, change our outlook and perception of these years, we can come to find that they have gone to develop us further — preparing us for the unexpected challenges adulthood will bring our way.
Now, thankfully, we close off our senior year with much less isolation. A year with pep rallies and full sports seasons and Homecoming and Prom. Adversities can strike at unexpected moments — as we learned through our high school experience — and if we face them with the mindset that this moment will make us better developed, then they become a whole different circumstance.
Your mindset can alter your whole perception and takeaway of any given situation. So, let’s look at the word procrastination for instance. Yeah… instant negative connotation, right? Well, let’s approach it from a different perspective. The word procrastination includes the root word crastinus, which actually means ‘tomorrow.’ So I’d like to offer you some advice from a word we have grown a bit more familiar with than we’d like to admit. If you’re like me, we added the pro to our crastinus many times, probably too many times. We’re human, it happens. But life, at its essence, is about enjoying the gift of ‘crastinus,’ because if today isn’t the day you had hoped it would be, you still have something old and ancient and yet entirely new, you have, crastinus. You have, tomorrow.
Wherever life may take you after today, I want each of you to know just how strong and able each and every one of you are. I am truly grateful to have had the experience of growing and learning with all of you. I would like you all to know just how capable of making an impact all of you are. You all have a purpose, and I am positive that one day you will all be able to accomplish it. Even if it doesn’t happen the way you planned it, just remember…
Today is the first day of the rest of your life, but if today doesn’t go well, that is okay, because tomorrow will be a fresh start as well. No matter what obstacles you may face going forward after today, I want you to remember that each day is a new beginning, each mistake is a lesson, and each hardship is an opportunity for growth. Thank you.